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The
Quarterly Journal
of the
University of North Dakota
VOLUME SEVEN
1916-1917
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
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THB NEW YORK
•'UBLi: LIEaARYJ
842096
/•rTO"<. LltNOX AND
i^L>LN FOUNDATIOMSj
Tfre^uarterly Journal
or
The University of North Dakota
CONTENTS OF VOLUME SEVEN
=No. 1, OCTOBER, 1916=
I. PRESIDENT SPRAGUE'S ADMINISTRATION
HoMBR B. Spragub 3
II. VOCATIONAL TRAINING
Calvin Hbkry Crouch 29
III. THE LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE
Frakk Allen 40
IV. SOME REASONS WHY NORTH DAKOTA
SHOULD ADOPT THE UNIFORM SALES
ACT (I)
Lauriz Vold 54
V. LAW REFORM IN NORTH DAKOTA
Joseph Lewinsohn 70
VL BOOK REVIEWS 83
VIL UNIVERSITY NOTES 97
No. 2, JANUARY, 1917 =
I. MITIGATING RURAL ISOLATION
John Morris Gillbttb 107
II. SOME REASONS WHY NORTH DAKOTA
SHOULD ADOPT THE UNIFORM SALES
ACT (II)
Lauriz Vold 1 121
III. THE NEXT STEP TOWARD EFFICIENCY
IN PUBLIC HEALTH
John W. Cox 156
IV. REGULATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
Hbiskbll B. Whauno 166
V. NOTES FROM AN AGRICULTURAL FIELD
TRIP ACROSS NORTH DAKOTA
Jambs Ernest Boyle 177
VI. THE LAND, THE PEOPLE, AND THE SCHOOLS
OF SOUTH AFRICA (I)
C. E. Coles 184
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VII. BOOK REVIEWS 195
VIII. UNIVERSITY NOTES 203
====== No. 3, APRIL, 1917 ^==^==
I. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF HUNGER
Charles E. Kino 211
XL THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NORTH
DAKOTA
Arthur Gray Leonard 228
IIL THE THREE INGREDIENTS OF THE
WORLD'S MEDICINE
Harley Ellsw(»th French 236
IV. GASOLINE SUPPLY AND ITS RELATION
TO SPECIFICATION
Wiluam John Leenhouts 251
V. THE HABITS OF THE THIRTEEN-LINED
GROUND SQUIRREL
George E. Johnson 261
VI. KELP
Gottfried Emanuel Hult 272
VIL BOOK REVIEWS 277
VIII. UNIVERSITY NOTES 292
=No. 4, JULY, 1917 ==
I. ART IN LIFE
Arthur Alexander Stoughton 305
IL THE NATURE OF MORAL EDUCATION
John E. Winter 316
in. THE UNIVERSITY IN THE SERVICE OF
SOCIETY
John Morris Gillette 328
IV. EMERSON AS A SOCIAL PHILOSOPHER
George R. Davies 339
V. THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THE SCHOOLS
OF SOUTH AFRICA (II)
C. E. Coles 351
VL "FREE"
, Vera A. Kblsey 366
VII. BOOK REVIEWS 373
VIII. UNIVERSITY NOTES 386
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The Quarterly Journal
Volume 7 OCTOBER, 1916 Number 1
President Sprague's Administration
of the University of North Dakota
Homer B. Spraoue,
President of the University of North Dakota from 1887 to 1891
TTOW many Indians have you in your university?" was the
^ ^ first question asked by my son, then a student in a prepara-
tory school; a very natural inquiry for a youth fresh from reading
Longfellow's Hiawatha, on being told that he must come to the
new institution
"In the land of the Dacotahs."
About that time, while a Faculty meeting was in session, one
of our professors glancing thru the window saw a huge wolf stand-
ing apparently in deep meditation on the side of our campus toward
Grand Forks. Instantly of course a five-minute recess! — a seizure of
a rifle, a sixteen-shooter presented me by my brother-in-law, presi-
dent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. But before we
could question the intruder, he vanished toward the city.
A few weeks later there was a similar experience with a like
result. A big prairie wolf, a quarter of a mile away beyond the
railroad, declined an interview, and continued his swift journey
toward Minnesota. But we saw no Indians, except fifteen or
twenty migrating southward. They bivouacked on the bank of
the "Coulee."
Arriving at Grand Forks at nine in the evening, October 4th,
I was cordially welcomed and hospitably entertained by Professor
Merrifield. I had met him at my son's table at Auburndale, Mass.,
and was so imprest by his evident good sense and sincerity that I was
more than half persuaded to join in what seemed a romantic enter-
prise in "the wild and woolly west." Early in the morning of
October 5th, as we started out to see the city, a young lady, a former
pupil of mine in the Girls' High School in Boston, came tripping
across the street exclaiming, "Why, Col. Sprague! where did you
come from, and what has brought you to the end of the earth?"
Conrrifht. 1916, Unirenitr of North Dakota.
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4 The Quarterly Journal
I answered "I have come from darkest Massachusetts to the centre
of the continent, to take a look at your university."
Our walk took us to the Campus some two miles away. Except
a little barn or stable, there was then only one building now known
as Merrifield Hall. I was somewhat startled when he told me
that three and a half months previously a wind stonn had nearly
demolished the southwest half, leveling walls, chimneys, and the orna-
mental cupola. I asked him if the inhabitants had cellars or sub-
terranean retreats in case of cyclones. He assured me that they
never had cyclones, tornadoes, or whirlwinds; that this was a
"straight blow"; and "the reason the thing collapsed" was that the
brick had been laid in mortar that froze before it had time to set.
A solid foundation had been laid for an astronomical observa-
tory; but the ground was so much jarred by heavy trains passing
on the railroad that it was feared the trembling might injure the
instruments or interfere with the delicacy of their operations. So
the plan was abandoned. On that foundation long afterwards the
present Macnie Hall was built.
No quarters had been provided for president or professors.
There were four of the latter, Henry Montgomery, Webster Merri-
field, John Macnie, and H. B. Woodworth. They were all living
at the city, two or three miles distant. For four weeks, Oct. 6
to Nov. 3, Mrs. Spraguc and I were at the Hotel Richardson on
Third Street.
For several reasons it seemed important that some if not all of
us should reside on the premises; but for three years none had been
willing thus to go into exile.
It is the inestimable advantage of a small college that the pro-
fessors can keep in touch with the students, can be to them "guides,
philosophers, and friends." I remembered that at Yale, thirty-five
to forty years before, the young men were rarely or never visited
by members of the faculty. Speaking of the Yale professors, one
of the best men I ever knew, an intimate friend in college and for
many years afterwards, said sadly, "No man cared for my soul.**
He was mistaken ; but it often seemed that we were sheep without
a shepherd. He sent his sons to Williams college.
There was another reason more visible and palpable. Here was
public property worth perhaps a hundred thousand dollars; a build-
ing just repaired at great cost, 150 by 50 feet, three stories high
above the basement, containing an auditorium (assembly hall or
chapel) that would seat two hundred, lecture halk, redtation rooms,
library, museum, laboratory, apparatus, lodgings for a score of young
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President Sprague's Administration 5
women and for twice as many young men» much furniture, a board-
ing department with dining room and kitchen, janitor's living quar-
ters, a heating plant that burnt up fourteen hundred cords of wood
in a season ; — ^the whole constituting a complicated machine.
A salaried military instructor resided there; but he seemed to
repudiate the idea that he was to take care of the property, or that
it was any port of his duty to keep order among the young men
except during military drill. He was gentle and kind, and he
"run" the boarding department ; but was generally more ornamental
than useful. A very intelligent and competent gentleman, a man
of real ability. Major Hamilton, secretary of the board of trustees,
rendered at times important service and always wise counsel; but
he was much of the time inaccessible, residing on the banks of the
Red River three miles away.
Here then was imperative need of constant supervision, often
of careful guidance, sometimes of quick and strong executive action.
It was no desirable position to be thus care-taker, counsellor, and
policeman, in addition to my proper function as president; but the
duty of undertaking it seemed dear.
Accordingly on the third of November, 1887, after I had par-
titioned of{ rooms on the top floor of Merrifield Hall and installed
new furniture, I took possession of rooms 27 and 29. We hoped
for the early completion of Davis Hall.
Taught by a four-years soldier experience during the war be-
tween the states, I immediately upon my arrival instituted Sunday
morning inspections after the custom of the army. This inspection
included at least once in every week, and sometimes twice, a glance
at every young man's personal appearance and dress, and a careful
examination of his room, furniture, bed and bedding, and the orderly
arrangement of every thing (for each student took care of his own
quarters). They were encouraged to make known their wants.
I have a record of these Sunday inspections continued thru all the
years of my presidency.
For the young ladies living at the University a similar service,
modified to suit circumstances, was performed by Miss Jennie Allen.
I seize this opportunity to speak of her as one of the most accom-
plished and faithful of women, a learned preceptress, a gentle care-
taker, an efficient manager, and a wise counsellor. There should
be a tablet conspicuously placed to her memory in Davis or Merri-
field Hall.
In the fall and early winter of 1887 rapid progress was making
in the building of the dormitory now Davis Hall. After eight
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6 The Quarterly Journal
weeks' residence at the top of the main building, during which we
labored not unsuccessfully to prevent cosmos from lapsing into chaos,
my wife and I on Friday, Dec. 30, took rooms in the new dormitory,
placing in it some four or five hundred dollars' worth of furniture
which I chose to own, and which I left at last to the university.
The winter weather was severe. Often it was not agreeable
or convenient for students to walk two or three miles to attend
church and the same distance back. There was no regular con-
veyance, and the roads were sometimes bad. It therefore seemed
best to institute Sunday afternoon discourses of a semi-religious, semi-
literary nature. These began Sunday afternoon Nov. 20, 1887,
with a lecture in the chapel on John Milton. I spoke of his early
life and quoted freely from his minor poems. Other talks followed
on successive Sundays. The last in the chapel was on Jan. 22,
1888, the subject being Milton's Masque of Comus. The public
were invited, and they sometimes came in considerable numbers. On
the 29th of January the subject was Milton's Lycidas. This was
the first discourse in Davis Hall, the students bringing in chairs and
a piano. Occasionally choice selections in prose were read and
commented upon, especially passages from the greatest of all litera-
tures, the Bible.
By and by we generally gave up Friday evenings to receptions,
each preceded by a brief lecture or essay by president or professor
or other speaker, with choice music, the object being to promote
acquaintance and friendship, to improve the manners of some, to
develop an esprit de corps, and to make the University a delightful
home.
The trustees repeatedly exprest a desire that I should as much
as possible bring the University favorably to the attention of the
people of North Dakota. There seemed no better way than by
popular lectures. There were 86 counties, each with a superin-
tendent of schools. Many were remote and inaccessible. Nearly
all wanted educational lectures, but they were glad to hear us on
any subjects. I found myself in constant demand as a speaker and
at all sorts of gatherings. Work at the University was strenuous
and absorbing; but it was even a relief to get away and speak at
any point which could be reached on a Friday or Saturday evening.
My diary shows that, among other places, I lectured during my first
twenty months at Grand Forks, Fargo, Lakota, Larimore, Hillsboro,
Bathgate, Langdon, Towner, Bottineau, Valley City, Hamilton,
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President Sprague's Administration 7
Moorbead, Mayvillc, Grafton, Minto, Jamestown, Inkster, Devils
Lake, Mandan, and Bismarck. At some of these I was called
twice and even three or four times. No compensation was expected
or received. Occasionally the other professors lectured.
Never were audiences so hungry for speech. Several times, as
at Bottineau, my train was late; but the committee were awaiting
me as I alighted from the cars about ten o'clock. "Of course it's
too late to have any lecture to-night; please show me where I am
to lodge," I said. "Oh no," they replied ; "the folks are all waitin'
for you in the hall." In every case the lecture room was crowded.
Once — I think it was at Towner, McHenry G)unty, May ii,
1888 — there were preliminary exercises, music, declamations, speeches.
My subject was Milton as an Educator. I began speaking about
eleven o'clock. When I finished at midnight, the audience was in
a mood to sing "We won't go home till morning!" I left them
dancing thru the small hours!
My subjects were mostly educational, often on Milton or
Shakespeare; sometimes Oliver Goldsmith, Money and Manhood,
Public Speaking, or The Bright Side of Confederate Prisons ; usually
including some glorification of the University.
It may be doubted if there was ever a more heterogenous col-
lection of students than ours. Good schools had been started, but
none specially preparatory to the University. Most of our pupils
at that time were to some extent self-supporting, either teaching a
few months every year in the common schools, or engaged on the
farms in planting and harvesting. A preparatory department had
been established at the University under the care of a brilliant salaried
teacher, who was also a student, Miss Cora E. Smith. In this
school valuable instruction was gratuitously imparted by Mrs. Earle
J. Babcock and later by Mrs. George B. Hodge and normal students.
It was too soon to expect erudition. A few, like Frances M. Allen,
Helen M. Bangs, T. E. Griffith, and Walter J. Marclay, are
pleasantly remembered for their scholarship, but the majority were
in all stages of difficult or impossible classification. Working con-
tinuously towards regularity, and for the elimination of cases excep-
tional or permanently troublesome, we made it a rule to reject no
one, but to assign, if possible, uplifting and edifying work in some
part of our curriculum. Every such special student was watched
over and instructed as carefully as if a professor's son or daughter.
Cases of emergency were incessantly arising, requiring the coun-
sel and co-operation of every professor. This necessitated an
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8 The Quarterly Journal
extraordinary number of faculty meetings. My diary records a
hundred and three during the first two years of my administration ;
fifty-four in my third year, and forty in my fourth, with a statement
of the topics discust and the decisions reached in each session. As
many as twenty-four items were disposed of at a single conference.
Every member of the instructional force, it seemed, labored vigilantly
and harmoniously not only to promote the welfare of every student
but to make the machinery of the institution run smoothly and more
and more in regular grooves.
In 1887 there was but one literary society. It bore the modest
name Per Gradus, Another was soon originated, for which an
afiEectionate remembrance of a Brooklyn (N. Y.) academy suggested
the name Adelphi. The Normal students started a third, to which
they gave the severe classical appellation. The Chrestomathean. We
afterwards established an athletic association and a Young Men's
Christian Association.
In this connection should be noted a feature never before ex-
isting in any college. At Yale it had often been observed that in
the great debating societies, Libonia and Brothers in Unity, pro-
nounced by Hon. Wm. M. Evarts the best schools of discussion in
the world, the time and pains spent in attendance upon literary
societies, and in preparing and delivering speeches, essays, poems,
declamations, and critiques, however meritorious, invariably detracted
from the student's standing in scholarship as registered in the tutors'
books. These never recorded anything outside the class-room. The
president of each of the three was requested to hand to me a monthly
report showing either his own estimate or that of an impartial critic
as to the merit of each member's performance. I still have that
record, which was continued till I left the University. This esti-
mate, combined with the instructor's class-room record, was allowed
weight in deciding questions of promotion or graduation. Such
recognition gave an unwonted dignity and character to society
exercises.
At college thirty-six years before, I had been one of the editors
of The Yale Literary Magazine, and at Worcester, Brooklyn, and
Ithaca, had lent a hand in originating and maintaining magazines
(Thesaurus, Adelphian, and Cornell Era). In faculty meeting,
February 23d, 1888, I suggested the establishment of a periodical
to be edited by selected scholars with the assistance and under the
supervision of one or more of the professors. I brought the matter
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HOMER B. SPRAGUE
**Wc will draw the curtain, and show you the picture.
Look you, Sir; such a one I was."
Olivia in Tuflfth Siiht
1. V. 251. 2$2. Schmidt's pacinr
(in the Shaitsptart-Ltxictn)
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rur.ucUBRiBYi
^5TO«, t^NOX AND
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President Sprague's Administration 9
up again in the meeting of March ist and March 8th. The project
was approved. Professor Macnie was appointed supervising editor.
Upon his suggestion the magazine was named THE STUDENT.
Miss Allen, Miss Bangs, and Mr. Marday were selected as editors,
with Peter Sharpe for business manager assisted by Horace . F.
Arnold. At noon, March 13th, the students in chapel elected as
associate editors May Travis, Geo. F. Robertson, and J. J. Arm-
strong. Miss Travis declining. Miss Marie Teel was elected March
22d to fill the vacancy.
I had promised the faculty that I would contribute at least one
article for every issue. Upon looking over my files I find that I
furnished for every number to the end of my presidency one on
Shakespeare, sometimes several, and usually one or more pieces on
subjects of literary or pedagogical interest, as college news, transla-
tions from the Odes of Horace or Goethe's Faust, etc. I paid many
dollars to the business manager for copies, of which I mailed 80 in
April, 1888, to periodicals or prominent persons likely to be in-
terested in our University.
Except on the banks of the Red River, miles away, there was
not a tree, shrub, or bush visible within a mile of the University
till May 5th 1888. That day had been publicly designated by the ter-
ritorial governor as Arbor Day. It was Saturday. In the morning,
accompanied by janitor Guyot, whom I paid liberally for his assist-
ance, I went to trustee James Twamley's farm beside the river.
He had given us carte blanche. We picked out and dug up i ash,
I elm, I Cottonwood, 3 box elders, and thirty willow sprouts. We
set the sprouts on the sloping bank of the ''coulee," and the trees
on the side of the main building some twenty or thirty feet from it.
Trustee Fulton was equally kind, and from his and Twamley's
grounds on both sides of the river we selected other comely trees
on the 7th of the month. Students W. J. Graham, B. E. Ingwald-
sen, Willie F. Crewe, Henry G. Vick, and the elusive "Phil" Wel-
lington helped us at night to place them in position. Several friends
joined us in making up a purse for the purchase of trees which we
set out on Arbor Day two years later.
In faculty meeting, April 26th, 1888, I brought up the subject
of a thoro revision of our curriculum with a view to its publication
in the forthcoming annual catalog. We discust it item by item
for many hours in faculty meetings May ist, 3d, 4th, 7th, 9th, loth.
We submitted the result of our deliberations to the trustees. On
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lO The Quarterly Journal
the 28th wc received from Hon. Mr. Heidel a communication ex-
pressing their hearty approval of the course of study.
One question upon which there was earnest discussion and lack
of unanimity was whether the study of Greek in the University
should be encouraged. Some would omit it altogether, both in the
branches prescribed for admission and as required or optional in the
college course. It seemed to be a contest between the lower utili-
tarianism, so unavoidable in the new territory, and the higher
idealism without which life is not worth living. I stood for the
arts, useful and ornamental; the sciences which prophesied man's
mastery over nature; the philosophies so far as they were not sub-
stitutes but aids to the loftiest wisdom ; but above all for the humani-
ties. Greek and Latin are precious as literature, but the usual
methods of teaching them are a ridiculous waste of time. They
spend three, four, or five years memorizing and applying rules and
exceptions that will never be of any use in after life, feeding on
husks and ignoring the rich fruit.*
The same questions recurred every spring, and the trustees
favored the conservatives.
The division of labor had not been carried far. The talented
Cora E. Smith at one time taught 20 hours a week. Professor Mont-
gomery, besides having the care of the museum, was expected to
teach anatomy and physiology, mineralogy, geology, physical geogra-
phy, botany, zoology, and chemistry! Much correspondence ensued
in efforts to find the best candidates for professorships.
About the first of June, 1888, the faculty unanimously recom-
mended Ludovic Estes as professor of mathematics and physics for
the next year. There was great need in the normal department
of a skilled teacher of music. On the i6th of June at a meeting
held at Professor Mcrrifield's house in Grand Forks we voted to
urge the appointment of Miss Margaret Boasberg as instructor in
music and drawing.
The attendance of students during the year next preceding my
administration was seventy-five. The year before, it was but forty-
eight. During my first year the number rose to ninety-eight. It
closed with examinations. There was no commencement.
* Omitting non-eBsentials, and giving* all possible aid to make the
study easy, for it is hard enough at best, I have in one year taken stu-
dents, who had never studied either Greek or Latin, thru these two
languages as required in preparation for admission to the highest col-
leges. In one case it was done in Ave months. They were admitted
to the Freshman class without conditions.
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President Sprague*s Administration II
Naturally many annoyances had occurred. Only two will
ever be mentioned. On the 28th of April, '88, Mrs. Sprague and
I were threatened with a lawsuit to force us to pay for all the
furniture that had been sent to Davis Hall. Two or three
weeks later the suit was actually brought; but one of the best of
our trustees, Mr. Fulton, graciously came to the rescue. He took
all the burden upon himself.
The other annoyance was far more serious. For a while we
were filled with anxiety; but in dealing with the trouble a plan
was wrought out that proved a great and unmixed blessing to the
university.
"Man shall not live by bread alone," says the highest authority ;
but some one irreverently asks, "What is more vital than victuals?"
There were complaints about the quality and quantity of food in
the boarding department. The mild and amiable colonel, perhaps
in feeble health, did not superadd to his military genius the skill
to "run a hotd." Information came to me at evening on the 31st
of January, 1888, that without my knowledge a petition had been
circulated and extensively signed by the boarders protesting in strong
language to the trustees against what they called their "fodder" as
insufficient and unfit. Some threatened to leave the institution and
never return. The report was spreading thru the territory that
our young folks were stingily treated, ill fed, half starved. Imme-
diately (Feb. 1st) I communicated with Col. Topping on the sub-
ject, and to impress him more strongly I made a private statement
to him in writing of what I had learned were the specific complaints.
On the same day I wrote confidentially to the president of the
trustees, stating the particulars of the situation. The students' peti-
tion, which had 33 signatures, was already in his hands. He had
at once sent a strong letter to the colonel, enclosing a copy to the
faculty, and he now came with the trustees' able secretary, Major
Hamilton, to the University. His letter did not reach us till Feb.
3d. At noon Feb. loth, the floor was covered with rejected food
angrily thrown there by parties unknown and undiscoverable. I
ceased taking meals there Feb. 2d. There was no visible improve-
ment in the dining room. No public denial could be made of the
shortage or inferiority of provisions in the past; no confident assur-
ance of better things in the future. There began to be much
grumbling at the alleged high price of such board!
On the 13 th of February, after two weeks of thought, I devised
a plan that seemed likely to insure a happy solution of the distressing
problem. That day I pointed out in another confidential letter to
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12 The Quarterly Journal
the president of the trustees the absolute necessity of more business
ability, more promptness, and more executive energy than the soft-
hearted, half-sick old soldier had displayed in the management of
the culinary department, the dining room, and the drill hall. I
assured Mr. Roach that in my opinion better board could be fur-
nished for two and a half dollars a week than that for which they
were paying three and a half, and thus each student remaining with
us from the beginning to the end of the academic year would save
not less than thirty-five dollars. '
This plan contemplated an entire change in the military de-
partment. The colonel had been receiving $900 a year. The
greater part, if not the whole of this, would be saved to the terri-
tory. Some of our students were members of a military company
in Grand Forks, and capable of giving good drill in the "setting
up" exercises, the "school of the soldier," and to some extent in the
"school of the battalion" — better drill and more of it than the rest
of our students had received from the salaried instructor. I had
already inaugurated such efiFective tho inexpensive exercises.
The constant care and oversight of the buildings and grounds,
superintendence from which both the military instructor and the
secrtary of the trustees had seemed to shrink, had already devolved
almost wholly on me, and there seemed no prospect of their trans-
fer to other shoulders at an early date.
Mrs. Sprague, the best of housekeepers and the most level-
headed of business women, was willing to undertake the entire man-
agement of the boarding department, provided she could have the
control of the "incidental fee" paid by each student to be devoted
to its legitimate uses.
Accordingly on Thursday, the third of May, 1888, the faculty
having exprest their hearty approval, a proposition was submitted
in writing to the board of trustees, covering the four points, board,
superintendence, drill, and "incidental fees." On the seventh of
May, President Roach replied, "Your suggestions meet my entire
approval, and I will endeavor to so arrange matters as to carry out
the program outlined by you." All the members of the board
concurred.
My second year opened with bright auspices Sept. 26, 1888.
The standard of qualifications for admission was much higher than
ever before. A course in letters had been marked out in the catalog.
The preparatory department had been lengthened a year. In the
preceding June a valuable man, Earle J. Babcock, had been ap-
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President 8 Prague's Administration 13
pointed instructor, and his wife was able and willing to give
gratuitous instruction. Here were two new and most efficient
teachers. Miss Boasberg had been appointed at the same time in
charge of large classes in vocal music. Professor and Mrs. Estes
had just arrived. The teachers' certificates which we issued May
26th were recognized and honored as valid. The younger pre-
paratory pupils constituted desirable practise classes for our normal
students under the skilful supervision of Professor Woodworth. Our
curriculum offered an education at a lower cost and yet not inferior
to that of any other college in the United States.
Miss Smith continued to do excellent work in arithmetic and
English. To supplement her drill in reading, the president of the
University for many weeks gave an hour daily from three to four
training those who were to read or speak in the literary societies,
or at appointed times in chapel as was required of all.
The young men rooming in the upper story of Merrifield Hall
on and after October 23d constituted one military company; those
in the second story another; those who lived "down town" were
after a time organized as a third company. It was understood that
the best drilled should be designated as Co. A; the next best as
Co. B. ; the liiird, Co. C. They were allowed to choose their company
officers. Oct. 25th the upper company chose for captain Peter
Sharpe; the lower, G. S. Sprague. In the absence of a professor
the ranking officer present was charged with the duty of keeping
order, and prompt obedience was required to his commands.
The students boarding at the University paid but two and a
half dollars a week, and the meals were acknowledged better than
ever before. But on the sixth of October a rude shock was given
to our confidence in our ability to furnish them at so low a rate. A
contract unmistakable in its terms and distinctly admitted, to deliver
to Mrs. Sprague fifty sacks of flour at an agreed-on rate, was flatly
repudiated because the market value of flour had taken a sudden
rise. But she kept her promise to the students, having the inci-
dental fee to fall back on, in case of a deficit. She occasionally
released the student and paid it herself. This breach of faith by
the flour merchant would not be mentioned, were it not that, later
on, far more serious violations of express contracts occurred.
At the beginning of liie year 1889 we were suddenly made to
face a dangerous epidemic. January 2d a very estimable student
returned from the funeral of a relative who had died of diphtheria
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14 The Quarterly Journal
at Buxton. I immediately required him, before he associated at
all with other persons, to bring from the physician who attended
the case a certificate that there could be no danger of his communi-
cating the infection. But it seems there had already been exposure:
on the 9th of the month a new comer, Charles S. Ritchie, had
dii^theritic sore throat. I isolated him and, by advice of Dr.
Wheeler of Grand Forks, detailed our fireman, Henry General, to
take care of him. On the nth Dr. Wheeler came at my request
and again prescribed for him. The evening of Friday, the i8th,
Drs. Wheeler and Logan of Grand Forks wttt summoned to see
Ritchie and James Young, who was also ailing. They came be-
tween 9 and lO o'clock. About lO they took me aside, and whis-
pered that those two and fireman Henry, acting nurse for Ritchie,
all had diphtheria, and must instantly be quarantined! But how
and where, they could not tell me.
Here was a critical situation. By a strange coincidence the
territorial legislature, agreeably to repeated notice given long before,
was to visit us on the morrow, scheduled to arrive between 9 and
10 in the morning! Our professors and students were expected to
make it a festive occasion.
The attic which I had long planned to convert into a gym-
nasium for the special use of our athletic association, and which
extended nearly the whole length of the building, was nearly empty.
A long flight of steps led up to it. It was midwinter and I rea-
soned that the powerful upward draught of warm air would render
it impossible for any taint of infection to be wafted down. A
moment's reflection convinced me that the big room would be an
admirable hospital. Instantly about ten o'clock, I called janitor
Guyot. He and I, after half disrobing, immediately removed the
three patients and all their personal belongings to that attic. I
appointed Young's brother Samuel to stay with them. I charged
him to look constantly after their comfort, and minister to every
want of theirs.
It was now near eleven o'clock, but I summoned all the young
men in the building to meet at once in the chapel. Explaining
the situation, I made them pledge themselves to show all possible
courtesy to the legislators who were coming in the morning, but
not to lisp or hint a word to them or any one about diphtheria.
The senators and representatives, about sixty strong, some of
them accompanied by their wives, arrived that Saturday morning
about eleven o'clock. We entertained them as best we could with
speeches and music in the chapel. At two o'clock they sat down
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President S Prague's Administration 15
to a dinner carefully prepared under Mrs. Sprague's direction in
the dining room of Davis hall. In the evening there was a banquet
for them at the Ingalls House in Grand Forks with more speeches
and music, the festivities lasting tiU one o'clock Sunday morning.
They went away imprest with the belief that the University was
a decided success!
That Sunday the locked room of the patients was thoroly fumi-
gated under the directions of the doctors.
The visiting Solons would have remained all the while in bliss-
ful ignorance of the sickness, had not a self-appointed investigating
committee, mousing around, discovered in the third story the mys-
terious stairway leading to the attic. At its foor was a large placard
strictly forbidding every one to ascend. Of course they immediately
rushed up and demanded of the four young men why they were
there. At the word "diptheria" they scampered back. The news
spread like a prairie fire.
We flattered ourselves that we had eflEectually sequestered the
dreaded disease. The regular exercises continued for several weeks.
But on Tuesday noon, Feb. 5th, 1889, Dr. Logan of the board of
health, who had been called to see Mr. E. T. Burke, a normal
student in Merrifield Hall, and Georgie, the janitor's child in the
basement, diagnosed both cases as diphtheria. All the professors
being present, a faculty meeting was summoned. Dr. Logan was
called in, and we immediately voted to close Merrifield Hall. Be-
tween one and two o'clock the students were assembled in chapel,
and the necessity of vacating the building was explained. We found
that we could make room in Davis Hall for twenty-one who had
not been exposed to the contagion. So, next morning we took in the
two Ogdens, two Engebretsons, Clayton, Gram, Bjomson, Schellen-
berg, McBain, Marclay, Vick, Rod, Fiveland, Hempsted, Yon Steen-
berg, Harvey, Egerton, Richard, Arnold, Evanson, and Goldwin
Sprague.
The students and teachers in the building numbered forty. We
endeavored to keep them all usefully occupied. That evening a
Shakespearean lecture was given them in the parlor. Miss Allen
gave Latin lessons daily. We hoped to be able to reopen Merrifield
Hall and resume regular exercise in a week or ten days; but the
University was closed from February 5th to March 4th. During
that period Professor Merrifield lectured in Davis Hall Feb. 19th
and Feb. 21st on his traveb in Europe; Professor Macnie Feb. i8th
on the Fall of the Roman Empire, and at noon Feb. 20th on the
Feudal System. President Sprague during that month gave four-
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1 6 The Quarterly Journal
teen Shakespearean lectures in Davis Hall, and one at Minto, Feb.
1 6th on Rebel Prisons.
At noon, Feb. 6th, a telegram came from Trustee Fulton, re-
questing me to come immediately to Bismarck. Leaving by train
at 4 P. M. I reached my destination at 5 140 next morning. After
two and a half hours walking the streets, I succeeded about 8 o'clock
in getting into the Hotel Sheridan. Much discussion with com-
mittees or individuals ensued on the needs of the University. At
evening I had to make a speech at a so-called "Camp Fire" in the
Skating Rink. Next day I again addrest the legislative committee.
Sunday morning, Feb. 9th, I left the capital for home.
That day Guyot's child died, Guyot having remained with his
family in the basement of Merrifield Hall. Mrs. Sprague, whom
I left in charge of everything, promptly sent them in a carriage to a
house in East Grand Forks. While there two other fair children
of the janitor passed sadly away.
During my three days' absence a son of the territorial Super-
intendent of Instruction violated the strict quarantine rule against
entering Merrifield Hall. Mrs. Sprague who had had experience
in a noted yellow fever case at Wellesley college, saw him as he
issued. She instantly locked the doors to prevent his return to
Davis Hall. He tried in vain to enter. The day was bitterly
cold, but the air between the two halk was hot, and the third com-
mandment of the Decalogue was treated with scant respect. She
was inflexible, and he at last vanished.
On the nth of February I arrived from Bismarck at 7 A. M.
Six days having elapsed, and little or nothing having been done by
the authorities to make Merrifield Hall safe, I called a faculty
meeting to be held at 4 o'clock that afternoon at Dr. Logan's office.
All the professors were present. We unanimously requested Pro-
fessor Montgomery to cooperate with Dr. Logan in examining the
plumbing, causing all needed repairs to be made, and then without
delay to assist him in thoroly and promptly disinfecting by fumiga-
tion and washing. The plumbing was found very bad; it took a
long time and many tests to rectify it: the fumigation was most
thoro, beginning at noon Feb. 25th, burning up 750 pounds of sul-
phur, turning Merrifield Hall into a vdcano; the washing and
scrubbing with disinfecting fluid, commenced Tuesday evening, the
26th, and continued with the assistance of ten or twelve loyal stu-
dents till noon, Friday, March ist. At last on Saturday, March
2d, Dr. Wheeler, health officer of the county, gave his consent to
the reopening of the building on the following Monday.
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President S Prague's Administration 17
By vote of the faculty Feb. 15th, the usual Easter vacation was
omitted.
On Monday, Feb. 25th, Josie Forbes, the young diild of the
housekeeper in Davis Hall, was taken sick. Mrs. Sprague instantly
recognized the illness as scarlet fever and insisted on the girl's im-
mediate removal. This was done, tho all doubted the judgment
of Mrs. Sprague. The child was carefully wrapt in blankets and
carried by students to the house of Mr. Davidson a long distance
to the southeast. It was none too soon; for Dr. Herriman of
Grand Forks next day pronounced it a clear case of scarlet fever.
Late in the evening of May 6th a committee of prominent
citizens, of whom Principal Clcmmer of the Grand Forks high school
was one, waited upon me and urged me to permit my name to be
used as candidate for delegate to the approaching Gmstitutional Con-
vention at Bismarck. They were sure that I would be elected and
very likely be made Speaker to preside at the Convention. I answered
that my first duty was to the University; the present was a critical
period in its history ; we were discussing proposed important changes
in the course of study; deciding upon the contents and wording of
the annual catalog; preparing for final examinations and our first
annual Commencement; deciding what degrees should be awarded
and to whom; and considering other matters of importance: there-
fore I must decline to enter upon any new field of activity, however
attractive and honorable. I promised, however, to study the ques-
tion, What should be the provisions of the Constitution on the sub-
ject of Education ?
Accordingly a careful examination was made of the fundamental
laws of different states. As a result of such investigation and much
reflection, it seemed to me that there ought to be incorporated in
the article four basic principles: (i) a high standard of qualifica-
tions, intellectual and moral, as a prerequisite to admission to die
exerdse of the elective franchise; (2) except the strictly professional
schools, a unification of all the educational forces of the state; (3)
free tuition without cost in all grades beginning with the primary
and ending with the collegiate; (4) a solemn injunction upon all
who as teachers have the care of children and youth, to inculcate
by precept and example correct prindples and right conduct. To
this I added a recommendation that no lands donated for education
by state or nation should be sold but by the exprest consent of two
or three successive legislatures.
These matters appeared to me of so much importance that on
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the 19th of June, 1889, I mailed to all the County superintendents
whose addresses I could obtain, and to many prominent educators
and influential gentlemen, a letter of which the following is a copy:
"Dear Sir,
"The near approach of our Constitutional Convention, and the
importance of incorporating right educational principles in the fun-
damental law of our state, and of realizing the largest possible in-
come from all lands and other property that have been or may be
received from any source for the promotion of public education, will,
I trust, be accepted by you as a sufficient explanation of my action,
which might otherwise seem officious or presumptuous, in sending
you this letter.
"The question. What ought the Constitution to contain on the
subject of Education? is certainly one of the most important that
will come before the delegates. I have reason to believe that some
of them would be glad of an expression of opinion from practical
educators.
"You belong to this latter dass. Will you kindly aid in the
solution of the problem by at least presenting your views? If you
will embody these in the form of an Article such as you would like
to see in the Constitution, and send the same to me at Bismarck on
or before the tenth of July, I will endeavor to have due weight
given to your suggestions, and you may thereby render most valuable
service to the cause we all have at heart. Please extend a similar
invitation to other teachers and school officers.
"Would it not be well also to have a quiet conference of edu-
cators at Bismarck, say on the 12th and 13th of July? Will you
attend such a meeting?
"I venture to suggest for your consideration two points among
others:
"i. Would it not be advisable to have an earnest general
statement in the new Constitution, expressive of our sense of the
importance of the subject and of the duty incumbent upon all super-
intendents, teachers, legislators, magistrates, and persons in authority,
to promote, to the extent of their power, the interests of right edu-
cation? Such an article exists in some of the State Constitutions,
and I know that it has a silent yet powerful influence for good.
"2. Would it not be wise to place such restrictions upon the
sale of school and other lands donated for public education as should
insure against the possibility of an ill-advised or hasty alienation of
them? Specifically, would it not be well to require the concurrent
action of two or three consecutive legislatures, securing ample pub-
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President Spruce's Administration 19
licity and careful deliberation, before any such sale should be author-
ized?
''Hoping that you will at least transmit to me at Bismarck
your counsel on these matters, and also that, if possible, you will
be present there in person July 12th and 13th, I am,
Truly yours,
Homer B. Spragub."
Quite a number of the gentlemen thus appealed to, among them
Joseph Kennedy, Supt. of Traill Co., re^onded with interesting and
wise suggestions. A large number were represented either in person
or by letter at the conference in Bismarck on the 12th and 13th
of July. There, after reading and comparing the Articles on Edu-
cation in many of our most advanced states, I submitted as desirable
to be incorporated the following propositions: —
"i. A high degree of intelligence, patriotism, and integrity on
the part of every voter in a government by the people being neces-
sary to ensure the efficient and harmonious working of the govern-
mental machinery, and to avoid costly and dangerous mistakes, as
well as to promote the general pro^erity and happiness of the peo-
ple, it shall be the duty of the first legislature after the adoption
of this Constitution to establish upon a sound basis, and of all future
legislatures liberally to maintain and by all suitable means to perfect,
a system of common schools beginning with the primary and extend-
ing without interruption through all grades, so as to include a normal
and a collegiate course, free of tuition throughout to all the children
and youth of the state.
**2. In all such schools instruction shall be given, so far as
practicable, in those branches of knowledge which cause the possessor
to understand the nature of our government, to know his rights and
discharge his duties as a citizen, to love his country, and to cherish
as sacred the principles which underlie our free institutions.
"3. All legislators, magistrates, and other civil officers, and
espedally all teachers in public schools shall endeavor by instruction
and precept, and still more by example, to impress upon the minds
of the young within their influence or under their care, the vital
importance of truthfulness, temperance, purity, industry, kindness,
public spirit, fair dealing, respect for honest labor of every kind, and
loyalty to enlightened conscience.
"4. The legislature shall take such action as may be needful
to prevent illiteracy, secure a reasonable degree of uniformity in
courses of study, and by all proper means to promote literary, in-
dustrial, scientific, and moral improvement.''
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20 The Quarterly Journal
These propositions were unanimously approved.
In the matter of lands donated for education, my proposition
was rejected. The educators present would allow one-fourth to
be sold during the first five years, one-half during the first fifteen,
and three-fourths during the first twenty-five; the remaining one-
fourth never to be sold.
On motion of Delegate Johnson of Lakota I was invited to
address the Constitutional Convention. This I did briefly at 4
P. M. Saturday, July 13th. But my legislative experience in Con-
necticut many years before had taught me that judicious action is
to be secured by argument and persuasion with individuals rather
than by forensic eflEorts, and so for several days the work was carried
on privately.
Tuesday, July i6th, I attended an educational conference at
Fargo. Territorial Superintendent Rose had invited the 86 county
superintendents. They made me chairman of a committee on the
proposed constitutional article. By invitation I submitted to the
meeting the results of our Bismarck deliberations. In substance
they were cordially approved.
Some of my propositions fared hard in the hands of the tinkers
at that July Convention at Bismarck ; but what is perhaps the most
important of them all, the recognition of the imperative need of
sound education and high moral character as essential prerequisites
to admission to the exerdses of the elective franchise, mesurably
escaped mutilation. It still stands at the head of the Article; and
thus, in theory at least. North Dakota is in one important respect
placed in advance of all other states and nations.
With the approval of the faculty our Athletic Association ob-
served "Field Day," Saturday, May 25th, with interesting sports
and contests on the campus. In the evening of June 12th interest-
ing "Class Day" exercises were held in the parlors of Davis Hall.
A third and more important new feature in university life was the
first Commencement. It took place in the chapel Thursday, June
13th. The essays and orations were creditable. Seven diplomas
in sdence, arts, and normal were awarded to as many graduates.
Ex-Gov. Ordway and Gov. Melette were present and made hand-
some speeches. At i :30 P. M. all in attendance were invited, and
most of them partook of a bountiful collation in the dining room of
Davis Hall. The trustees held a session that afternoon and elected
or confirmed as instructors Mr. George B. Hodge and Mr. Earle J.
Babcock. The wives of these two offered to give gratuitous in-
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President S Prague's Administration 2i
stniction, and for a very long time they rendered invaluable service
as teachers in the preparatory or normal department.
The new academic year, my third, opened with examinations
for admission Sept. 25th, 1889. Next day, Professor Montgomery
having resigned, William Patten, who had distinguished himself by
his scientific investigations, and who had been strongly recommended
by the faculty to be Professor of Biology and Curator of the
Museum, was requested by the board of trustees to "enter at once
upon such duties as the president of the university might assign.''
Notwithstanding the strengthening of our instructional force,
our labors were as multitudinous and as strenuous as before. It was
necessary to hold fifty-four faculty meetings before the loth of the
following June. The routine of one year was much like that of
another. We have time and space for mentioning only a few
matters; those of facts specially illustrative, and these for the most
part in their chronological order.
Sept. 17, 1889, Hon. H. W. Blair, U. S. Senator from New
Hamp^ire, appealed to me in a personal letter asking my aid to
secure the passage of his bill to overcome and banish illiteracy. "I
hope you will help us to pass this bill. The new states are our main
reliance."
The original Blair bill, which passed the Senate Feb. 15, 1888,
by a vote of 39 to 29, proposed to distribute seventy-seven millions
of dollars to the different states to enable them to educate the illit-
erate. It was impossible not to sympathize with the object in view.
The statistics showed millions entitled to vote who could not read
the names on the ballot, and more millions who knew next to nothing
of the issues involved. The bill in a modified form had been pend-
ing many months. Making a study of it, I came to the conclusion
that it was constitutional and fraught with great possibilities of
good, but sadly lacking in guarantees of the wise distribution of
the national bounty.
On the 1 2th of February, 1890, I mailed to each U. S. Senator
and many of the most prominent members of Congress a printed
letter urging support of the bill, provided certain amendments could
be incorporated. I still believe that such action by the federal
government, directed with proper safeguards and supplemented with
earnest cooperation by the state's meeting the national bounty half-
way, would ere this have given us an electorate quite free from the
present appalling ignorance. The parents' need of the earnings
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22 The Quarterly Journal
of their children, which is now the insuperable obstacle to their
obtaining the education ofiEered in the upper granunar grades and
in the high schools, would have been gloriously met, and the children
would have been nobly stimulated to faithful study and good be-
havior. It may not be too late even now.
For a year and a half after my arrival and for years before,
need was felt every day when the University was in session of a post
office on the premises ; also of a regular army officer to give military
instruction and drill. It was also felt that a signal service station
at Merrifield Hall would have instructional value and enhance the
reputation of the institution. President Roach had been urged re-
peatedly to secure these desiderata from the Washington authorities.
For some unknown reason his appeals were unheard or unheeded
or refused. Having an engagement of long standing to deliver
another course of lectures at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore,
during the week ending Saturday, Feb. 22, 1890, I determined to
visit Washington and there make application in person to the Post-
master General, the Secretary of War, and the Chief of the Signal
Service. I assigned written work for my classes during my absence.
Having made some preparation, I presented our desires to each of
these officers with as much skill as I could conunand. To my sur-
prise they inunediately granted all three requests; a post-office was
established, Lieut. Leon S. Roudiez of the Fifteenth Regulars was
detailed to be resident military instructor, and my son, Goldwin
Smith, was appointed signal service officer and supplied with the
proper instruments. The post office still remains in Merrifield Hall,
and the signal flags still float at the top. Roudiez did good service
for some years; then married and vanished.
North Dakota had been admitted as a state into the Union Feb.
22, 1889. In less than a year the new commonwealth was threat-
ened with what many regarded as a deadly poison. The people
of Louisiana had determined to drive out from their midst the
notorious lottery. Its managers made a desperate attempt to estab-
lish it here. Enormous sums of money were offered, it was said,
to the public treasury and to the pockets of legislators. Many poli-
ticians favored it; many respectable people. As the poet Pollok
wrote of the old-fashioned theater before it had been purified by the
great artists,
"Some very honest, wise, and worthy men
Maintained it might be turned to good account.''
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President Sprague's Administration 23
They showed that Harvard college had several times been saved
from collapse by lotteries; that many noble charities had been financed
by them; that a pious lottery scheme had been planned to put a
copy of the Holy Bible into the hands of every citizen in eastern
Massachusetts; that at the head of the Louisiana Lottery was a
great and good man, the Confederate General who commanded at
the capture of Fort Sumter, at the first Bull Run, and at Shiloh,
P. G. T. Beauregard; admired by all the South and incapable of
doing anything wrong; justly deserving the fine tribute implied in
the toast pronounced by President Davis at the Montgomery banquet,
April 16, 1 86 1, celebrating the fall of Sumter —
"With mortar, paixhan, and petard
We tender 'Old ABE' our beau-regard."
Without impugning any one's motives, the president and pro-
fessors of the University concurred with a majority of the best citi-
zens in deeming it a dangerous establishment, lilcely to prove an
infernal nuisance. Careful not to allow the University to appear
to take sides as an institution, they as individuals made vigorous
protests in confidential letters, unsigned newspaper articles, and some-
times in bitter public denunciations.
On the 9th of February, 1890, the territorial superintendent,
one of God's noblemen, Hon. William Mitchell, wrote from Bis-
marck as follows:
"My Dear President Sprague: —
"Sunday as it is, I must write you a line. Here one topic
overshadows every other, the infamous lottery scheme. Protests and
petitions pour in from all directions. The outlook is good for its
<iefeat, unless too much is offered for votes. Five in the House
and two in the Senate must be bought by the gamblers to put their
bill through. * Every man has his price' may prove true; and if
that price is offered, woe to North Dakota. ♦ ♦ ♦ The Senate
is in no proper humor to do right things just now."
We finally got a promise from the governor to veto the bill
and we breathed more freely. Our Professor Estes, a belligerent
and pugnadous Quaker, was the most outspoken, active, and efficient
in fighting it ; but we all thought it a devil's saddle, and we all did
our best to keep it off the back of North Dakota. Accordingly we
must all be punished, and the University, if it could not be killed,
must at least be crippled.
On the fifth of March, 1890, Senator George B. Winship,
whose name is still held in high honor in North Dakota, wrote me
from Bismarck as follows: —
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24 The Quarterly Journal
"The bill passed the Senate with all salaries cut ; yours to 2,000,
the others to i,8oo each.
"After it reached the House, we recalled it.
"During the absence of and some of his
Lottery pals, we restored all the salaries. But on final passage, a
majority of all the members must be had, which is i6.
"Last Monday the bill was again considered, and
his friends having returned. They were indignant when they
learned of our action during their absence. L made another
attack upon you, to which I replied. He then moved that your
salary be fixed at 2,000 An amendment making it 2,500 pre-
vailed.
"I have assurance from a good many members that they will
make a fight to restore your salary. I shall do all I can to bring
that about."
His effort failed. But we were "let off easy" ; disaster to the
University was averted; the state escaped the infection; the lottery
octopus was killed ; and I was the only one punished.
"The man recovered from the bite;
The dog it was that died."
I looked for redress, but it never came.
On the first day of April, 1890, Governor Miller approved an
act of the legislature cutting down my salary five hundred dollars
as the lottery men had decreed. This repudiation of a clear con-
tract crippled some of my plans, particularly one for the conversion
of the spacious attic of Merrifield Hall into a well-equipt gym-
nasium at my expense. The wrong was keenly felt; but I kept
silence, trusting that, by "patient continuance in well doing" I should
disarm hostility; and that the obnoxious law would be rescinded.
In this I was disappointed. My opposition was too recent,
too pointed, and too effective to be forgotten or forgiven. I heard
of two excuses; first, that the infant commonwealth was very poor;
and, secondly, that the appropriation for the University was in-
sufficient, and somebody must suffer. This last was Gov. Miller's
plea, quite naturally put forth on the first of April!
One of North Dakota's most respected citizens, a member of
the first board of trustees and one of the most useful of them all,
Hon. James Twamley, correctly voiced the convictions of those up-
right men who best knew the "true inwardness of the facts." On
the 8th of April he wrote to me, "I cannot see how Gov. Miller
or the legislature can pass a law impairing the obligation of con-
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President Sprague's Administration 25
tracts. I will write to him to-day on the matter." On the 13th
of the month he wrote me again —
"I told the Governor if we had power to make that contract
with you, that contract was binding on the State, and we were not
repudiators. I told him might cut a big
swath in County, but when he ran his head against the
Constitution of the United States, he would strike a snag. I don't
want to be a member of a Board that will be under control of
such men."
In May each year the most important work of the faculty was
the preparation of the annual catalog and determining the scope and
contents of the curriculum. Here the question upon which there
was most disagreement was as to the propriety of eliminating Greek.
The majority (4 to 2) were against me. In faculty meeting May
23d I gave my reasons for desiring to retain it, and immediately
thereafter submitted them to the trustees. I urged that we should
adhere to it as in former years: (i) to avoid the charge and fact
of vacillation, instability; (2) to demonstrate that even a single
year of the study is a good preparation for common English; (3) as
we are situated, by retaining it we avoid the multiplication of classes
and subjects; (4) we thus keep our standard of scholarship high,
make our institution attractive, and refute the charge that we are
a high school masquerading as a college; (5) we continue able to
transfer students to equal high standing elsewhere; (6) we attract
desirable students; 7) the public have a right to expect it, some
parents even demanding it; (8) we furnish a desirable qualification
for admission to the highest professional schools; (9) for culture,
and in its relation to the best literature and art and the finest civili-
zation, there is no real equivalent for it. On the third of June
the trustees notified us that they favored retaining Greek and in-
cluding it in the published courses of study in the catalog.
At the opening of my fourth year in September, 1890, the
faculty was strengthened by the addition of Lieut Roudiez. We
were still under the necessity of facing and solving problems that
seemed innumerable. There were 38 faculty meetings between Sep-
tember 26, 1890, and March 26, 1891. By act of the legislature
during the preceding March a school of mines had been added to
our curriculum, and we were fortunate in having Professor Babcock
to begin its work. Professors Merrifield, Macnie, Woodworth,
Estes, and Patten, would compare favorably with any selected five
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26 The Quarterly Journal
in any college, and the instructors, both salaried and volunteers,
were rendering really excellent service. The whole of eastern and
middle North Dakota seemed eager to hear from the University,
and president and professors were glad to fulfil appointments to
speak at educational gatherings.
It may be proper to mention a movement which, had I foreseen
the experiences of the next few years, would very likely have with-
drawn me sooner from the University.
In March, 1889, The Pioneer Press of St. Paul and Minne-
apolis in its editorial columns surprised me by suggesting my name
as that of a possible senator in the United States Congress. Soon
thirty other newspapers in Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, California, North Dakota, caught at
the idea. They would have had me elected in a few days, had
their wishes prevailed. But there are two things I never have
sought: viz., office, and riches. Some of my friends were gratified.
They saved up the newspaper notices, and thought that for their
sakes I should enter the lists. I attached no importance to the
movement, until a prominent gentleman, an entire stranger, in an
eloquent speech in the legislature eulogized me and ended by for-
mally nominating me for that high office. Immediately I was urged
by letters and by telegraph to come to Bismarck and conduct a per-
sonal campaign. I judged it was time to put a stop to the business.
This I did by publishing extensively the following card: —
"My position on. the subject of the senatorship, having
been misrepresented, I beg to state my attitude.
1. Of course I should like to be a senator; but as con-
stituted and manipulated, the eager pursuit of so sacred
and responsible an office by the only means likely to secure
it, seems presumptive if not conclusive proof that the
aspirant is not fit for it.
2. If it were tendered me in honorable fashion, without
any other pledge than that I should faithfully, to the best
of my ability, serve my state and my nation, I should
gladly accept. But —
3. To get It I can engage in no scramble, no intrigue, no
bargain, no fight; shall neglect no present duty, make no
speeches, curry no favor, solicit no votes, pull no wires,
promise no offices, pay no money, fling no mud, and tell
no lies. I am not for sale."
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President Sprague's Administration 2^
No room rent was ever paid at the University buildings, nor
was any tuition fee paid by any student. Excellent board was fur-
nished at three dollars a week, the two and a half dollars paid the
preceding year having proved insufficient. January 7th, 1891, a
prominent and influential citizen, apparently ignorant of the under-
standing between the trustees and Mrs. Sprague, endeavored. In his
excessive loyalty to the state, to deprive her of a large portion of
the ''incidental fees" (paid by most of the students, amounting to
$5 each), and to turn it into the state treasury. He was in a posi-
tion to know perfectly the conditions of the express contract, in which
it was stipulated that the whole of those fees should be placed in my
hands to aid in carrying on the boarding department and that I
should not account for any of them. This being the third time
that it had been sought to impair the obligation of financial contracts
with me since I undertook the managemnet of the University, I was
led to do some thinking on the precariousness of my tenure of the
office.
On the 24th of February, 1891, I tendered my resignation of
the presidency. I had three reasons for resigning. The first was
that I was overworked and needed rest; the second, that the winter
climate had sometimes been too severe for the health of my nearest
and dearest. The third and chief reason I have never stated.
Early in March, 1891, the board of trustees, being about to
retire to make room for the new state board which was to be ap-
pointed, adopted unanimously the following resolutions: —
''Resolved, That we cannot sever our connections with the Uni-
versity without expressing our regret that the institution is about to
lose the services of Prof. Homer B. Sprague as President.
"Resolved, That we desire hereby to express our hearty appre-
ciation of his valuable services to the University during his incum-
bency, of his unselfish devotion to its advancement and greater use-
fulness, and our acknowledgment of the success that has attended
his efforts.
"Resolved, That we accord to him a great measure of praise for
the present high position which the University has attained, and are
impressed with the belief that his connection with the Institution
will be a bright page in its history for all time to come. We do
hereby as a Board and individually tender Prof. Homer B. Sprague
our heartfelt respect and esteem, and our smcerest wbhes for his
future health, happiness and prosperity.
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be furnished Prof.
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28 The Quarterly Journal
Sprague, and that they be spread in full upon the minutes of the
Board."
In the middle of last June, after an absence of twenty-five years,
I was so fortunate as to revisit the University. Never have I seen
a greater or more surprising change. The rough campus seemed
by contrast to have become almost a paradise. Instead of a stubble
field of twenty acres, here were a hundred and twenty which had
felt the touch of the landscape artist. In the midst were elegant
walks, velvet-like lawns, flower beds, a fine fountain, a winding
watery mirror, arching trees whose tops vied in height with the high-
est roofs, pleasing alternation of light and shade. Instead of the
one solitary building which I found when I first came, and the two
lonesome ones which I left, there were now thirteen, some of them
magnificent.
In the distance on the once treeless uninhabited prairie, I could
see, across the green fields, thrifty dwellings, each nestling in a shel-
tering grove.
The hundred elms, which the Hon. William Budge had set
along the avenue between the University and the old Fair Grounds,
and which I feared would not live a year, had grown very tall, and
with others, nearer the city, had made the street very handscnne. The
stunted trees that once lined the streets had grown to stately heights,
and Grand Forks, once so plain and humble, had become one of
the most beautiful cities in America.
The University library when I first came had less than a thou-
sand columes; less than three thousand when I left. It now con-
tains over 53, OCX). We had four professors and two instructors
when I came. There are now 47 professors, 28 instructors and 15
special lecturers. In my first graduating class I think we awarded
but 7 or 8 degress. Last June the University awarded 1 10.
I have attended some 40 commencements, but none, I think,
more creditable to any institution than this in June. I have wit-
nessed many pageants in war and peace, but none finer or more
instructive than the dramatic display at the lovely Bankside Theatre
on the University campus the evenings of June 12th and 13th.
Unique and original in its origin, of all which I have heard or read of,
it seemed to me not only the 'most fitting to mark vrith splendor the
conclusion of the Shakespeare Tercentenary Conunemoration, but
to be prophetic of still greater achievements in the centuries to come.
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Vocational Training
Calvin Henry Crouch,
Dean of the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,
University of North Dakota
THE purpose of thb article is to discuss certain phases of voca-
tional training and to describe very briefly a vocational school
which the writer vbited some two years ago, hoping that the same
may be of interest and perhaps suggest ideas to some who may be
interested in such work.
The term vocational training is one of those popular terms
which has been greatly over-worked in recent years. It has been
used to cover such a great variety of educational work that it really
means nothing definite unless accompanied with more or less ex-
planation. The writer having served considerable time as an ap-
prentice in a machine shop before going to college and, since gradua-
tion, having spent several years in the shops of engineering and manu-
facturing concerns, as well as having been connected for some years
with a trade school which turned out skilled machinists, pattern-
makers, carpenters, bricklayers, and allied tradesmen, has had excel-
lent opportunities to study both the older and the more modern
apprenticeship systems of manufacturing concerns and is well ac-
quainted with the trade school plan of producing mechanics. Be-
cause of this experience, he has always taken a keen interest in
vocational training when by that term is meant a training which
trains for a specific vocation or for a line of industrial work re-
quiring skill.
After all that has been said and written in favor of vocational
training, one would naturally expect to find in our larger cities and
communities, fully worked out, comprehensive plans for the proper
training of the older boys and girls to become skilled workemn, so
that by the time they are sixteen or eighteen years of age they would
be able to take more or less responsible positions in the commercial
or industrial life of the conununity. This should, it would seem,
be a part of the educational programs of such communities, but ap-
parently such is not the case. Still, many of our cities and smaller
towns are attempting to adapt their schools to the needs of the
conununities. Bookkeeping, stenography, business law, domestic
sdence, and education have been given prominent places in the
curricula of the high schools, and in some of our agricultural com-
munities agricultural high schools have been established or are being
contemplated. But that is about as far toward vocational training
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30 The Quarterly Journal
as most of oiir communities have gone. Manual training has been
given a prominent place in many high schools, but the writer does
not class manual training under the head of vocational training.
He has no quarrel with those who advocate manual training as a
general educational subject for he heartily approves of it for that
purpose, but as usually taught it is altogether too superficial to be
considered as vocational training.
Manual training has quite a different function to perform from
that of vocational training. It has frequently been introduced to
give an all-round development, to train the hands as well as the
head, and to coordinate the two. This, the writer believes, should
be its real function. In other instances it has been introduced
hoping it would arouse the interest of certain classes of pupils in
the product of their hands and thus be a means of stimulating dieir
interest in other branches of school work and assist in keeping them
in school longer than they would otherwise remain. As such an
agent it is doubtless effective. In other cases, manual training has
been introduced for no well-defined reason other than that it has
been thought to be the popular thing to do. One community has
not wished to be outdone by some other and has therefore intro-
duced manual training, equipping its woodworking shops virith the
most expensive power tools and boasting that it had the finest equip-
ment in the state and the best that money could buy. When this
spirit prevails, it means that the community is loaded up with a
large and needless expense which probably precludes the possibility
of establishing other and more desirable courses and which will de-
feat the purpose for which manual training is usually introduced,
i.e., the all-round development of the hands and head.
We frequently see woodworking shops of manual training schools
equipt with the latest types of power tools such as joiners, planers,
circular and band saws which the students are allowed to use freely
because by so doing they can do a job so much quicker and better
then they could possibly do it if using only hand tools. If the
object of manual training is to arouse the interest of the boys in
such work, then there may be an excuse for such elaborate equip-
ment, but if the object is to train the hands, the machines are not
only needless but detrimental, for their use cannot give one the
training he should get from using hand tools. A shop provided
with workbenches, well supplied with hand tools, a grind stone, an
excellent instructor, and a good supply of rough unsurfaced lumber
will enable a school to give a most excellent course in manual
training as far as wookworking is concerned. Some of the most
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Vocational Training 31
proficient boys in woodworking that have come under the writer's
observation have come from schools which had no power toob but
which did have excellent instructors.
The writer would not be understood as minimizing the value
of manual training as a general educational subject and as an agent
to help a boy find himself, for he values it highly as such an agent,
but he would emphasize the importance of giving to those of our
boys and girls who are not destined to go to more advanced schoob
such training as will equip them, by the time they are seventeen or
eighteen years of age, to fill more or less important positions in the
educational, commercial or industrial activities of the community
of which they are a part. This should be a training which would
give them a feeling of independence and cause them to have more
self respect because of their ability to support themselves by means
of skilled rather than by means of unskilled labor.
At present our children begin their school life at six years of
age. Our high school graduaes have spent approximately twelve
years in school, and yet for what kind of a position in our industrial
life are they prepared ? Before they can fill any important position
they must serve a long apprenticeship which would be eliminated
or greatly reduced if their training in school had been such as to
fit them for such positions. It may be argued that our boys at
fourteen years of age, the age they enter high school, do not know
what their vocation will be, but such is probably not the case with
a very large proportion. They may not know the exact field in
which they will labor, but many if not most know whether they
intend to become skilled or unskilled workmen, business or profes^
sional men. The selection of a vocation by a boy is quite likely
to be greatly influenced by that of his father. The son of a
machinist is quite likely to become a machinist molder, carpenter or
a closely allied mechanic unless he desires to become a professional,
or business man. The prevailing industries of a community doubt-
less also exert a marked influence in determining the vocation of most
youths of the community, and if such be the case it would seem
that it would be wise for the schools to articulate more closely with
the industrial activities of the community and cater to their needs.
Even tho a young man or woman should learn a trade and later
decide to follow some other vocation or profession, the writer be-
lieves it would be far better for him or her, except in those cases
where the student expects to go to an advanced school, to be pre-
pared to earn a comfortable living as a trained accountant, or skilled
workman, than to have taken a general elective course which would
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32 The Quarterly Journal
allow wide latitude in the choice of studies and train for no specific
community activity. While the elective subjects in such a course
may have what are called cultural values, it is quite probable that
the subjects one would study in preparing for a specific line of work
would have equally high values as such.
We lament the^act that so many of our boys and girls drop
out of the high schools or do not go beyond the grades. We think
they show poor judgment and are often at a loss to account for
this lack of appreciation of their opportunities. The writer may
be mistaken, but he believes that the average boy at fourteen years
of age is seriously thinking about his future and that he could usually
be induced to continue in school if he felt that the training he would
receive would have a direct bearing upon what would be his life
work. He and his parents observe that the graduate from the
high school has to serve as long an apprenticeship in becoming a
skilled mechanic as tho he had never seen the inside of a high school
and they naturally ask themselves the question, does it pay?
The writer believes that if the schools above the grades should
give, in addition to the regular academic courses, courses which would
train for specific vocations, many of our boys and girls would gladly
avail themselves of their opportunity to continue in school instead of
dropping out as at present at the completion of the grades or at
the end of the first or second year of the high school course. He
would not eliminate the present high-school course but he would sup-
plement it with industrial or vocational work whcih would train
pupils for specific lines. Even tho a girl should learn dressmaking
and later decide to follow some other vocation, it is quite probable
that later, in a home of her own, she would find the training she
had received in dressmaking of inestimable value. The same may
be said of the work in foods and cookery, for a knowledge of foods
and of how properly to prepare them is a knowledge always useful
and of greater value to the average girl than that gained from a
study of most other subjects of the high-school curriculum. The
only ones to be compared with it in value are hygiene, sanitation
and such others as are of vital importance to the well being of the
community.
The same may be said concerning the training a boy would
receive in learning a trade or in becoming a bookkeeper or account-
ant. Even tho he should not follow his chosen vocation, the fact
that he knew he could support himself and family by skill in at
least one line of industry would cause him to have more self respect
than if he had been trained for no place in particular and was de-
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Vocational Training 33
pendent upon his ability to do only unskilled work. The field open
to him in which to earn a living would be greatly enlarged and
he would be better able to secure that kind of employment which
would be congenial to him or for which he might be best adapted
because of his natural qualifications and special training.
The ability to do skilled work is said to create a love for work
which is something to be fostered in youth. The ability of a girl
to make her own dresses should give her much satisfaction and pride
and woidd doubtless be the means of much saving. When one
realizes the comparatively small amount of time and energy required
to learn dressmaking and appreciates what it may mean in the future,
he feels that every high-school girl should be required to take such
a course. With such a training a woman could support herself
and family should necessity require it for, under present conditions,
there are few classes of laboring people more independent than the
first class dressmaker. In many localities, if the services of a dress-
maker are desired, one must make an appointment weeks ahead and,
as for remuneration, the competent dressmaker in some localities
makes as good or better wages than the average grade school teacher.
When all girb shall have learned dressmaking, the demand for the
dressmaker will be reduced but the time will never come when
there will not be a strong demand for the competent one. Like-
wise the time will never come when there will not be a strong de-
mand for competent cooks and housekeepers. The writer believes
that a thoro knowledge of dressmaking, and of foods and cookery
should be required of every high-school girl for it woidd not only
enable her to make a dollar go farther but virill make her a better
mother and a more efficient homebuilder than would any other kind
of training she could get from a high-school training.
Under present conditions our high-school graduates have spent
twelve years in school and yet they are prepared to assume respon-
sible positions in only a few of the conununity activities such as
teaching, bookkeeping or office work. Fortimately many of our
high schools have well developed commercial courses and offer special
courses for the training of teachers. Such courses have received
encouragement and support from educational boards and school
offidals, but educational work which would train one to become a
skilled artisan has, in most communities, either thru ignorance or
lack of appreciation, been considered by the school authorities as
non-cultural, bread-and-butter courses — not of sufficient importance
to be encouraged or supported as part of the educational plan of
the community. Such work has been left to the industrial interests
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34 r^^ Quarterly Journal
to care for or to the patriotic impulse of some public spirited citizen
to provide for by establishing and endowing trades schoob. And
yet this training is essential for the well being of every industrial
community. Why courses which train one to become a bookkeeper,
stenographer, or teacher are not as truly bread-and-butter courses as
are those which train one to become a machinist, patternmaker, or
briddayer, is difficult to conceive, and why a community should spend
large sums of money to train a small proportion of the youth for
business pursuits and neglect the many who might become our skilled
mechanics is equally difficult to understand except on the ground
of precedent and the habit of caring for the favored few. It will
perhaps be argued that even the larger cities cannot afford to main-
tain trades schools in which all of the trades common to the com-
munity can be taught, but that is no reason why none of them
should be taught, especially those in which there is the greatest de-
mand for skilled workmen.
Manufacturing conditions have greatly changed during the last
quarter of a century. Twenty-five years ago it was the custom for
manufacturing concerns of moderate size to offer apprenticeship
courses. They would take a limited number of apprentices, teach
them a trade or trades, and make all-around mechanics of them,
but, with the development of our modern factory system, manufac-
turing conditions have so changed that the manufacturing concern
which at present maintains even a semblance of the apprenticeship
system so common a comparatively few years ago may be said to be
the exception.
We live in an age of specialization. Factories are erected to
manufacture specific lines of goods. Their managements and shop
organizations are organized along modern lines, their shops are equipt
to manufacture but few articles or lines of goods and to produce
them in large quantities at a minimum cost, and this means speciali-
zation. Special machines are installed to perform specific opera-
tions. Frequently these machines have been so perfected that they
automatically perform operations which formerly required much skill
on the part of the operator. Indeed many of them have been so
highly perfected that they are fully automatic and require only to
be supplied with the necessary power and raw material and they
will turn out a product in accordance with the most exacting stand-
ards. In the same way special men are employed to perform spedal
operations. Frequently the processes of manufacture are divided
into steps; one man or set of men perform one operation, another
man or group of men another, and so on. In this way a man may
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Vocational Training 35
be kept continuously at one job performing perhaps only a very sim-
ple operation, but he becomes a specialist in that operation. It is
not necessary, from the manufacturer's standpoint, that he be an all-
around mechanic, capable of performing any or all of the operations
for he has but the one task to perform. The result of this highly
developed specialiation is that the relative number of highly skilled
all-around mechanics is very much smaller than would be needed if
one man were called upon to perform several or all of the operations
as was frequently done in the older methods of manufacturing. An
unskilled laborer can be taught to perform a simple operation so
that in a short time he will be able to do it as well as the most
skilled mechanic and, altho his skill will be limited to the one opera-
tion, he will turn out as much work as an all-around mechanic and
do it for a much smaller wage. As a result of this method many
manufacturing concerns have discontinued their apprenticeship sys-
tems so that at present it is difficult if not almost impossible for a
young man to find an opportunity to learn the trade he most desires.
The natural outcome of this policy was apparent from the first, to
students of the problem, and to remedy the situation some of the
larger concerns have found it necessary to re-establish apprenticeship
systems so as to supply their own needs for skilled mechanics, but
such concerns are mainly the larger ones and comparatively few.
The continued growth of this condition makes it more and more
the duty of the ccnnmunity or state to make provision so that the
young man who has the natural qualifications and wishes to become
a bricklayer, machinist or carpenter, or the young lady who has the
ability and wishes to become a dressmaker, tailoress or milliner
should have an opportunity to become such, that they may be better
able to find congenial employment and become more contented and
efficient members of the community than if they were to depend upon
their ability to do only unskilled labor.
A few communities and a limited number of cities have awak-
ened to a realization of their opportunities and responsibilities in con-
nection with this problem and have made a beginning by the estab-
lishment of trades schools. In some instances but a meagre begin-
ning has been made while in others the trades schools have been
launched on a large scale and give great promise.
The writer was greatly encouraged and inspired in the spring
of 1914 when he had the pleasure of visiting the Boys Trades School
of the dty of Milwaukee. This city evidently believes that after
one has spent twelve years in school he or she should be capable of
earning a living by means of skilled rather than unskilled labor. The
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36 The Quarterly Journal
writer was not surprized at the work he saw being done, for he was
familiar with trade school work, but that which greatly interested
him was the apparent enthusiasm and vigor with which the dty
had attad^ed the problem. At the time the writer visited this school
he had no intention of securing material for an article or address
but visited it simply to acquaint himself with what was being done
in the line of vocational training in some of our large industrial
cities. Had he had in mind the securing of such material he would
have visited the Girls Trades School which would have doubtless
been equally interesting.
The Boys Trades School of Milwaukee was established in 1906,
while the Girls Trade School was established in 1909. They are
parts of the city school system but are managed by a special Board
of Directors. This Board of Directors is made up of people from
various walks of life such as the manufacturer, the professional man,
the merchant, and mechanic The school officers report to the
Board of Directors who in turn make recommendation to the Board
of Education.
The Boys Trade School is situated not far from one of the
business and manufacturing districts of Milwaukee so that its en-
vironment is not very different from that of many manufacturing
plants. A large fire-proof building admirably adapted to the needs
of the school was in 1914 in process of construction. Two wings
had been completed and were occupied while the remainder was
under construction.
To enter this school a boy must be 16 years of age. The course
for the average boy is two years. Each course is well planned and
well arranged requiring for graduation the completion of a definite
series of exercises, or its equivalent. If it is desired that a machine
be built, it is constructed by the boys and credit given for its equiva-
lent in exercises. Altho it requires on the average two years to
complete the course, should a boy complete the assigned list of exer-
cises in less time he is graduated upon the completion of the same.
Students may enter at any time. The working conditions are quite
similar to those the boy will meet after graduation. They work
eight hours per day, five and a half days per week and forty-nine
weeks per year with the usual holidays so that the working con-
ditions are quite similar to working conditions in the average manu-
facturing plant.
The trades taught in the Boys Trades School consist of the
machinist, plumbers, patternmaking, carpentry, cabinet making,
mechanical and architectural drafting, and eventually other courses
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Vocational Training 37
will doubtless be ofiered. The boy who plans to become a machinist
or shop man» sptnds eight hours per week in mechanical drafting
and in recitations in English, civics, and arithmetic, the remaining
thirty-six hours are ^pent in the shop at his trade work; while the
boy who plans to become a draftsman spends eight hours per week
in the shops and in recitations in English, civics and arithmetic and
the remaining thirty-six hours in drafting.
A nifijit school is operated seven months per year from 7:30
to 9 :30 for the benefit of those who work days but wish to improve
their condition by fitting themselves for more responsible positions.
The product of the shops is utilized in various ways. For in-
stance, wood turning lathes, grinders, and band saws are made in
the machine shop, and according to reports much of the equipment
of the manual training schools of Milwaukee is the product of her
trades school. The quantity of product turned out is not the all-
important factor for the machinery is built for instructional pur-
poses, its utilization is of only secondary importance hence no outside
help is employed and the boys do all the work which is apparently
of a high grade. If an instructor finds that a student is not adapted
to the course in which he enrolled the student is advised to change
his course or leave the school. The result is, the graduates are
skilled mechanics and after having had some experience on heavy
work they should be the equal of or superior to many of the regular
mechanics in the ordinary shop and should be able to handle the
heaviest of work.
A brief description of the plumbing course will illustrate the
methods employed in the school. This course, like all of the others,
consists of a definite series of exercises. These exercises are all
listed and the maximum time within which each must be made is
also listed. To be accepted an exercise must not only be well done
hut it must have been made within a given time so that the result
is both workmanship and speed. The grade a student earns on an
exercise depends largely upon the amount of time he is able to save
over the allotted time. After a student has completed all but the
last exercise he is assigned a "house" in which to install the plumb-
ing. The "house" is a portion of the shop fitted up into apart-
ments or small flats. These flats have the studding, joists and
rough flooring, the identical conditions a plumber meets when he
installs the plumbing in a new house. In this house, or flat, the
student installs a complete system of plumbing such as is usually
found in a house. When completed it is subjected to the same tests
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38 The Quarterly Journal
by the instructor as would be made by a city inspector and if found
satisfactory the student is graduated.
Upon completing the courses at this school the graduates com-
mand nearly full journeymen's wages. According to statistics the
average wage earned after being out eleven and a half months were
as follows: Patternmakers 31.8c per hour, machinists 32.6c per hour,
and the plumbers 53.2c per hour, which speaks well indeed for the
work of the school.
The Girls Trades School was opened in 1909. It teaches
dressmaking and millinery. The requirements for admission are
that the student must be fourteen years of age. They attend seven
hours per day, five days per week, eleven months per year. They
spend twenty-one hours per week at their trade work and fourteen
hours per week at their studies. Their probable wage one year
after graduating is said to be $2.00 per day which would indicate
that the Milwaukee Girls Trades School is doing an excellent work.
It is the custom in the middle and western states of the United
States for each state to support, in whole or in part, institutions of
higher education which give not only general educational training
but train men and women for the practise of law, medicine, engi-
neering, teaching and other professions. If it is wise that the state
support such institutions for the training of the professional man
would it not be equally wise and proper for the state to support
vocational schools or trades schools for the training of the artisans
and skilled laborers for the industries of the state?
Every state has many small communities which cannot support
a trade school but every community of any size needs its bricklayers,
carpenters, machinists, dressmakers, milliners, etc. Would it, there-
fore, not seem wise to have trade schools established as parts of the
state educational systems instead of leaving this training to be given
by the various industrial interests. Much may be said in favor of
the apprenticeship systems of many of the industrial concerns. An
apprentice in the industrial plant receives a small wage while the
student in the trade school does not, but it should be remembered
that it requires much less time to secure a given training when one
has a competent instructor over him at all times, as in a trade school,
than it would require without a well organized system of instruction
as in commerdal shops where the instruction is given by whoever
the apprentice may happen to be working with or in the commercial
shop where the instruction is given by one who has other duties
than that of instructing the apprentices.
There are, however, a few industrial concerns that employ in-
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Vocational Training 39
structors whose sole business it is to look after the apprentices, to
see that they receive proper instruction and are given the proper
variety of work so that they will continue to grow or improve thruout
their course. Such concerns should, with a competent instructor,
give an excellent training for they have the shop atmosphere and the
variety of work needed. They maintain what is virtually a trade
school tho under a different name. However, the up-to-date con-
cerns offering such apprentice courses are few in number so we must
look for some other means to train our skilled workmen, and as we
cannot expect philanthropists to establish and maintain trade schools,
it is incumbent upon the cities and state at large, to provide for
this training, the same as they do for the general academic training
in the high schools and the professional training given in the uni-
versities. This would mean that every city of moderate size would
have some kind of a trade school or would offer vocational training
in its high school, and the state at large would maintain, in part or
in whole, trade shcools in which many trades would be taught.
It will doubtless be sometime before the public will realize
the importance of vocational training but there are signs of an
awakening to the realization that it is as much our duty to provide
proper training for the many who are to become our skilled work-
men as it is that we should provide training for those who are to
become our teachers, business, or professional men.
It is to be hoped the day is not far distant when our schools
will be so organized and managed as to supply the real educational
needs of the community and when this is done the vocational or
trades schools will be occupying positions of first importance in our
public school system.
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The Limitations of Science*
Frank Allen,
Professor of Physics, University of Manitoba
THE suggestion contained in the title of this address — that
Science has any assignable limitations — ^may at first thought
almost convict one of heresy. For in the realm of intellect, what
greater ^ectacle does the world afford, since the Reformation, than
the rise and brilliant development of our knowledge of nature which
has now attained such vast proportions?
One conversant with the history of natural science might almost
be pardoned for enthusiastically maintaining that before the simple
and powerful scientific method all obstacles to the advance of
knowledge must sooner or later give way; that there is no part of
the universe which will not ultimately yield its harvest of principles
and laws to the victorious logic of induction.
But at this crisis in human affairs — z. crisis which owes its mag-
nitude and gravity to Science, and which marks the close of another
epoch in the history of the world — it may not be out of place to
consider again whether or not science has limitations, and in what
realm, physical, biological, mental, or spiritual, those limitations are
to be found.
If there is a region where phenomena can not be isolated, or
where they appear without any assignable cause, no foundations are
available for any superstructure. As we penetrate the undiscovered
regions surrounding our knowledge we step from effect to precedent
cause with an assured belief in the validity of the law of causality.
It is possible, however, that when we have passed triumphantly from
one outpost to another we may arrive at a set of phenomena to which
it is impossible to assign causes — to which the law of causality does
not apply.
In consideration of our general subject let us turn our attention
to physical science and see if there are boundaries which may not
be transgrest
One of the most important problems— one whose age is now
mesured by milleniums — ^is the constitution of matter. The history
of the solution of this fundamental problem is of the deepest interest.
We may read the ancient rival speculations of Anaxagoras and Aris-
totle, of Democritus and Lucretius, who taught their disciples that
* An address delivered at the convocation of the University of
North Dakota on March 25, 1916, in the exchange lectureship existing
between the two institutions.
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Limitations of Science 41
matter was either continuous and infinitely divisible, or that matter
is not indefinitely divisible, but that all substances are formed of
indivisible particles or atoms which are eternal and unchangeable.
In modem times we have the quantitative atomic theory to
which the name of Dalton is inseparably attached. Well do we
remember how conclusive was the evidence from all branches of
science that in this direction science had pushed its way to the limit
and recognized atoms as the ultimate and smallest particles of matter.
It is true that in some quarters an uneasy feeling was manifested
that all was not well with the atomic theory. What constituted
the difference between the elemental atoms? Why should they differ
in weight and properties? Was there after all a fundamental stuff
or protyle from which all atoms were made?
Such considerations as these, tho occasionally finding a resting
place in the mind of the professor, rarely extended to the student,
who reposed his science securely on the impregnable foundation of
the atom.
What a difference have the discoveries of the last few years
made in our knowledge of the atom I Under the skillful assaults of
Sir Joseph Thompson, Sir William Crookes, Sir Ernest Rutherford,
and others, the long indivisible atom was discovered to be a most
complex structure of electrons, whose number and arrangement were
the physical causes of the diverse chemical properties of the elements.
Electricity, long suspected, was simultaneously found to be atomic in
its structure and to be associated with the new ultimate particle in
predse and mesurable proportions. Indeed, one scientist has gone
so far as entirely to dispense with the particle of matter and leave
its electric companion as the sole and ultimate entity — a conclusion
which explains matter by explaining it away. Alexander the Great
evaded the diffculty of untying the Gordian knot by cutting it ; this
last suggestion would meet the difficulty of the Gordian knot of
matter by calmly denying its existence.
It is remarkable now with what ease the hitherto indivisible
atom has been resolved into hundreds — 1700 in the case of hydro-
gen — of electrons, which form systems as intricate and wonderful
as the solar system itself.
Has science here reached a limit, as we now seem to be con-
vinced, or is the electron in its turn capable of subdivision? One
mig^t advance much evidence for finality in this new theory of mat-
ter, such as the fact that electrons from all sources are alike. Never-
theless, it is conceivable that we may yet discover still smaller par-
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tides, and so bring the atomic theory into harmony with the cele-
brated zoological epigram:
Great fleas have smaller fleas
Upon their backs to bite 'em ;
And small have lesser fleas,
And so ad infinitimi.
Tho the simple but powerful scientific method has given us such
remarkable insight into the constitution of matter, yet the incon-
clusive nature of that method may be an intellectual embarrassment
to us in trying to discover whether finality is now or may even be
hoped to be reached.
Again, let us consider the lowest possible temperature that may
be imagined. Our modern theory declares that the heat of a body
is due to the energy of motion oft its atoms. On this basis the
familiar figure of 273^ below zero centigrade has been computed as
the temperature when the motion of the atoms ceases, and this has
consequently been called the absolute zero of temperature. Is this,
after all, the lowest conceivable temperature? I can scarcely think
so; for when the weary atom or rather its center of force action,
is at last enjoying its frigid rest, the electrons are still in vigorous
and incessant motion. Would not an intelligent being of sub-atomic
dimensions, escaping from the chilly inter-atomic spaces of such a
substance as frozen helium, the coldest known substance, find warmth
among the electrons within the confines of the atom itself?
We know that at the absolute zero the relative motion of the
atoms ceases, and they are crowded as close together as possible, so
that the volume of the substance reaches a minimum; but if the
enormous energy of the electrons were then to be taken away, a
further shrinkage in volume must result, accompanied by some other
physical manifestation, such as a further lowering of temperature
to the 'ultimate zero.'
Further, free electrons are now recognized in the atmosphere,
ejected perhaps from the sun. Imagine a mass of these free electrons;
would it not possess a temperature due to the motion of the several
particles? When the electrons are in motion in th^ atom would the
case be di£Eerent, and would there not be a temperature of the atom
resulting?
In problems such as these, tho no further advance may at present
seem possible, it would be rash to conclude that science has yet
reached any limitation.
In the consideration of many parts of physical science, we come
inevitably to the consideration of space and of a possible medium
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Limitations of Science 43
filling that space. To this medium is given the name of the ether.
In times past there were many ethers: "ethers for planets to swim
in, to constitute electric atmospheres and magnetic efBuvia, to convey
sensations from one part of our bodies to another and so on till all
space had been filled three or four times over with ethers." At last
a horror of ethers was raised in the minds of scientists. Now but
one ether is postulated which must serve all purposes that require
such a mediimi. In order to meet the demands made upon it, the
ether must be endowed with properties so astonishing and seemingly
contradictory, that the limits of credibility, if not of science, seem to
be reached. If, however, we abandon the idea of an ether, then
space itself must be endowed with such properties that will enable
force and energy to be transmitted thru and by means of it. With
prudent caution I refrain from attempting to settle off hand either
of the two perennial problems — space and time — of the philosopher.
Yet space from the standpoint of the physicist usually implies ex-
tension alone and its most conspicuous property is "emptiness."
Repelled by the extraordinary properties of the ether on the one
hand, and bewildered by the difficulty of ascribing any properties at
all to the "emptiness" or "nothingness" of ^ace, one is indeed in a
grave dilemma, and may sympathize with the unfortunate mathe-
matical student who dreamed he had fallen under the sign of the
square root and could not be extracted.
DiflRculties of the most formidable character begin to crowd
upon us when we contemplate such problems as the origin of mat-
ter, the origin of energy, and perhaps the origin of the ether. How
came it that such forces as electric and magnetic exist? Is gravita-
tion a property of matter or of the ether? Or what relation do
these forces have to space if the ether does not exist?
Matter either was eternal in its duration or else it had a be-
ginning, however remote that primal event may have been. If, as
was the opinion of Herschel and Maxwell,the atoms bore the ap-
pearance of being manufactured articles, how much more is this the
case when we know of their complex electronic structure! Then
as matter is the abode of energy, and as the energy of the universe
is tending to a state wherein it is evenly distributed thru all matter,
so the principle of the dissipation of energy stands like a signpost on
the highway of knowledge, pointing us to a distinct and unmistakable
beginning of things. LaPlace's "principle of sufficient reason," "that
a thing can not begin to be without a cause to produce it," brings
us to the necessity of recognizing a first cause beyond which there
is no other conceivable. The dogmatic assertion of some scientists
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that matter always existed is simply a confession that here science
has reached its limit.
Leaving the domain of physical science, we may glance briefly
at one of the problems of biology — the origin of life. The solution
of this extraordinarily important problem has engaged the attention
of many of the most distinguished biologists, but so far with no
results.
The latest discussion that I am aware of is the presidential ad-
dress of Sir Edward Shaefer, delivered before the British Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science at Dimdee. In this address
an argument is made for the probability of living matter being pro-
duced from non-living by chemical processes. ''Setting aside/' says
Sir Edward, "as devoid of scientific foundation, the idea of super-
natural intervention in the first production of life, we are compelled
to believe that living matter must have owed its origin to causes
similar in character to those which have been instrumental in pro-
ducing all other forms of matter in the imiverse ; in other words to
a process of evolution."
Now in this short statement there is much suggested. Instead
of "setting aside as devoid of scientific foundation the idea of super-
natural intervention in the first production of life," there is as yet,
whatever the future may bring forth, no scientific foundation for any
other beginning of life than supernatural intervention. It is an old
principle that all life comes from life, and nothing yet is known that
controverts that simple but pregnant statement, further. Sir EMward
casually implies that living matter is on the same plane with "all
other forms of matter," instead of being transcendentally different
from them. Is it possible to consider Homer and Hydrogen, or
Shakespeare and Sodium, or Newton and Nitrogen as natural pheno-
mena of the same order of magnitude, or as differing from each other
only in complexity of structure?
But Sir Edward goes on to discuss the undoubtedly great
achievements of chemistry in producing by synthesis many organic
compounds, and then proceeds to apply this idea to the production
of what may be called 'synthetic life.* "The elements," continues
the professor, "composing living substance are few in number.
* * * The combination of these elements into a coUodial com-
pound represents the chemical basis of life; and when the chemist
succeeds in building up this compound it will without doubt be found
to exhibit the phenomena which we are in the habit of associating
with the term "life." • • • From any beginning of living
material a primitive form of life would spread and would gradually
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Limitations of Science 45
people the globe. The establishment of life being once effected, all
fonns of organization follow under the inevitable laws of evolution."
What is the significance of these ideas? Is life a combination of
chemical and physical properties of a certain form of matter, much
the same as hardness or malleability? The biologists have decided
that there is in living matter no vital force; and physiologists are
fond of asserting their science to be merely the physics and chemistry
of the living organism. The science of physiology may indeed be so ;
perhaps it coiild not be a science imless that were so. Still between
physiology and life itself a deep gulf is fixt, nor is this gulf passed
over by denying the existence of a vital force; while the denial
instead of solving the riddle of life, , so far at least leaves it where
it found it
It is worthy of attention that Sir Edward Shaef er has considered
a piece of living matter merely a chemical compound. Undoubtedly
it is this, but far more. It is a heat engine of splendid efficiency, and
one, moreover, that enjoys the remarkable power of self regulation
and self perpetuation by reproduction. What would not the mechani-
cal engineer give for such a device in the industrial world! The
imagination of the inventor kindles at the idea of such a machine;
one that would seek its own fuel, selecting that which is best for
its welfare and then, in its prime, reproducing a new, equally per-
fect, or even an improved variety to take its place when the parent
' is worn out
Worthy of special consideration is the last sentence of the quo-
tation from Sir Edward's address, that "the establishment of life
once effected, all forms of organization follow under the inevitable
laws of evolution." Imagine the triiunphant chemist to have pro-
duced at last the long awaited synthetic life. Far more than a piece
of protoplasm it is that lies in its infancy before his gaze. Therein
is contained a new population of the globe, the wonderfully varied
forms of floral life, of delicate fragrance and exquisite beauty; the
countless varieties of animal organisms, exhibiting forms of adapta-
tion to their environment the most ingenious and the most complete ;
and under the blind forces of natural selection all tending thru multi-
tudinous stages to one conscious and intelligible end. But more than
this is wrapt up in the no longer mysterious protoplasm ; a new race
of intelligent beings dwells therein ; a new Aristotle to lay the foun-
dations of yet unimagined systems of logic and philosophy; a new
Euclid to explain to the inhabitants of this three- dimensional world
the profound vagueness of the Fourth Dimension; a new Babel to
provide additional language options for vastly remote generations of
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students; a new President and Faculty for the University of North
Dakota, and a new speaker to address its convocation! The *pro-
mise and potency' of that synthetic protoplasm bring thronging visions
to the imagination, but I must resist temptation and hurry on.
If this is what the chemical synthesis of life means, and cer-
tainly all this is implied in the quoted address, I will venture the
assertion that here science has reached its limit, and that the prob-
lem of the origin of life will baffle future generations of scientists
as completely as it has those of the past. Here as in the analogous
problem of the origin of matter we shall have to make our way thru
the discarded speculations that lie about our path and assign life to
that Creative Power, that Great First Cause, which Mr. Herbert
Spencer, because he did not choose to know Him, had (shall I not
say?) the effrontery to call unknowable and unknown.
Much discussion has gathered around the question of the "evi-
dences of design" in the universe. There is a view held by many
that the universe presents to us a grand series of phenomena tending
necessarily to some sort of a conclusion, inevitable indeed, but pur-
poseless ; that our own globe viewed in the same light, presents noth-
ing but the natural phenomena of a cooling sphere. From this
standpoint everything is fixt and determined as a function, perhaps,
of the falling temperature. The change from non-living to living
matter, for instance, will occur as spontaneously and necessarily as
that steam will condense into water and that water will freeze at
certain pressures and temperatures; that after a time life in its turn
will disappear causing everything on this planet "to be as tho it had
never been."
From such a repulsive view of the world we turn with relief
to discover evidences that a great purpose underlies the phenomena
of the earth and the life which is so prominent a feature. It may
be that many so-called "evidences" adduced in support of Paley's
great argument may have to be replaced by others of a more funda-
mental nature. Nevertheless, the fact that the universe is intelli-
gible to our finite minds is a powerful support to the belief in an
intelligent Designer. Lord Kelvin was always greatly imprest by
the argument from Design and frequently referred to it in letters
and addresses. Let me give two quotations:
"But it does seem that the marvelous train of discovery * • *
must lead to a stage of knowledge in which the laws of inorganic
nature will be understood in this sense — that one will be known as
essentially connected with all, and in which unity of plan, through
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Limitations of Science 47
an inexhaustibly varied execution, will be recognized as a universally
manifested result of creative wisdom."
"The relations of matter and life are infinitely too complex for
the human mind to understand. Science brings us face to face with
creative power in the beginning of life on this earth and its con-
tinuance."
The argument from design has received a somewhat sensational
treatment in a popular work published a few years ago by Dr. Per-
cival Lowell on "Mars as the Abode of Life." The opening sen-
tences of this work depict the beginnings of the solar system as
imagined by this eminent astronomer. "So far as thought may peer
into the past the epic of our solar system began with a great catas-
trophe : two suns met ; what had been, ceased ; what was to be, arose.
Fatal to both progenitors, the event dated a stupendous cosmic birth.
It is more than likely that one or both of the colliding masses were
dark bodies. * * * It is not to be supposed that the two rovers
actually struck, the chances being against so head-on an encounter;
but the e£Eect was as disastrous ; tides raised in each by the approach
tore both to fragments."
It is to be noticed how large a part chance played in this
primeval event, and how completely is ruled out any premeditated
design in the origin of our S3rstem. Nor is it likely that we shall
ever know how nearly we came to not being at all. A further
interesting fact is found in this quotation, that such a rigid uniformi-
tarian as Dr. Lowell has to start his uniformity with a catastrophe.
Elaborating his argument, Dr. Lowell then proceeds to evolve
the planets, the earth as we know it, and particularly the life which
is its most important feature. "Upon the fall of the temperature to
the condensing point of water, occurred another event in the evolu-
tion of our planet, and one of great monent to us: Life arose.
For with the formation of water, protoplasm first became possible,
what might be called the life molecule then coming into existence.
• * * There is now no more reason to doubt that plants grew
out of chemical affinity than to doubt that stars did. Spontaneous
generation is as certain as spontaneous variation, of which it is, in
fact, only an expression. • • • From all we have learned of
its constitution on the one hand, or of its distribution on the other,
we know life to be as inevitable a phase of planetary evolution as
is quartz or feldspar or nitrogenous soil." Gradually life outgrew
the need of living in the water, its first home. I can not refrain
from quoting Dr. Lowell's description of the next stage, tho it is
really foreign to the purpose of this address.
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''But at last a better habitat ofiEered itself and was speedily
appropriated. Weathering of the land and constantly changing
chemic processes prepared the continents for organic use. Plants,
as we have seen, at last found foothold and insects an abode. Then
came the exodus from the sea.'* (This exodus too, you will observe,
had its Moses.) "We may picture some adventurous fish, spurred
blindly from within essaying the shore in preference to the main.
Tentatively at first he must have ventured, as became such bold
endeavor. Finding the littoral not inhospitable, the pioneer reported
his exploit, and was followed by others whom mutation had specially
endowed."
Since the imagination may be invoked, we may extend the de-
scription and further picture some piscine Shakespeare enthusiasti-
cally contemplating Dr. Lowell's anthropomorphic fish and exclaim-
ing in panegyrical rapture: ''What a piece of work is fish! How
noble in reason I how infinite in faculties ! in form, and moving, how
express and admirable I in action, how like a monkey! in apprehen-
sion, how like a man I the beauty of the world 1 the paragon of ani-
mals!"
In order to establish his thesis Dr. Lowell proceeds to de-
scribe the peculiar markings on Mars which resemble straight lines,
and which converge at many points forming a complicated geometric
network. Dr. Lowell considers that these lines are canals bordered
by cultivated areas, and that the whole network is a gigantic irrigation
system to bring water from the poles and distribute it over the arid
plains of Mars.
Let us quote from Dr. LowelFs book; "But long before the
catalogue of geometric curiosities had drawn to its close • • *
it becomes apparent to anyone capable of weighing evidence that
these things which so palpably imply artificiality on their face can
not be natural products at all, but that the observer apparently
stands confronted with the workings of an intelligence akin to and
appealing to his own. What he is gazing on typifies not the outcome
of natural forces of an elemental kind, but the artificial produa of
a mind directing it to a purposed and definite end.
"It would be interesting, doubtless, to learn how are bodied
these inhabitants that analysis reaches out to touch. But body is
the last thing we are likely to know of them. Of their mind as
embodied in their works, we may learn much more, and after all,
is not that the more pregnant knowledge of the two ?
"The laws of physics and the present knowledge of geology
and biology, affected by what astronomy has to say of the former
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Limitations of Science 49
subject, have conducted us * * * to the recognition of other
intelligent life. We have carefully considered the circumstantial
evidence in the case, and have lighted on one which thoroughly ex-
plains the evidence that observation offers. We are justified, there-
fore, in believing • • • that life at present inhabits the planet
'Tart and parcel of this information is the order of intelligence
involved in the beings thus disclosed. Peculiarly impressive is the
thought that life in another world should thus have made its presence
known by its exercise of mind. That intelligence should thus mutely
communicate its existence to us across the far stretches of space,
itself remaining hid, appeals to all that is highest and most far reach-
ing in man himself. More satisfactory than strange this; for in no
other way could the habitation of the planet have been revealed. It
simply shows again the supremacy of mind."
Is it not remarkable that an eminent astronomer like Dr. Lowell
can see in the lines on Mars conclusive evidence of design, of mind,
of the existence of intelligent beings, whether men, or cephalopods,
or ants, or other animals accordiifjz; to whatever line of development
the Martian environment happened to favor; and not see it in the
solar system or in our own earth, with all its orderly processes, its
exact and harmonious laws, its teeming living creatures of utility
and beauty, its intelligent beings who consciously exercise their
dominion over it all, contemplate their origin and destiny, exercise
their reason and freedom of will, cultivate their intellectual life,
and recognize a moral law which, incapable of being evolved, and
resting only upon itself, elevates their thoughts to the sublime con-
ception of a Supreme and Omnipotent God? Is it not remarkable
that in all this Dr. Lowell sees no evidence of the operation of a
designing mind, nothing but the merest chance?
Never do I remember seeing the ideas of chance and design
thrown into such hig^ relief in the same work, and both used for
the solution of the same problem. A rational sdence, it would seem,
leads us with sure steps to the recognition of design and of a Design-
ing Mind presiding over the genesis and unfolding of the universe.
If we deny this we must postulate an irrational chance, or else fall
back on the dogma of the eternity of matter and of law, which is
nothing but a despairing admission that science is incapable of for-
mulating a rational belief as to the beginning of things.
In his extremely interesting Gifford Lectures on "Naturalism
and Agnosticism" Professor Ward discusses and criticises a mechani-
cal view of the world which was put forward a century ago by
LaPlace, the great French mathematician and astronomer.
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Let mc quote the ideas of LaPlace: "We ought then to regard
the present state of the universe as the effect of its antecedent state
and as the cause of the state that is to follow. An intelligence, who
for a given instant should be acquainted with all the forces by whidi
nature is animated, and with the several positions of the things com-
posing it, if further his intellect were vast enough to submit these
data to analysis, would include in one and the same formula the
movements of the largest bodies in the universe and those of the
lightest atom. Nothing would be uncertain for him; the future as
well as the past would be present to his eyes. The human mind in
the perfection it has been able to give to astronomy affords a feeble
outline of such an intelligence. Its discoveries in mechanics and in
geometry, joined to that of universal gravitation, have brought it
within reach of comprehending in the same analytical expressions the
past and future states of the system of the world * * * all its
efforts in the search for truth tend to approximate it without limit
to the intelligence we have just imagined."
This imaginary intelligence of LaPlace's has inspired part of
an address by Professor Du Bois-Raymond. "As the astronomer,"
he says, "has only to assign to the time in the lunar equations a cer-
tain negative value to determine whether as Pericles embarked for
Epidaurus there was a solar eclipse visible at the Piraeus, so the
spirit imagined by LaPlace could tell us by due discussion of his
world formula who the man with the iron mask was, or how the
"President" came to be wrecked. As the astronomer foretells the
day on which — years after — a comet shall recmerge in the vault of
heaven from the depths of cosmic space, so that spirit would read
in his equations the day when the Greek cross shall glance again from
the Mosque of St. Sophia, or England have burned her last bit of
coal. Let him put t — — oo and there would be unveiled before
him the mysterious beginning of all things. Or if he took t positive
and increasing without limit, he would learn after what interval
Carnot's Law will menace the universe with icy stillness. To such
a spirit even the hairs of our head would all be numbered, and
without his knowledge not a yarrow would fall to the ground."
This medianical theory of nature is supposed to be attractive
and satisfying to the mind of the scientist, and in order to give it
the slightest probability LaPlace and his followers have found it
necessary, as is obviously the case, to exclude human free will from
the realm of fact. If free will is an illusion, then our actions are
conditioned by forces outside ourselves as completely as the di^)o-
sition of matter on the globe is attributable to the laws of mechanics.
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Limitations of Science 51
Instead of the members of this audience, for instance, assembling
here for whatever reasons may have influenced them, to test their
powers of endurance possibly, they are here of necessity and for the
same kind of necessity as the occurrence of lignite and granite in
various parts of the state. To deny the freedom of the will is to
make all human actions, good and bad alike, simply natural pheno-
mena, and for example, would be equivalent to declaring that nobody
is responsible for this hideous world war. Free will must be re-
garded as a fact or characteristic of the human being, even tho its
operations may be regarded as miracles, as Lord Kelvin did not
hesitate to say.
Here we find a region into which science will find it impossible
to enter. It is a region, too, that is after all the most interesting
and by far the most important ; for the conditions established by the
material world will terminate sooner or later for each of us; but
the consequences of the freedom of the will, involving responsibility
in its exercise, will follow us thru the unending future of our ex-
istence.
In the realms of the mind and "spirit the difficulties inherent in
the nature of the problems enormously increase. Science can weigh
the brain but not the mind; the spirit refuses to betray itself to
instruments of precision. Towards the former of these — mind —
many even opposing attitudes have prevailed. To some the mind
has meant everything; to others nothing. But what are we to say
of thought which, to DesCartes, was the proof of self-existence? Is
thought a form of matter? That is unthinkable. Is it a form or
mode of motion? That is impossible.
"What is mind ? no matter,
What is matter? never mind."
The materialistic scientists seem to be possest of an uneasy fear in
admitting the existence of anything but matter and motion. Hence
the crude materialistic dictum "that the brain secretes thought as
the liver secretes bile." To the bulk of thinking humanity this
bilious theory of thought — of which the quotation is an excellent
example — and all that is implied by it, can never be anything but
repellent. Matter is matter, and energy is energy; we may just as
well and as logically go one step further and say that thought is
thought. As energy is known to us in association with matter tho
not identical with it, so thought is associated with both matter and
energy without the least necessity of being identical with either.
Religious belief leads us easily to the idea of thought entirely apart
from material beings; tho many scientists would say that this is a
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52 The Quarterly Journal
realm where nothing but speculation and hypothesis is to be found.
While not in the least admitting any necessity for such an attitude,
it yet serves to remind us that in this direction restrictions are im-
posed not only by the limitations of science, but also by the limita-
tions of the human intellect.
There is a realm in which all are fundamentally interested
which in recent years has received a new attention from the at-
tempted investigations of certain scientists. The spirit world has
long been left for the exercise of religious ideas and beliefs. Some
have sought by scientific methods to rend asunder the veil of mystery
so impenetrable to himian curiosity. From being a subject to which
only a solemn interest attaches, it is now exhibited to popular, gaze
by the discussions of many eminent men, notable among them being
Sir Oliver Lodge, and by others of a manifestly uncritical and
credulous nature. Many claims are made that the world invisible
has been reached and communication with its spirit population es-
tablished. One could feel more satisfaction if this realm had not
been made the scene of so much trickery and deception, and if it
did not in its nature lend itself so well to gross imposture. To
brush such aside may indeed seem commendable and scientific; but
even the most scrupulous and careful investigation appears to have
brought nothing from the unseen but the most trivial and puerile
communications, which lend to the invisible intelligences, if such are
reached, neither importance nor dignity.
If, indeed, we may command the illustrious of the past, what
might not be accomplished in elucidating so many problems of in-
terest? What lover of Shakespeare would not gladly know how he
really spelled his name, or the curious learn the identity of the author
of the Letters of Junius? Then Livy might reproduce his lost books,
and Horace inform us whether his ode to Fuscus is a hymn to virtue,
or an enduring and elegant monument of delicate Roman humor.
Sappho again might sing for us her burning songs of love. Manetho
and Berosus, perhaps, might be invited to affirm how much of their
histories of Egypt and Babylonia are based on sober fact. The
niunerous Isaiahs might declare why it took twenty-two of them
to write their incomparable prophecy, when far humbler modern
literary men can easily compose whole shelves of books and still enjoy
abundant leisure to spend their royalties. Moses, too, might be re-
quested to furnish an affidavit regarding the sources of the Penta-
teuch, and in turn be politely but pointedly informed that while
we don't know yet how the world did originate, we are cock-sure
of how It didn't.
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Limitations of Science 53
As far as my humble judgment goes it will be far better for
the human intellect to recognize its own limitations, and also the
limitations of all methods of investigating the universe. There is
a region which we must still associate, as it has ever been associated,
with the spiritual faculty of our nature. In disregarding this we
may easily arrest the unfolding of spiritual truth by the very means
we adopt to hasten the process. Nor is it difficult to see that an
intelligence far wiser than ours would for oUr own happiness and
welfare intentionally interpose a barrier to curiosity as well as to
detailed investigation.
The marvelous achievements of science in modern times may
sometimes almost unbalance our judgment and lead us to believe all
knowledge is possible to us by one method only of investigation. It
is not without significance in human development that rich stores
of truth were obtained by other than scientific means.
And in a distant day when sensational discoveries have ceased
to exdte us and men look calmly upon the universe, they will realize
more clearly than we are able to do that all methods of discovery
of truth are necessary, each in its own sphere; that they supplement
each other, and that only in their combination shall we find har-
moniously blended a full and consistent apprehension of the worlds
of nature, mind, and spirit.
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Some Reasons Why North Dakota
Should Adopt the Uniform
Sales Act.
Lauriz Vold,
^ Assistant Professor of Law, University of North Dakota
A. PLAN OF THIS ARTICLE
nr^HE purpose of this article is to recommend the Uniform Sales
■*• Act for adoption in North Dakota. As the Uniform Sales
Act is a codification of the American common law on the subject of
sales It seems appropriate, before dealing at large with the present
defects in our law, to make a few preliminary remarks on the subject
of codification, and to suggest why the Uniform Sales Act, as a piece
of codification, accords well with our North Dakota legal system and
history. After this preliminary explanation an examination is made
of some of the shortcomings of our present North Dakota Law of
Sales. Lastly follows the inquiry how these shortcomings may be
mesurably remedied by the adoption of the Uniform Sales Act, and
why the objections usually urged against its adoption are unsub-
stantial.
B. PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF CODIFICATION
Codification is the act or process of reducing all the law upon
one or more general subjects to a code. It is a new, systematized
statement of the law, enacted as one statute.^
I. The Ancient World
A thousand years of legal development in Ancient Rome be-
ginning with the twelve tables culminated in an epoch-making
period of codification.^ The most thoro work of codification which
this period produced is that which bears the name of Justinian*
Justinian's codification has stood the test of time, has preserved to
the modern world the laws of ancient Rome, and has thus fur-
nished to much of the modern world a large part of the foundation
upon which its present day law rests.^ It is said to be a master-
1. From Anderson's Dictionary of Law. Also seer Bouvler's Law
Dictionanr.
2. HiBidle3r*s Introduction to Roman Law, p. 1. For a systematic
account of this development see Mulrhead's Historical Introduction to
the Private Law of Rome. For a shorter concise account see Sohm's
Institutes of Roman Law, (Ledlie's translation) sections 9-22 Incl.
8. Sohm's Institutes of Roman Law, sec. 22. sec. 28.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 55
piece of legal achievement, whose superiority over the heterogeneous
mass of law whidi preceded it is universally recognized.^
II. Continental Europe
Further codification of the law has in more recent times taken
place in Continental Europe. The old German Code goes back
to Frederick the Great. The Code Napoleon^ ffamed a little over
a hundred years ago has been widely followed in Europe outside
of France, as well as where it originated, and forms the basis for
the law of South America, Central America, Mexico, and Louisiana.*
In recent years the new German Code,^ the most thoro work of
general codification that has yet appeared,* was adopted in the Ger-
man Empire and has become the basis for legislative codification in
Russia, Switzerland, and Japan.* It is apparent, therefore, that
practically all the advanced nations of the world, the English-speak-
ing excepted, live now under some form of codified law, the history
of which goes back to Justinian's codification of the law of ancient
Rome.
III. Anglo-American Experience
1. Archaic Codes. At the dawn of English political history
we have some "laws" which were general enactments to sum up what
had preceded, based on man's memory, custom, etc., but not on any
records of either legislation or court proceedings.^® These old laws
still exercise the antiquarian and the legal historian, but have long
since become obsolete as rules of law by which to settle any con-
troversy between litigants.
2. Unsuccessful Projects. Apart from these ancient laws,
based on mere oral tradition, which have now been antiquated for
a thousand years, the Anglo-American system of law has never in
its entirety been systematically codified. Instead of codified law
we have had a heterogeneous body of law consisting of the common
law, so-called, a mass of decided cases occurring in litigation, and
the statute law, a mass of separate statutory enactments. There
4. See. for example. Jenks: Edward I, in Select Essays in An^lo-
American Legjal History, vol. 1, p. 160.
5. See Wright's French Civil Code.
6. Pound's Outlines of Lectures on Jurisprudence (1914).
7. See Wan^s German Civil Code.
8. Ames' Lectures on Legal History, p. 868.
9. Pound's Outlines of Lectures on Jurisprudence (1914).
10. See Thorpe's Ancient Law and Institutions of England: Schmid,
Gesetze der Angelsachsen; Lieberman. Gesetze der Angelsachen. A con-
venient collection illustrating: the character of these laws may be found
in the earlier part of Stubb's Select Charters.
Also compare these laws with the archaic law of the German tribes,
for which' see the "Leges Barbarorum," and with archaic Irish Law, in
the Brehon Laws.
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56 The Quarterly Journal
have been accessible court records since the time of the "Year
Books,"^^ but no systematic general codification has yet resulted.
From the time of Henry VIII to our own day various projects for
codification of the whole law have been undertaken,^^ but without
the indispensable culmination in statutory enactment as law of the
codes proposed.
3. The Field Codes. The most important attempt to codify
the whole law was made in the United States a little more than
fifty years ago. The result was the Field Codes, drawn up by a
little group of New York lawyers of which Mr. Field was the
leading member, as a codification of the American common law. As
a complete system these codes failed of legislative enactment in New
York, as they did in most of the other states. One of them, the
Code of Civil Procedure, has been widely adopted, while in four
states, of which North Dakota was one,^^ all the Field Codes were
adopted in their entirety. The failure of the Field Codes to secure
legislative enactment into law is attributed mainly to two causes, the
crudeness of the codes themselves, and the conservatism of the bar
trained under the English common law system toward any such
innovation as codification of the whole law.^*
4. Private Codification. In recent times we have had, both
in England and in this country, some attempts by various individuals,
frequently law professors, to state some branch of the law in definite
propositions compiled in one book. Such is, for example, Wig-
more's Pocket Code of Evidence.^^ These attempts at codification
by individuals, on their own responsibility, of course have not the
binding force of statutory enactment. They serve the purpose,
however, of reducing the law to definite statements as guides to
courts and practitioners, and in a mesure pave the way for more
thoro codification.
5. Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The most
important practical steps in the direction of codification in recent
years in the United States have been taken by the Commissioners
on Uniform State Laws. They act for the American Bar Associa-
11. i.e., Since the time of EMward I. See Tear Books edited by
Horwood in the Rolls Series. See also. Reeves History of English Law.
Pollock & Maltland's History of English Law.
12. Pound's Outlines of Lectures on Jurisprudence (1914). The pro-
ject under Henry VIII, Bacon's Project (1614), Lord Westbury's plan
(1860-1863).
13. See prefaces to Compiled Laws, 1913.
14. WlHiBton, In Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 63, p. 197.
15. Other examples may be given, as Wigmore's Summary of Torts,
in Wigm ore's Cases on Torts, vol. IL A similar tendency appears in
the black letter propositions in the West Publishingr Company'^s Horn-
book series.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 57
tion in drawing up codes for certain branches of the law, and
recommending the draft codes to the legislatures of the various states
for adoption. Some of the draft codes recommended by the Com-
missioners are the Negotiable Instnmients Law, the Uniform Sales
Act, the Partnership Act, the Warehouse Receipts Act, etc.^* So
far the Negotiable Instruments Act has met with widest approval,
having been adopted in most of the states.^^ Some have only
recently been agreed upon and recommended, while others are still
in preparation.
The Uniform Sales Act, which it is the purpose of this article
to recommend for adoption in North Dakota, is one of these Acts
of partial codification originating with the Commissioners on Uni-
form State Laws. It was drawn up by a recognized authority on
the law of Sales, Professor Samuel Williston of the Harvard Law
School. His drafts were for several years submitted to elaborate
examination and criticism, and several revisions were made. The
final draft was agreed upon by the Commissioners in the year 1906
and recommended to the states for adoption.^^ The Uniform Sales
Act has, up to the present time, (191 5) been adopted in fourteen
American jurisdictions: Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Alaska.^^ It will be
seen by the geographical location of most of these states, that the
older and more highly developed commercial section of the country
has, for the most part, already adopted the Uniform Sales Act, and
that among the states which have adopted it is New York, whose
court decbions are, with us, such persuasive precedents on account'
of our living under the Field Code which was drafted in New York.
C. WHY CODIFICATION ACCORDS WITH OUR
NORTH DAKOTA LEGAL SYSTEM AND HISTORY
I. The Field Codes the Basis of Our Law and Practise.
In recommending the Uniform Sales Act for adoption in North
Dakota the arguments for and against general codification need not
be repeated. We are in North Dakota committed, so to speak, to
16. For a complete Ust of the Uniform Acts recommended, and the
Btates where each has been adopted, see Report of American Bar Asso-
ciation for 1916, p. 91S. The Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
also publish copies of their proceedings contalningr this Information to-
irether with much other valuable material. Copies may be obtained on
application to the secretary, George B. Toungr, Newport, Vermont.
17. Report of American Bar Association for 1916, p. 913. Also see
Brannon's Ne^tlable Instruments Law, or the fourth edition (1916) of
Crawford's Nesrotlable Instruments Law.
18. See preface to Williston on Sales.
19. Report of American Bar Association for 1916, p. 913.
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58 The Quarterly Journal
the principle of codification by having adopted the Field 0>des under
which we now live. Even tho it were granted, for the sake of
argument, that uncodified law is a better system of law in applica-
tion than codified law can continue to be, yet the desirability of
revision of the codified law which we have must be conceded when
thru such revision its improvement can be secured. Since territorial
days we have lived under the Field Codes, and with these codes our
legislature has in minor ways been constantly tinkering.^® As law-
yers we have become habitual code-readers on every legal question
that arises, and as a people we have had more than the usual occasion
for becoming imbued with the idea, however mistaken, that the
answer to every disputed question of law is to be found in the
statute book. Seldom indeed, in the trial court, does either lawyer
or judge attempt to go much deeper into the question of law in-
volved if they can find a specific code provision in point.^^ The
work of harmonizing and piecing out the code provisions is generally
left to our State Supreme Court on appeal, and even that court often
dismisses its discussion of the merits of a case by a curt reference
to a code section as controlling.^^ As a people, and as a legal pro-
fession, we' are therefore far from being averse to codification. On
the contrary, we are so thoroly imbued with it that in the face of
a code provision we are rather prone to forget that law exists, not
as an end in itself, but as a means to the end that justice may be
administered.
II. Modifications by Legislative Enactment
As we are not averse to codification but rather emphatically
committed in its favor, so we are committed to revisions of the codes
we have if it seems that improvement can thereby be secured. It
is axiomatic that a complete and final code is impossible.^^ As
conditions change and development takes place in the world about
us, to which the law is to be applied, new conclusions must be
worked out from old prindples, and, from time to time, these new
developments must be worked into the Code by revisions.^* Such,
indeed, has been the practise so far as our legislative history is con-
20. See the frequent notations of amendments to Code sections In
Compiled Laws. 1918, and the fequent recurrence of the terms, **An Act
to amend" sections of the Code, in every volume of Session Laws.
81. Even the most casual attention, in observing the trial of cases
in court, will sustain the accuracy of this remark.
22. A few instances of such dealini? with a case are here cited at
random.
7 N. D. 888, at p. S9«; 75 N. W. 772
10 N. D. 120. at p. 122: 86 N. W. 226
10 N. D. 601: 88 N. W. 710
24 N. D. 162: 139 N. W. 104
23. Terry's Leading Principles of AnRlo>American Law, sec. 609.
24. Ibid.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 59
cerned. Never a legislative session passes that there is no amend-
ment to our Codes,^^ nor are these amendments always confined to
mere details. We early adoi>ted the Negotiable Instruments Law,^*
the first and most defective piece of partial codification recommended
by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.^^ Lately we adopted
another of the Uniform Acts, the Family Desertion Act.^* We have
modified the presumption of fraud in case of retention of possession
by the seller of personal property .^^ We have modified the pro-
visions relating to warranty in the sale of goods. ^^ Numerous other
examples of legislative changes in our Code might be cited. Even
a casual examination of our Code will reveal, thru its notation of
references to legislative years, the frequency of such amendments and
changes. At the last session of the legislature (1915) the amend-
ments or repeals of Code sections numbered upward of three hun-
dred and fifty, more than fifty of which consisted of minor changes
in rfie Civil Code alone.^^ These legislative changes which have
been made in North Dakota's history, have from time to time been
worked into the Code at each periodical revision.^^ j^^ have not
as yet had, however, any attempt systematically to incorporate in
the Code the development of law which has been going on at the
same time thru judicial decision. Starting with a Code which is
based upon the common law, derived from judicial decisions, we
have made legislative changes in it and incorporated these changes
in code revisions, but have in our code revisions ignored the corre-
sponding development in the law which is derived from judicial
decision.
So far as we have proceeded, therefore, in the development of
our law, we are committed to the principle of codification, and we
are committed to the propriety of legislative changes in our codified
law whenever such changes can remedy defects and secure substan-
tial improvement. Our Code revisions have, however, up to the
present time, been partial only in their character, taking no account
25. See note 20.
26. Session Laws. 1899, ch. 118, now appearing In the Compiled Laws,
1918, as sees. 6886 et seq.
27. See the Ames-Brewster controversy. In Brannon's Nesrotiable In-
struments Law.
28. Session Laws, 1911. ch. 128, now appearlnj? in the Compiled Laws,
1918, as sees. 9696 et seq.
29. Session Laws, 1898. ch. 78. The effect now appears in the
Compiled Laws, 1918, as section 7221.
30. Session Laws, 1913, ch. 218. now appearingr in the Compiled Laws
as sees. 6991-6998.
81. This enumeration for the last legislative session is derived from
the sticker pamphlet issued by the Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Com-
pany for pastingr in the marj^in opposite the appropriate sections in the
statute book the numbers of the sections amended or repealed by the
Isst legislature.
32. For illustrations, see notes 26-30.
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of the progress which is made in the law thru the process of judicial
decision. It is progress in this respect, made the country over,
which the Sales Act embodies, which we grope after whenever dis-
puted questions of law arise, and which needs only the legislative fiat
to make it definitely a part of our G)de system.
D. SOME PRESENT DEFECTS IN OUR NORTH
DAKOTA LAW
Stronger reasons, however, than merely the advantage of em-
bodying the law we have in a definite code suggest themselves for
the adoption of the Uniform Sales Act. It is the purpose in this
article to point out briefly two conspicuous defects in our law, and
to indicate how these defects can be in some mesure corrected by
the Uniform Sales Act. These defects are: first, lack of uniformity
with the law of other states ; and second, lack of certainty as to what
our own local law is.
I. Lack of UNiFORMixy with thb Law of Other States
The iirst of these defects, lack of uniformity with the law of
other states, is constantly leading to confusion, especially in commer-
cial matters, as transactions on an increasingly large scale involve
action in different states governed by divergent laws on the same
subject matter. Thus, with a promissory note made iq North
Dakota, payable to a person living in Minnesota, and by him in-
dorsed in Iowa or Chicago, etc., if the laws of each of the respective
states are different in regard to these simple transactions relative to
a single negotiable instrument, the greatest uncertainty and confusion
as to rights of the different parties must result. To remedy this
situation in regard to negotiable instruments, the Negotiable In-
struments Law, the first and crudest of the Acts proposed by the
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, has been adopted in nearly
all the states of the Union.*' The lack of uniformity betwecm the
laws of different states in regard to other commercial transactions,
notably in regard to sales, bills of lading, etc., is equally conspicuous,
tho less progress has been made in curing the defect.'* It is a matter
of every-day occurrence that goods are bought in one state by parties
living in another, and that goods are shipped from state to state.
Without uniformity as to when delivery of possession is essential
to a valid sale, as to what is good consideration to make a contract
83. Report of the American Bar ABsociatlon. 1916, pp. 918. 914.
34. The report of the American Bar Association* 1915, at p. 914
shows that the Uniform Sales Act has so far been adopted in fourteen
jurisdictions, as against forty-seven jurisdictions which have adopted
the Neirotiable Instruments Law.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 6i
binding for the sale of goocb, as to what is necessary to be done
to pass title, etc., such every-day transactions can be carried on only
with the risk of financial loss and disappointment in litigation when-
ever anything occurs to upset the calculations of the parties or to
cause disagreement between them over their bargain.
It is needless in this article to examine at length the evils caused
by lack of imiformity between the different states in regard to their
commercial law. Every recent report of the American Bar Asso-
ciation contains statements and argiunents from the Commissioners
on Uniform State Laws covering elaborately this phase of the ques-
tion.^ It is primarily to remedy this situation thruout the country
as a whole that the Uniform Acts, including the Uniform Sales Act,
have been proposed for adoption. The difficulties arising from
lack of uniformity are present with us, as they are in other states.
The Uniform Acts can succeed in overcoming them only so far as
they are generally adopted by the different states. By adopting the
Uniform Sales Act we therefore not only improve our own law in
this respect, but contribute that much toward improving the law of
every other state thruout the country.
II. Lack of Certainty
The second defect in our law with which this article is con-
cerned, the lack of certainty as to what our own local law is, touches
us even more closely than the lack of uniformity with the law of
other states. It is a defect in which the law of North Dakota is
very conspicuous. Every lawyer in active practise knows how
difficult it often is to advise a client who comes to consult him. . The
lawyer's difficulty may be due of course to uncertainty as to what
actually happened which caused the trouble. It is frequently due,
however, to the impossibility of finding out what the rule of law is.
I. Lack of Certainty as to the Facts Involved. Lack
of certainty as to the facts in dispute between parties is of course
a problem inseparable from litigation. Where two parties get into
a controversy if often happens that they disagree as to what actually
took place between them, that they disagree as to what words were
spoken in their dealings with each other, that they disagree as to
the quality of the goods supplied, etc. Where the parties disagree
as to the facts, where rfiere is no agreement as to what really hap-
pened, no lawyer can presume to be omniscient enough to foretell
with exactness what the jury, on consideration of all the evidence,
35. See, for example, the Report for 1916, pp. 919-948, and the Report
for 1914, pp. 1044-1089.
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62 The Quarterly Journal
may find the facts to have been. No legislation, and no amount
of litigation, can preclude occasional disagreement between parties as
to what actually happens in their current transactions. Such dis-
agreement will lead to litigation so long as neither will yield the
whole point and parties are law-abiding enough to resort, not to
brute force, but to the orderly process of law for the settlement of
their controversies. Lack of certainty as to the facts is therefore
inevitable in ordinary litigation.
2. Lack of Certainty as to What the Law is. Lack
of certainty as to what the legal rule is, as distinguished from lack
of certainty as to what are the facts involved, is a defect which can
be mesurably remedied, but which, while it remains, produces quite
as much expensive and unsatisfactory litigation as is produced by
lack of certainty as to the facts. How often does not our Supreme
Court preface its opinion, in deciding a case, with the remark that
there is practically no dispute as to the facts involved?^*
a. Causes. The lack of certainty as to what our own local
law is, is due mainly to two causes. First, the Code under which
we live was a crude first attempt at general codification made by
men who were too few and too busy with the duties of an active
law practise to study with sufficient care and arrange and correlate
effectively all the law they were called upon to codify. The Code,
furthermore, was drawn up more than fifty years ago when the
conditions under which business was done were very different from
what they are now, and when many of the questions which now
occur and recur had never arisen. Our Code, therefore, is not
only a crude piece of codification,^^ but is also entirely silent on
many vital questions of commercial importance.^
The second cause for the lack of certainty in our local law is
the meagerness of our own authoritatively binding decisions, in com-
parison with the immense array of conflicting precedents from other
states, all of which are more or less persuasive but none of which
are binding upon us as authorities. Our North Dakota Reports
number only thirty volumes. The number of volumes of reports
of decisions from other states, which are for us persuasive but not
binding authorities, runs into thousands. Our line of local decisions
86. The followlnir are a few cases cited at random as illustrations:
22 N. D. 436: 188 N. W. 988
80 N. D. 48; 151 N. W. 988
80 N. D. 112; 151 N. W. 879
80 N. D. 292; 162 N. W. 803
168 N. W. 187
37. WUllston, In Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 63. p. 197.
38. See below, '(c). Examples of uncertainty in our law.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 63
goes back only about thirty-five years. The decisions in many other
states go back a hundred years or nx>re, and for the period before
that, the English cases go back hundreds of years further still.^*
Our local decisions have decided relatively few questions in compari-
son with the number of questions that have arisen and been passed
upon, taking the courts the country over. These decisions from
other states, however, are often conflicting, while all are more or
less persuasive as precedents. Without local dedsions in point we
are therefore in a conspicuously worse position, so far as certainty
of the law is concerned, than many of the older states, each with
its own long line of authoritative decisions settling its own local law.
b. Illustration. The difficulties produced in practise by the
lack of certainty as to what the law is may be conveniently illus-
trated by a concrete example. A farmer orders a machine from a
machine company, to be delivered a certain time later. Before the
time for delivery something happens to cause him to change his mind.
He notifies the company that he does not want the machine. The
company, insisting upon its contract, ships the machine and claims
the contract price. What are the rights of the parties?*® If the
company sues the farmer for breach of his contract it will recover
damages for the breach, i.e., it will recover the difference between
the contract price and what the company could obtain on a re-sale
of the machine.*^ This may be nothing at all, and is ordinarily
likely not to be a great deal, for example, $100. If the company
is allowed to recover the full contract price it will foist the owner-
ship of the machine upon the farmer without his consent, and will
get, if the machine is an expensive one, several thousand dollars.
At diis stage the farmer consults a lawyer to find out whether he
must take and pay for the machine or whether he need only pay such
damage as results to the company from his refusal to take it. The
lawyer looks up the Code and finds nothing decisive on the question
of whether title can be cast upon a person without his consent to
receive it. He next looks diligently thru his set of North Dakota
Reports. The exact question has never with us been decided. He
looks next at the authorities from other states for guidance. In a
number of states, as in our own, the question has not been decided.
It has been decided in a considerable number of states, but different
39. For a more elaborate description of this situation, with reference
to the country at lar^, see Williston in Pennsylvania Lew Review, vol.
68, p. 203.
40. This illustration is taken from 153 N. W. 137. a recent North
Dakota case.
41. Mechem on Sales, sec. 1690.
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states have decided it in different ways.^^ Some have decided that
if a person contracts to receive title, the title may thereafter be
forced upon him without any further consent to receive it. Others
have decided that a contract to buy goods, like any other contract,
may be broken by either party, the party breaking it becoming liable
to pay damages for the breach. Having exhausted the available
material for iinding out what the law is, what is the lawyer to tell
his client? If he is thoroly candid he can only tell him that our
law is yet undedded on his question, but that if the client cares to
bear the expense of litigating the case till it can reach our Supreme
Court his question may be decided. Still, which way it will be
decided he can only guess.
c. Examples of Uncertainty in our Law of Sales. That the
above illustration as to uncertainty in the law is not unique but
typical, as applied to our law of Sales, may be demonstrated even
by a casual examination of disputed questions in this branch of our
law. Our law is uncertain as to whether property which is to come
into existence in the future, as future crops, etc., can be sold before it
comes into existence, however absurd such a question may super-
ficially appear.^' Our law is uncertain as to what rules are to be
42. Mechem on Sales, sefc 1694.
See also elaborate collection of authorities on each side of this
question in Williston on Sales, sees. 663-66.
See also note to Williston's Cases on Sales, (2nd. ed.) p. 612.
43. The law of North Dakota as to what personal property may be
sold, as distinguished from what may be contracted to be sold in the
future, is, despite our Civil Code and the decisions of our Supreme Court
from the be^innin^ down to the present time, in as ^reat confusion as
in the usual common-law states. With us. as with them, there is no
doubt that a person may, in Keneral, sell that which he owns, that he
cannot sell that which has ceased to exist, and that tho he can make
a valid contract to sell that which belongs to another, he cannot presently
sell it because he has as yet no title he can transfer. So far all
authorities are in substantial accord, and the law of North Dakota is
no exception. But when the question is raised whether a person may
sell now. so as to transfer title, that which is not yet in existence,
there is Rreat confusion in the common-law authorities.
The North Dakota cases have arisen in regard to future crops,
reaching a rule of thumb for the particular facts raised under croppers*
contracts, followed in the later cases as a matter of authority, but with-
out consistent reasoning in the different cases. The consequence is that
no one can tell, outside the narrow facts in the cases decided, whether
under our law future ^oods are to be regarded as presently transferable.
For authorities see the line of cases foUowingr in the wake of
An^ell V. Kgger, 6 N. D. 891; 71 N. W. 547, holdini? that the crop belong
to the owner of the land, not to the renter, under the stereotyped form
of croppers' contract. In the principal case the question is left open
whether it is a case of an owner of land, with another working on the
land as his servant, and therefore the crop belon^ins to the owner, or
whether it is a case of landlord and tenant, but the crops which would
belong: to the tenant sold to the landlord by the original agreement before
they come into existence. Since the principal case was decided the court
has several times come to a similar conclusion, but without further de-
fining its position. In the last case examined, 80 N. D. 276; 152 N. W.
684, the court leans toward the former view, that there is no lease at
all, and therefore no question of sale involved. For other cases on this
topic see,
9 N.
D.
627;
84 N.
W.
661
9 N.
D.
224;
88 N.
W.
238
10 N.
D.
37;
84 N.
W.
663
16 N.
D.
323;
113 N.
W.
609
16 N.
D.
596:
114 N.
W.
377
17 N.
D.
173:
116 N.
W.
667
18 N.
D.
93;
118 N.
W.
242
19 N.
D.
787;
126 N.
W.
304
20 N.
D.
211;
126 N.
w.
1011
21 N.
D.
266
27 N.
D.
236;
145 N.
w.
821
29 N.
D.
180;
160 N.
W.
881
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 65
applied for ascertaining whether parties intended to transfer title,^
a question which is immensely important when unexpected things
happen, since the parties themselves often do not consider the question
of just when title is to pass. Our law is meager as to what is
sufficient appropriation of the goods to pass title under a previous
contract to sell.*^ Our law is uncertain as to the effect a C. O. D.
provision has upon the time of the passing of title to the goods
shipped.*^ Our law is uncertain as to whether the existence or
cancellation of an already existing debt is good consideration for a
transfer of title to goods*^ or bills of lading.*^ Our law is, or at
44. The Compiled Laws, sec. 5535, leaves the question at lar^e, merely
saying on this point, that the title passes whenever the parties agree
upon a present transfer. We have no series of cases workingr out the
question what the result must be when, as usually happens, parties do
not think particularly about the question of just when the title is to
pass. In such cases there will be ?reat difficulty if, before they have
entirely completed their transaction the iroods are lost or destroyed, or
frreatly depreciate, etc., and the question immediately becomes acute,
"whose loss?*', which must depend on who was the owner at the time
the loss occurred.
46. It is submitted that we have in North Dakota no peculiar rules
as to what amounts to sufficient appropriation to pass title under a
previous contract to sell. There are, however, few cases dealing with
the subject in our local reports, and none, apparently, which consider
the questions in regrard to appropriation on which the common-law
authorities are divided. We accept, for example, the rule that there is
appropriation by delivery to the carrier. (Compiled Laws sees. 59(8-9.
and 15 N. D. 557; 108 N. W. 545), while we have no local authority on
the question of how title is to be determined in case of piecemeal de-
livery, a question on which the common-law authorities do not all observe
the same distinctions. On the greneral question, see Williston on Sales,
sec. 277, and authorities cited.
47. That the American Common-law authorities on this question are
much in conflict, see Williston on Sales, sec. 845, Mechem on Sales, sec-
tions 740, 793, 794, and notes, especially note to Mechem sec. 740, con-
taining- a considerable compilation of authorities. For some further
interestingr cases on the question, see 89 S. W. 1132 (Ky.) and 130 N. W.
368 (la.).
The question has been most elaborately litigated in cases of liquor
shipments into dry territory. By the ordinary rule of law that title
passes on delivery to the carrier, if the shipment is in accordance with
the order, the title to the liquor passes when it is shipped by the seller
in wet territory. What happens thereafter is then not a violation of
the prohibition laws unless the liquor is resold, a fact often hard to
prove. Such has been the holding- in the majority of states where the
question has been litigated, the courts thinking that there was no basis
for Inferring any other than the ordinary Intent as to the passing of
title from the mere fact that the goods were marked C. O. D. Such
restriction as to delivery has been held to indicate merely an intent on
the part of the seller to insist upon his seller's lien.
The Importance of the question, from the standpoint of enforcement
or evasion of the prohibition laws has been considerably diminished by
the Federal Statute. (U. S. Compiled Statutes T 19131 sec. 10409) which
prohibits railway companies, express companies, etc., from collecting on
or after delivery in case of liquor shipments over state lines, and makes
violations of that prohibition subject to heavy flne. The Federal Statute,
however, does not directly touch the question of title to the liquors in
the course of such shlpmens.
48. For a concise and able discussion of this question under the
common law authorities thruout the country, see Williston on Sales, sec.
620 and notes, citing authorities.
It is held by the weight of authority in this country that the exls«
tence or cancellation of a pre-existing debt is not good consideration
for a transfer of title to goods, and that a purchaser under such cir-
cumstances not being a purchaser for value, is not protected, even tho
acting in good faith, against defects in his seller's title. It is submitted
that this position taken by the weight of authoriy is erroneous and
ought not to be followed, for the cancellation, at least, of the pre-
existing debt, by extinguishing it. subjects the purchaser of the goods
to a detriment he was not bound to bear. Furthermore, any revival
of the old debt by operation of law if the purchaser loses the goods he
received in exchange for it is no adequate relief, since the original ^
debtor may be and frequently is now insolvent. '
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least was until very recently, uncertain as to whether, if a contract
to sell has been made, the title can be forced upon a party without
his consent instead of leaving him merely to pay damages for his
breach of contract. It is doubtful whether we even yet have that
broad question finally determined.^® Our law is uncertain as to
which party is to prevail where there is a bona fide transferee for
value of an order bill of lading after an unpaid seller's notice to the
railway company to stop the goods.^^ Even in our law of warranty
in sales, as to which the Code goes into considerable detail, there
is much uncertainty, as, for example, on the question of whether a
breach of warranty in a sale is a ground for rescission.^^
These examples of course cannot purport to be a complete
enumeration of the matters in regard to which our law of sales is
uncertain. They are enough, however, to indicate that in regard
to many ordinary commercial transactions it is impossible to tell
with any certainty, in advance of litigation on the particular point,
what the rule of law actually is.
The condition of our present law of sales is therefore curtly
exprest in the one word "uncertainty." The Code is silent on a
great many important questions. Relatively few of these have yet
been decided by our Supreme Court. On many of them the
authorities from other states are in more or less conflict. Every
such question with us therefore presents a problem on which no
lawyer can satisfactorily advise his client in advance. To get it
settled involves the painful, dilatory, expensive, and uncertain process
of litigating every point and appealing it to our Supreme Court for
final dedsion. This process touches but a single point at a time,
49. See Williston on Sales, par. 620, and authorities cited. In the
case of the transfer of bills of lading^ or warehouse receipts to order
there is a greater tendency among: the authorities to hold a pre-exlstln«r
debt to be good consideration than in the case of transfer of goods. See
110 Cal. 348;: 92 Pac. 918; 53 Md. 612; 132 Mo. 492; 33 S. W. 521. The
reason for the difference seems to be that since bills of lading are re-
carded as more in the nature of commercial paper, semi-negotiable, so
to speak, courts are more willing to follow the analogy of negotiable
instruments in this particular. That an antecedent debt is held to be
value in the case of negotiable instruments, see sec. 25 of the Negotiable
Instruments Law. found in Compiled Laws of North Dakota (1913) sec
6910. See also, Brannon's Negotiable Instruments Law, pp. 32-35, and
authorities cited.
60. See 163 N. W. 137. the latest North Dakota case which has dealt
with the question.
51. On this question California has held that the transferee is to
prevail. See 51 Cal. 345. This view, tho correct on principle, is op-
posed by the weight of authority. See Williston on Sales, sec. 542:
Mechem on Sales, sec. 1567; Burdick on Sales, n 286, and authorities
cited. The best discussion on principle is found in Williston sustaintnir
the California case and taking issue with Burdick and Mechem who
approve the weight of authority.
62. Compiled Laws (1913), sec. 6994, "The breach of a warranty
entitles the buyer to rescind an agreement for sale, but not an executed
sale, unless the warranty was intended to operate as a condition." How
the proviso is to be applied in practise does not appear, nor is any dosI-
tlve light shed on that question by the reported cases. See 14 N. D.
419; 21 N. D. 575.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 67
leaving the old uncertainty still prevailing as to which way our
court will hold on all the other questions. This is our condition,
too, while many of these questions have been variously dealt with
by other courts, whose decisions, tho not always very helpful as
precedents because too conflicting, have supplied the material em-
bodied in definite rules found in the Uniform Sales Act.
d. Certainty the Prime Requisite. Lest it be thought that a
fetish is here made of legal certainty, a few words must be said on
the question whether certainty is preferable to growth and develop-
ment in the law.
Activity and change is the law of life. Everything which is
in process of development must contain some elements of uncer-
tainty. Technical rules of law form no exception to this general
law of life. When the law ceases to grow the law is dead.^^
Every legal rule must in course of time be subjected to a process
of growth and development which may change the force of its appli-
cation. Every legal rule, like every moral precept, must be sub-
jected to a process of progressive interpretation.^*
On the other side, without some regularity in application there
can be no rule of law at all. As has been aptly said, "Law is
the quality of being uniform and regular in a series of events,
whether in human or in external nature."^^ Constant change in
the law produces so much uncertainty that the rule of law itself is
apt to be lost. Law which is in the process of growth must neces-
sarily be somewhat uncertain. Then, is our alternative the un-
pleasant one of growth with uncertainty or certainty with stagnation ?
The solution of the problem thus presented is found in two
directions. In the first place, we must determine the relative im-
portance of growth or of certainty in any particular field to which
the law is to be applied. There are parts of the law where it is
important that growth should be easy, where the importance of a
set rule is of minor consequence. Thus, what is reasonable force
to use in expelling a trespasser may vary with circumstances and
may change with the times. The determination in the particular
case is of minor consequence as far as it affects the rights of other
parties. So, speaking generally, tho it is impossible to make sharp
distinctions here, the rules of law governing ordinary human conduct
53. Holmes' The Common Law, p. 36.
54. The most conspicuous illustration of this process as applied
to definite legal rules Is to be found in the Roman leRal development
under the Twelve Tables, which in theory remained unchangred for a
thousand years. See Sohm, Institutes of Roman Law, Ledlie's Trans-
lation, sec. 12. See also Muirhead's History of Roman Law.
56. Wlginore. Summary of the Principles of Torts, sec. 2, In Wig-
more's Cases on Torts, vol. n. Appendix A.
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68 The Quarterly Journal
should be capable of ready development to fit the cases to which
they have to be applied. On the other hand, there are some situa-
tions* in which the importance of having a definite rule understood
by the parties is far greater than the importance of change and
growth in the particular rule adopted.^* The conventional example
of the law of the road affords a ready illustration. It is highly
important, especially in this age of automobiles, that parties should
know to which side to turn to avoid collision, but it is of little or
no intrinsic importance whether the rule requires them to turn to
the right or to the left. So, in the law of property, it is con-
sidered more important to preserve the rules as they are, which
people may find out in order to adjust their dealings accordingly, than
to make frequent changes to remedy particular cases of hardship, be-
cause the ultimate result of frequent changes in property law will
be to shake titles and undermine the security of acquisitions, which
will destroy the incentive to accumulation of property.^''
In which class of cases do commercial transactions fall? Do
they call for ready growth and change in the rules of law, with
consequent uncertainty, or do they call for certainty as the most
important consideration? The answer must be in favor of cer-
tainty. Unless, for example, there were some assurance that the
obligation to pay debts would continue to be recognized by the law,
money would be lent only at extortionate rates, and development
of the country's resources on the basis of conservative credit would
be impossible. Unless there is certainty in the laws affecting com-
mercial transactions, such as buying and selling, and the giving of
credit, such transactions can be entered into only at the risk of dis-
appointment and litigation. If the rules of law are certain, parties
may find out in advance what they are and regulate their conduct
accordingly. If the rules of law are settled, business can be done
more effectively because done with greater security.^* Even if no
inquiry be made in advance, if the rules of law are settled, a con-
troversy can usually be settled without litigation, or, at most, by a
trial of the facts in the lower courts. Without reasonable certainty
as to the rules of law governing their transactions parties can not
go far in the ordinary present day commercial transactions at all.
66. The suggestion that rules of law applicable to conduct should
be flexible for the sake of securlnsr Justice in administration, while rules
of property should be rigid, for the sake of security of acquisitions, is
derived from lectures by Professor Pound, now Dean of the Harvard
Law School, in a course on Jurisprudence.
67. See, for example, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Econo-
my .Book V, Cr. Vlfl, sec. 1.
68. See Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book V, Chapter VIII.
sec 8.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Jet 69
The greater the certainty as to the rules of law the greater is the
security with which business can be done,^^ and the greater is the
opportunity for settling controversies without resorting to litigation.
The second answer to the alternative of growth with uncer-
tainty or certainty with stagnation is found in the fact that even
conventional rules, laws of property, and codified law, are themselves
subject to a slow process of progressive interpretation,^ and can
even be changed by legislative fiat, like any other laws, if such
change seems necessary. The alternative b not one between growth
and stagnation, but merely a question of where the emphasis is to
be placed, on ready change, or on such certainty as will enable busi-
ness to be carried on with reasonable security.
The conclusion therefore is that as to commcrdal transactions,
such as sales, the prevailing uncertainty of our law is not a boon
indicative of healthy growth, but an evil hampering the conduct of
business which has been tolerated because apparently inevitable. If
this uncertainty is not inevitable but in a mesure avoidable, thru the
adoption of the Uniform Sales Act, we should all be willing, by
adopting the Sales Act, to reduce uncertainty to certainty.
The inquiry follows how the adoption of the Uniform Sales Act
would contribute to cure the evils of uncertainty and of lack of
uniformity which have been here set forth.
[To be continued]
69. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. Book III. Chapter II.
«0. See note 64 on the progressive interpretation under the Twelve
Tables.
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Law Reform in North Dakota*
Joseph L. Lbwinsohn,
of the Los Angeles Bar
{Sometime Professor of Law in the College of Law, University of
North Dakota)
A froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an
innovation, and they that reverence too much old times are but a
scorn to the new. Bacons Essay, "Of Innovations," quoted in
Broome's Legal Maxims.
'^^OW that the times that tried men's souk in the fight against
•^^ the invisible government are over, the honest citizen will
hear no more about laws and reforms. "A plague on both your
houses/' is his sentiment. If one be so bold as to assert that in
matters of consequence to every man who has a contract to be
drawn or a civil suit to be litigated, the laws of North Dakota are
sadly out of joint with the times, he is apt to be asked to prove
his assertion by resort to ordeal or trial by battle, rather than be
invited to give a bill of particulars. Nevertheless, despite the
unfavorable dramatic background, as it were, I am going to have
the hardihood to call attention to what seems to me the need for
thorogoing reform in the branches of the law governing business
relations, property rights, and civil procedure.
It will perhaps be a mild surprise to lawyers and lay folk alike
to be told that the need for law reform is greater in North Dakota
than it is in almost any other state in the Union. Generally speak-
ing, the problem of American law reform is a problem of reform of
procedure, a simplification in the machinery of the administration of
justice. It is only the uninformed both in and out of the profession,
that regard the law as a body of hard and fast rules. As Justice
Holmes of the United States Supreme Court, probably our greatest
American jurist, said a few years ago in a characteristic passage:^
"I thought it dangerously near a platitude to say a dozen years ago
that the law might be regarded as a great anthropological document.
• * * Any man who is interested in ideas needs only the sug-
gestion that I have made to realize that the history of the law is
the embryology of a most important set of ideas, and perhaps more
than any other history tells the story of a race. * * * An argu-
^ • Thru the curtesy of the editor of the California Law Review the
writer of this article has been permitted to make free use of the material
in an article entitled "Law Reform in California," that appeared in Vol.
Ill: 800-812 of that publication.
1. 1 Continental Legal History Series, pp. xlv-xlvi.
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Law Reform in North Dakota 71
mcnt that would have prevailed in Plowdcn's time and perhaps
would have raised a difficulty to be gotten rid of in Lord Ellen-
borough's, now would be answered with a smile.*' Indeed the flexi-
bility of the common law, (and in the comman law I include the
principles of the equity jurisdiction), is such that while the courts
necessarily lag a little behind the advanced thought of the country,
the law is dynamic and adapts itself to changing conditions. ''The
law should follow business," said an emient English judge.^ This
flexibility may be called the genius, as it is the grandeur, of Anglo-
American law.^* Occasionally, however, social and economic con-
ditions change so rapidly that the courts are not able to keep apace.
The old bottles will not hold the new wine. Legislation then be-
comes necessary to prevent maladjustment. We have recently had
a striking illustration of this in the inappropriateness of the common-
law rules of fellow servant and assumed risk to the conditions of
modern industry. In England and many of the great states of the
country, this vexing situation has been dealt with by well-considered
legislation. But such situations are rare and unusual. So in most
states few, if any, sound lawyers would advocate a general over-
hauling of that great body of rules of conduct enforced in the courts,
which represents the crystallized judgment of the ages, — altho Mait-
land thought that the English law of real property was a century
behind the German. Why is the situation different in North Da-
kota? Because some forty years ago the Territory of Dakota at-
tempted to reduce the common law to definite form by adopting a
so-called "civil code," which was halt and lame at the time, and by
the march of events has become obsolescent.
A moment ago I suggested that the general problem of Ameri-
can law reform consisted in meeting a demand for the reform of
2. BlRelow, Bills, Notes and Cheques, 2nd ed. *Law* then 'should
follow business.' In these words the author quotes a serious remark
made to him by the late Lord Bowen. In a conversation concerning the
decision of the Court of Appeal in the i?reat case of the Mo^ul Steamship
Co. V. McGregor (1889). 23 Q. B. D. 598 (afflrmed [1892] A. C. 25), In
which his Lordship (then Lord Justice Bowen) had just delivered his
well-known opinion. The words quoted, it is confidently believed, con-
tain the very substance of sound leg^l theory.
2a. " 'If there is any virtue in the Common Law.* says Sir Frederick
Pollock. *whereby she stands for more than intellectual excellence in a
special kind of learninfr, it is that Freedom is her sister, and in thft
spirit of Freedom her «rreatest work has ever been done. By that spirit
our lady has emboldened her servants to speak the truth beforir kings,
to restrain the tyranny of usurpini? license, and to carry her Ideal of
equal Justice and ordered right into every quarter of the world. By
the Are of that spirit our worship of her is touched and enlightened,
and in its power, knowing that the service we render to her is freedom.
we claim no inferior fellowship with our brethren of the other great
faculties, the healers of the body and the comforters of the soul, the
lovers of all that is highest in this world and beyond. There is no more
arduous enterprise for lawful men, and none more noble than the per-
petual quest of justice laid upon all of us who are pledged to serve our
lady the Common Law.' " The Genius of the Common Law. 124-125.
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72 The Quarterly Journal
procedure. This is by no means a universal problem, but it is a
problem that North Dakota shares with most American states. In
this respect North Dakota lags behind Kansas and Missouri, not
to mention Connecticut and New Jersey. So much has been written
in these last few years about reform of procedure, that he who runs
may read. I shall accordingly dismiss this part of the subject
summarily. England led the way about fifty years ago. The
principle of the English legislation was that instead of enumerating
rules to cover every situation that the draftsmen could foresee, which
is the theory on which the North Dakota Code of Civil Procedure
is framed, the statute should state only the general principles under-
lying the law of procedure, and the details and minutiae of practise
should be left to be regulated by rules of court. Kansas has the
distinction of being the first American state to adopt the English
system. New Jersey has followed suit, as has Ohio in the Cleveland
Municipal Court Act, and the United States Supreme Court in pre-
scribing the New Rules in Equity for the Federal Courts. Profes-
sor Pound of Harvard University, an expert on law reform, has
summarized the advantages of the English system over the "code
practice" as it prevails in states like North Dakota, as follows:^
"(i) The exact workings of a detailed rule of practice
cannot be anticipated and as change and adaptation to the ex-
gencies of judicial administration are inevitable this change and
adaptation should be left to the judges who are best qualified
to determine what experience requires and how rules are actually
operating.
(2) The opinion of the bar as to the working of a rule*
may be made much more effective where the details are to be
settled by the judges through framing new rules or improving
old ones than where the legislature must be applied to. The
judges are necessarily better able to judge how far complaints
are well founded, how far they represent the sentiment of the
bar generally and not that of one or two disappointed practi-
tioners, and they know better M^ose opinions are entitled to
weight and whose not in matters of procedure.
(3) Experience has shown that small details of procedure,
which sometimes are very irritating in their effects, do not in-
terest the legislature so that it is almost impossible to correct
them by enactment.
(4) In state legislation with respect to procedure it has
3. 76 Central Law Journal 211.
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Law Reform in North Dakota 73
very often happened that details in which some member of the
legislature has a personal interest are made the subject of enact-
ment under drcumstances where there is no real advantage to
procedure.
(5) Above all, there ought to be a possibility of speedy
adjustment of the details of procedure to the exigencies of
administration. Only rules of court can bring this about."
Coming now to the consideration of the North Dakota Civil
Code, let us first glance at its history. In the early part of the
nineteenth century there lived in England a philosopher and polemist
named Jeremy Bentham, who made terrific onslaughts upon the com-
mon law. He berated it as irrational and unscientific, and saw the
remedy for all its alleged shortcomings in codification. Bentham
was ignorant alike of the prindples of historical criticism and legal
philosophy, and was equally ready to draw a code gratis for the
English crown, the President of the United States or the Gaekwar
of Baroda. Bentham's ideas met with scant response among the
hard-headed English lawyers, and he turned to the United States.
First he offered President Madison to draw a code for the United
States gratis, but Madison, being a good lawyer, would have nothing
to do with the proposal. Bentham then made a similar offer to the
Governor of Pennsylvania, which was submitted to the Pennsylvania
legislature and rejected. He than addrest a circular letter to the
governors of all the states, but without results. Finally in 181 7 he
wrote and distributed a pamphlet entitled "Jeremy Bentham, an
Englishman, to the citizens of the several American United States"
in which he made the most astounding claims for his proffered code.
"Accept my services in the book of laws, my friends," he wrote,
"and so long as the United States continue the United States, among
you and your posterity, in every such accepting State, shall every
man, if it so please its appointed legislators, find, for most purposes
of consultation, his own lawyer; a lawyer, by whom he can neither
be plundered or betrayed. Accept my services; no man of tolerably
liberal education but shall, if he pleases, know more — and without
effort — ^much more, than at the end of the longest course of the
intensest effort is is possible for the ablest lawyer to know at present."
Bentham's propaganda had no immediate results, but the evil
that he did lived after him. In the middle of the century there
was a strong movement in the United States for codification along
Benthamite lines. In 1849 the New York Constitution commanded
die legislature to appoint commissioners to codify the law. The
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74 ^A^ Quarterly Journal
next year an attempt was made to start off the new State of Cali-
fornia as the first common law jurisdiction with a civil code. It
failed, the committee appointed to look into the project reporting:^
"We know it to be a favorite theme of some men that the
entire laws of a community, regulating every variety of busi-
ness, and defining and providing the penalty for every grade of
crime, may be and ought to be, reduced within the compass
of a common sized spelling book — so that every man might
become his own lawyer and judge — so that the farmer, tlic
artisan, the merchant, with his vade mecum in his pocket at
the plough, in the workship, or in the counting-house, might
be enabled, at a moment's warning, to open its leaves and point
directly to the very page, section and line, which would eluci-
date the darkest case, solve the most abstruse legal problem,
dearly define his rights, and prescribe the exact remedy for his
wrongs. It is scarcely necessary to say that all such notions
are but the chimeras of ignorance and folly, or the fancies of
a spirit more reprehensible and more to be deprecated than
ignorance and folly conjoined. » • • To undertake by
statute or by code, to establish a just and accurate rule for
every contingency of human avarice and of human passions, and
for all the endless phases of varied life, is to essay a task which
never yet was accomplished — a task which, until the Almighty
shall change the nature and attributes of man must forever
remain equally impracticable and absurd. In truth, all the
provisions of constitutions, and statutes and codes are but pebbles
on the sea shore — the vast ocean of legal sdence lies beyond."
About 1857 the New York Code Commission, made up of three
lawyers in active practise, was created. The most prominent of the
commissioners was David Dudley Field, a leader of the bar, but an
avowed disciple of Bentham. The commissioners worked upon the
draft of the proposed "civil code" intermittently for about eight
years, when they reported to the legislature the convenient vade
mecum that they claimed would dispense with law libraries, and
for most purposes make a man his own lawyer. These specious
claims appealed to the uncritical legislature, and the code was
adopted. About that time the New York bar awoke to what had
happened, and prevailed upon the governor to veto the law adopting
the "civil code." The legislature was not able to override the gov-
ernor's veto. Thus might have ended the first attempt to codify the
common law is America, had not the Territory of Dakota, where
4. See 1 Cal. Rop.. appendix.
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Law Reform in North Dakota 75
distances were great and law books scarce, seized the opportunity
and, in 1868, adopted the New York draft Civil Code verbatim.
A few years later California adopted the same code with some
changes, few of them very radical, except a number relating to the
law of husband and wife, for which the Spanish law was largely
drawn upon. Montana, also, has enacted a civil code, following
very closely the New York draft. Broadly speaking, the New York
draft Civil Code remains substantially unchanged, and is the basis
of a great body of the private law of the States of California, Mon-
tana, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
What kind of a code was this New York draft Civil Code?
Qearly its foundations were insecure. But may it not, like the
image of Nebuchadnezzar, have had a gold head along with its
feet of clay?
Several years ago I visited a session of the Judicial Committee
of the Privy Council in London. It was as tiresome as only an
English court of appeal could be. Being restless, but reluctant to
leave, my eye wandered about the room, and I spied a copy of Pol-
lock's Indian Contract Act within easy reach. Being unfamiliar
with the book, I proceeded to read the preface. My attention was
almost immediately arrested by the following:^
"Another source of unequal workmanship, and sometimes of
positive error, is that the framers of the Indian Codes, and of the
Contract Act in particular, were tempted to borrow a section
here and a section there from the draft Civil Code of New
York, an infliction which the sounder lawyers of that state have
been happily successful so far in averting from its citizens. This
code is in our opinion, and we believe in that of most compe-
tent lawyers who have examined it, about the worst piece of
codification ever produced. It is constantly defective and inac-
curate, both in apprehending the rules of law which it purports
to define and in expressing the draftsman's more or less satis-
factory understanding of them. The clauses on fraud and mis-
representation in contracts — ^which are rather worse, if anything,
than the average badness of the whole — were most unfortunately
adopted in the Indian Contract Act. Whenever this Act is
revised everything taken from Mr. Dudley Field's code should
be struck out, and the sections carefully recast after independent
examination of the best authorities."
(The Italics are mine.)
5. PoHock's Indian Contract Act, 3d ed., p. ix.
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76 The Quarterly Journal
I mis^t rest here, but I prefer to make my criticisms more
pointed, altho in a popular article and with the limited space at
my disposal, I cannot hope to do more than touch the high places.
Let me first enumerate the counts in the indictment. They are:
(i) The arrangement is defective; (a) No provision is made for
growth; (3) The draftsmanship is bad; (4) The principles of the
common law are often misapprehended.
Taking up these counts in the order given:
(i) Arrangement. About two years ago Professor Sherman
of Yale University in an artide on codification remarked:*
"Almost at the very outset of the nineteenth century revival
of Roman Law study, Sheldon Amos published in 1873 his
'English Code,* in which he laid down the essential principle
of English law codification, namely accurate classification — the
rock on which the hopes of David Dudley Field and the move-
ment toward codification started by him were wrecked. What
a pity Field did not try to make a thorough use of Livingston's
magnificent work so full of accurate classification — the famous
Louisiana Code!"
But what difference does it make whether the arrangement of the
code is systematic or hap-hazard ? To say nothing of leading to con-
fusion in statement, defective arrangement makes it next to impossible
to find many provisions of the code. There are not a few decisions
of the Supreme Court of California on matters covered in the code
which do not refer to the pertinent code provisions, and some of the
decisions are at variance with the code. This of course means
uncertainty, not to say confusion. It also means that in litigation
important enough to go to the Supreme Court, attorneys on both
sides, as well as the trial and appellate judges, have not found
the controlling code provisions. More than that, it means that
a lawyer, trying to pilot his client in advance of trouble, must
occasionally have a haunting fear that he may have given counsel at
variance with the law as laid down in the code. The results may
be serious, but they are sometimes ludicrous. A lawyer friend told
me a short time ago of a case before the Supreme Court of Cali-
fornia some few years ago, in which counsel, upon having it sug-
gested to him from the bench that there were decisions contrary
to his contention, called attention to a plain provision of the code
which had been overlooked in the decisions referred to. One of the
justices is said to have replied: "What you say is true enough, but
6. Greenbagr 460. at p. 461.
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Law Reform in North Dakota 77
we have disregarded that provision so long, that if we were to fol-
low it now titles would be disturbed." And this is the code that
was going to make the law understandable to the layman without
the luxury, or the infliction, of a lawyer.
(2) No provision for growth. As has already been sug-
gested, the law is an ''anthropological document." The law as it
is today and as it was forty years ago are radically different. It
is perhaps not too much to say that the methods and researches of
Sir Henry Maine, Professor Maitland, Sir Frederick Pollock, Pro-
fessor Dicey and Mr. Justice Stephen, in England, and of Mr.
Justice Holmes, Professor Langdell, Professor Ames, Professor
Thayer, Professor Wigmorc, and Professor Pound, in this country,
have almost revolutionized legal thinking. Whole topics have grown
up that were almost unknown forty years ago. A good illustration
is found in the law of what is now called ''quasi contract," the car-
dinal principle of which was laid down by the great Lord Mansfield
about a century and a half ago, as being the duty to account for
money or property that in equity and good conscience belongs to
another. This topic, altho it had been developed by the Roman
jurists centuries ago, and was systematically covered in the Code
Napoleon, lay fallow in our law until about thirty years ago, when
it came under the fructifying influence of Professor Ames and his
disciple. Professor Keener. It has recently been re-expounded in
an able treatise by Professor Woodward, of Stanford University.
What says the Civil Code of North Dakota, as amended up to 191 5
upon the subject of quasi contract? It is hard to know, but this
much is certain, the code does not attempt to give a systematic state-
ment of that branch of the law. There are, however, two sections
attempting to generalize on the subject,*^ which have, apparently,
never been discovered by the bar or the courts of review of North
Dakota, or of the states of California, Montana, and South Dakota,
which have the same code provisions. In forty years these sections
of the civil codes of four states have, it seems, not been cited once
in any court of review! I might add that I know that these sec-
tions deal with quasi contract because the draftsmen of the draft
New York Civil Code from which they are taken verbatim say so by
7. N. D. civ. Code, ii 5390-5391. See note New York draft Civil Code.
(1865) p. 266. Compare California Code provisions witli provisions of
Indian Contract Act, ii 68-70; Jenks' Di8:e8t English Civil Law. fiS 707-
721; French Civil Code, Wright's Eng:. translation, S8 1870-1381: Louisiana
Civil Code, fii 2292-2814; Oerroan Civil Code. Wan^s English translation.
ifi 812-822; Institutes of Justinian, Moyle's translation. Title XXVII; see
also Sohm's Institutes of Roman Law, Ledlie's Enirlish translation, 2nd
ed., pp. 423-481.
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78 The Quarterly Journal
indirection in notes appended to the sections.^ Otherwise I am not
at all sure that any uninitiated person could fathom their purport.
It might be suggested with some warmth by worshippers at the
shrine of the god of things as they are, "How do you expect codifiers
to look forty years ahead of the times?" Frankly, I do not; but
is that the end of the matter? By no means. The real suggestion
lies in this, that the code should not be deemed the final word of
wisdom, but should contemplate, and make provision for growth.
This can be done by establishing a permanent commission of law-
yers to report needed changes in the code to the legislature at each
session. The French did this over a century ago when they adopted
the Code Napoleon. Can we not, with profit, establish such a com-
mission ?
(3) Draftsmanship defective. If Macaulay's justly celebrated
schoolboy had worked in a law office for six months he probably
would have been well aware that only the bungling amateur and
the testatrix who draws her own will, enumerate in a contract or
will when a matter can be covered in general terms. Why?
Because the enumeration may not be sufficiently extensive. Courts
have acted upon this principle since time when the memory of
man runneth not to the contrary. For example, courts of equity
have refused to define fraud for fear that some crafty scoundrel
might devise a new species of fraud and circumvent the definition.
The "civil code" constantly violates this principle. There are other
defects in draftsmanship ; but I must hurry on to the next point.
(4) Misapprehends principles of common law. When the
New York legislature created the Code Commission, it enjoined the
commissioners to codify the common law with such modifications
as occurred to them. Either consciously or unconsciously, the
commissioners observed the second part of this injunction more
religiously than the first. Indeed in many places they did not
follow the then prevailing rule of law or any other authoritative
statement of the law, and we have slavishly accepted their work.
Take for example the rule against restraint of trade. That rule
has recently been the subject of exhaustive examination and is fresh
in the minds of most of us. It will be recalled that in medieval
times the rule was one of absolute prohibition, because the guild
system prevailed, and under it, if a man restrained himself by con-
tract from carrying on his business he would probably deprive himself
of the means of livelihood, to the injury of himself, his family, and
8. New York draft Civil Code (1866), p. 2«6.
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Law Feform in North Dakota 79
the state. Later when conditions of trade became free, a merchant
selling his store in London might restrain himself from carrying
on his trade in London but not thruout the kingdom. Why? Be-
cause, in the quaint language of the early eighteenth century, if
one engages in business in London, what booteth it him that his
vendor carry on the same trade in Newcastle ? At the present time,
inasmuch as business has become national and international in scope>
the restraint may extend to the whole world if it is necessary to
the protection of the buyer and does not run counter to the public
policy aimed against monopolies. This latter application of the
rule has been definitely established since the New York draft Civil
Code was drawn. The same principle, however, runs thru the
cases in the various stages of development, namely, that if the re-
straint is not against the public interest, it is valid to the extent
that it is necessary. What say the New York draft Civil Code of
1865, and the North Dakota Civil Code as amended to 191 5? They
declare that the restraint must be confined within a specified county.
Apropos of this rule, the New York commissioners piously observed :*
"Contracts in restraint of trade have been allowed by
modern decisions to a very dangerous extent. * * * In
Whittaker v. Howe (3 Beav. 387), a contract not to practice
law anywhere in England, was specifically enforced. Such a
contract manifestly tends to enforce idleness, and deprives the
state of the services of its citizens."
And these views have been transmuted into the law of North Dakota.
Is not this like harking back to David's sling?
I venture to believe that almost any competent lawyer who
takes the trouble to look into the matter will agree with me that
our civil code is fatally defective, both in form and content.^® What
9. New York draft ClvU Code (1865). p. 255. fi 833.
10. I take the liberty of suggestlnsr that there is no critique of the
civil code to which to refer my learned readers. Those caring- for fur-
ther examples of the inadequacy of the code may look at Sir Frederick
Pollock's Indian Contract Act, 3d ed., and the following: articles in the
California Law Review: The Need of Remedial Legislation in California
Law of Trusts and Peroetuitles, by Prof. W. N. Hohfeld, written before
recent amendments, 1 Cal. Law Rev. 305; The Law Merchant and Cali-
fornia Decisions, by Prof. A. M. Kidd. 2 Cal. Law Rev. 377; and Mutual
Assent in Contract under the Civil Code of California, by the present
writer. 2 Cal. Law. Rev. 345. Further examples of decisions incon-
sistent with plain provisions of the code may be found in an article,
Contract Distini^uisned from Quasi Contract, by the present writer, 2
Cal. Law Rev. 177. See, also, a series of articles by the late Professor
Pomeroy In the old West Court Reporter.
"The student who should approach his study of law thru the
Civil Code would wholly fall to grraso the fundamental features of our
system. Take, for example, the matter of water rifrhts, a field of the
utmost importance. He would find no trace in the Code of the doctrine
of riparian risrhts; the information he would Rain as to the doctrine of
appropriation would be almost neg-liKible. and for the most part erroneous.
He would find no sections dealing with percolating or surface waters. In
short, if he would learn anything substantial concerning: our system of
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is the remedy? Two courses are open: the repeal of the civil code
and the return to the common law, or a new code. Powerful
argiunents might be suggested in favor of the first course, but as a
practical matter it is too much to suppose that a generation of law-
yers who have grown up under the code will permit its abolition.
The force of inertia is too great.
If we are to have a new code, on what principle should it be
drawn? Without going into detail, wliicfa is obviously impossible
here, I might suggest that if the code is going to constitute a work-
ing system it must confine itself to the statement of principles, and
not try to prescribe rules for every situation that may arise in the
varied relations of life. Such is the theory on which the new German
and Swiss codes were drafted. If the new code is to be dynamic
and not static, it should also make provision for a body of experts
to keep it up to date, as is done in France.
By whom should such a code be drafted? It needs no great
acumen to perceive that no three or four active practitioners, re-
gardless of their attainments, are equal to the task of reducing the
whole body of private law to systematic statement. A code pre-
pared as our present code was prepared is doomed to failure. Even
a comparatively small branch of the law cannot be successfully codi-
fied by a small ccHnmittee of lawyers. Some years ago a sub-com-
mittee of the Commissioners of Uniform Legislation drafted a
proposed Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law, which has been
adopted in nearly all the states including North Dakota. This law
has not only been a flat failure, but it has also been a source of
confusion. On the other hand, a very satisfactory negotiable instru-
hents law has been enacted in England, but it was the result of
the joint labors of one of the highest authorities on the subject work-
ing with a select committee of merchants, bankers, lawyers, and law
lords. When the Commissioners of Uniform Legislation came to
water law, he would be obliged to ro to the law reports. That branch of
the law Is of necessity judg-e-made, for the legislature has not acted
upon the subject.
•'But not only have our courts been obliged by the process of judicial
law-making to supply the onaissions of the legislature, they have also
been obliged, in the interests of justice, to construe sections of the code
In a manner which may be called spurious interpretation, but which so
long as the true principles of legislation are neglected by our legislatures,
will remain a continuing necessity. For example, the Civil Code not
only enumerates the cases in which covenants run with the land, but
provides in section 1461, that 'the only covenants which run with the
land are those specified in this title.* Yet the law of California recog-
nises the doctrines of equity with respect to the running of covenants,
and the courts enjoin breaches by assignees of the land of covenants
not among those specified in the title. In fact, the whole matter of equity
is practically unaffected by the code, although it purports to state the
entire law." Professor O. K. McMurray in Changing Conceptions of Law.
California Law Review. Vol. III. p. 461.
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Law Reform in North Dakota 8i
prepare the Uniform Sales Law, they profited by English experience
and engaged as draftsman Professor Samuel Williston of Harvard
University, one of the foremost authorities on the law of sales.
Professor Williston made a provisional draft, which was submitted
to many lawyers, discust in conunittee, and re-drawn several times
before it was finally adopted. If such care is necessary in codifying
comparatively small portions of the law, how much more so is it
in case of general codification?
The greatest code the world has ever seen was adopted in
Germany in 1896 to take effect in 1900. The Germans had a
problem so difficult, due to the many varieties of law in the empire, —
Roman, Canon, Germanic, Danish, French, as well as Austrian,
and Saxon codes, and what not, — that in comparison our problem
seems simplidty itself. The Germans set themselves to their tast:
with the system and thoroness that characterize all public work
in that "nation of damned professors." First a committee of five
prominent, practical jurists was constituted in 1873 to plan the work.
Next, a committee of eleven of the leading university professors of
law and judges was appointed to prepare a provisional draft. The
actual work of draftsmanship was assigned to five members of the
conmiittee, who worked individually on the branches severally
assigned to them for seven years. Then the committee came to-
gether and prepared several drafts, which they reported, together
with arguments pro and con. These drafts and arguments weie
printed broadcast, and subjected to the severest professional criticism
for several years. A new conunittee of twenty-two was thereupen
appointed, that re-drafted the proposed code in the light of all the
criticism and discussion. After twenty-three years of painstaking
labor by the finest legal minds in the empire, the civil code was com-
pleted, — ^and it is a little book that any one may easily carry around
in his coat pocket.
I am far from suggesting that the drafting of a new civil code
that would meet the needs of North Dakota would involve anything
like the labor expended on the German Civil Code. On the other
hand it must not be forgotten, to quote a learned judge of the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court, that "Laws seem to be born full
grown about as often as men are." If I were asked by a council
of elder statesmen to sketch a modus operandi for the preparation
of a new civil code, I should submit something like this: Let the
subject of revision be discust as widely as possible for the next two
years. Let the next legislature create a Code Commission with a life
of about four years, composed of judges, law prof^^ssors, and lawyers
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82 The Quarterly Journal
in practise. Let the commission be instructed to plan the work, and
then engage the best expert talent available to draft the various
titles, — ^men like Professor Williston of Harvard for Contracts;
Professor Mechen of Chicago for Agency; and Professor Wood-
ward of Stanford for Quasi Contracts, — if they could be secured.
Let the commission be further instructed to then engage the best
draftsmen to be had to co-ordinate the various titles and work them
into an articulate whole. Let about three years be given to this
work. After the draft is prepared, let it be published with ex-
planatory notes and distributed broadcast among the members of
the bar, the business community, and the teachers of law. Invite
the most searching criticisms. In the light of these, prepare a final
draft for submission to the legislature of the following year, that is,
six years hence. Let the legislature confine its changes to matters
of policy, and leave the details alone. Let the code then be gone
over again by the draftsmen, and have it take effect a year later.
Then provide for keeping it abreast of the times by creating a per-
manent commission — ^with a changing membership-— to report bien-
nially to the legislature on needed changes. If this plan were fol-
lowed the code produced would not, of course, be perfect ; but what
human institution is perfect?
As a last word let me assure the learned reader that I am not
so innocent as to imagine that within the next few years the people
of North Dakota or the lawyers of North Dakota are going to take
steps to set their house in order. I must confess to sharing the rather
cynical view of an eminent jurist who once observed that there is
little hope of law reform to be expected either from laymen or
lawyers, because "those who make the shoe do not feel its pinch,
and those who feel its pinch do not know how shoes are made."
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Book Reviews
Anglo-American Isthmian Diplomacy^ 1815-1915: Mary
WiLHELMiNE WiLUAMS, Assistant Professor of History,
Goucher College. American Historical Association, Wash-
ington, D. C. The Lord Baltimore Press, Baltimore, Md.,
1916. XII-f356 pp.
This work was awarded the Justin Winsor prize in American
History for 1914. It is a timely piece of investigation in view of
the increased importance of the Caribbean Sea within the last decade.
The author has succeeded thruout a very laborious research in bring-
ing clearly before us the salient features of a century-long struggle
between England and the United States over some disputed questions
in Central American diplomacy. The significance of these tedious
diplomatic intricades is set forth in easy narrative style that enables
the reader readily to avail himself of the voluminous sources used
in preparing the work. The author has chosen to interpret the
various diplomatic moves and changes of policy in terms of national
or sectional feeling. Thus England's changing colonial policy is
seen to be the outcome of a complex of forces more or less intricately
involving European politics. For the United States the connection
is still more elaborately worked out and the various stages in the
diplomatic game are linked up with the particular contemporaneous
event or political exigency that served as a chief cause or contributed
to predpit^te the crisis.
A most unexpected result of the study is the complete demon-
stration it affords of the nature of the process by which England has
built up her colonial empire and United States has acquired her
extensive possessions. In each case it was precisely that leisurely,
unsystematic, illogical development to be expected of such nations
whose people were in the midst of a national evolution toward
democracy. No Englishman planned out in advance the magnificent
proportions of her 19th century empire. So, similarly, no statesman
in this country foresaw in 1800 what territory we should possess in
another century. In the singularly tortuous diplomacy outlined in
this work it is easy to find the key to the utter absence of a con-
sistent policy. In the life processes of a great nation it is not
often possible to forecast the outcome of a decade of growth. There
are no mathematics, even of the fourth dimension, that can serve the
purpose here. The only absolute certainty that the historian can
depend upon in writing the diplomatic story of such a nation is that
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84 The Quarterly Journal
the territorial growth which is accomplished and the colonial policy
adopted is in full accord with the popular will. Whatever logic
there is in the evolution of a democracy may be discovered in the
territorial policy of England and United States. But unlike em-
pires built up by the power of a single will, such territorial acquisi-
tions come invariably to be filled by citizens fully in sympathy with
the ideals of the larger nation. This has most significant bearing
on the future of our Latin-American diplomacy and the development
of the Panama-Caribbean commerce.
The value of the work is considerably enhanced by the very
complete footnotes and an admirable bibliography.
O. G. LiBBY
Department of History,
University of North Dakota
Agricultural Commerce: Grovbr G. Hubbner, Assistant Pro-
fessor of Transportation and Commerce, Wharton School of
Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania. D. Apple-
ton and Co., New York and London, 1915. XVI-f4o6 pp. 11
maps. Price $2.cx> net.
The Marketing of Farm Products: L. D. H. Weld, Profes-
sor of Business Administration in Sheffield Scientific School,
Yale University, Formerly Chief of Division of Agricultural
Economics, University of Minnesota. The Macmillan Com-
pany, New York, 1916. XVI-f 496 pp. Price $1.50.
"Agricultural Commerce," by Huebner, is exactly what it pur-
ports to be, namely, a textbook for universities, much of the informa-
tion contained in it having been compiled for use in a course on the
Organization of American Commerce which the author has conducted
at the University of Pennsylvania since 1908. Says the author: "In
discussing the commerce in farm products it is not necessary to deal
with soils, seed selection, planting, cultivation, fertilizers, crop rota-
tion, farm labor, production costs, crop pests and animal diseases,
harvesting methods, feeding, livestock breeding, farm machinery, land
rents and similar phases of agriculture; for such matters constitute
agricultural production. They need to be mentioned only in so
far as they exert an indirect influence upon agricultural prices/'
The treatment is objective. The author adheres to his definition
of the subject with severe logic. For convenience of treatment, he
divides the subject into eighteen chapters, in the following manner:
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Book Reviews 83
one chapter to definitions and scope ; one to classification of agricul-
tural markets and market processes; three to the grain market; two
to cotton; one to the speculative exchanges; two to livestock; one
each to wool, tobacco, and fruit ; one each to the following topics : —
inspection and grading; crop reports; insurance of agriculture com-
modities; financing of crops; prices of agricultural commodities;
foreign markets and market influences.
The treatment of the grain trade illustrates the author's thoro-
ness and particularity in dealing with each subject. Take wheat,
for instance; a discussion, and a map, show the distribution of the
local wheat trade. The length and cost of haul to the country
elevator is given. Then follows a description of the country elevator
and its methods, of the primary markets and the various terminal
activities. Various forms, such as certificates of weighing depart-
ments, warehouse receipts, etc., are printed in the text.
Speculation on the organized exchanges the author holds to
be a good thing for the producer and consumer. He accepts the
findings of the federal government in its investigation of the G>tton
Exchanges in 1 907-1 909. He also holds that there is active com-
petition between the various primary markets, so that prices are
determined largely by supply and demand. "The evils of undue
dockage," says the author, "have now been mainly prevented, for
dockage at present is more strictly controlled by the state grain
inspector or the grain exchanges."
The tariff controversy is handled in a manner familiar to all
orthodox economists. Says the author: "The protective rates on
grain, meat, animals, meat products and eggs, throughout the earlier
years of their existence and until after the close of the nineteenth
century had practically no effect upon prices in the United States."
The United States Cotton Futures Act of August 18, 1914*
is printed in full in the Appendix.
On the whole the book seems remarkably free from errors. On
page 45 statistics are given concerning the number of co-operative
elevators. These figures are a little misleading, since a large num-
ber of these elevators are co-operative in name only. Most of the
331 so-called co-operative elevators in North Dakota, for instance,
were incorporated under the provisions of the 1905 code, that is,
four years before there was a co-operative law on the statute books.
One more point admits of debate, namely, is not marketing a part
of production? The author's sharp differentiation of the two, how-
ever, does not detract from the merits of his book. The author
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has done his work so thoroly that no new book need cover the
same ground again.
Turning now to Professor Weld's work on "The Marketing
of Farm Products," we have quite a new and distinctive treatment
of the marketing problem. Huebner's viewpoint is commerce;
Weld's is marketing. Huebner distinguished marketing from pro-
duction; Weld calls marketing a part of production. Huebner *s
work is a compilation of data from wide sources, gathered and or-
ganized with scholarly correctness; Weld's book, while equally scien-
tific and scholarly, bears evidence of much firsthand and personal
contact with the living problems discust. Huebner 's work is almost
wholly descriptive ; Weld's treats more of problems and, in a guarded
manner, with proposed remedies. On the subject of the grain
trade Weld writes with an unusually strong and steady hand. He
brings to this task unique equipment, since, under commission of
the federal government, he was given free access to the secretary's
books of the Minneapolis Chamber of Gimmerce, and also to the
books and private accounts of the individual members, including
line-house operators, terminal elevator owners, flour millers, receiving
commission merchants, option houses and brokers. The author also
made an investigation of the grain trade in Kansas City.
The material in the book is arranged in this order: marketing
at country points ; the wholesale market ; the retail market. There
are twenty-one chapters in the book, apportioned as follows: one
chapter on the fundamentals of marketing and the middleman prob-
lem; one on marketing at country points; one on methods of sale;
three on wholesale produce trade; one on sale by auction; one on
cold storage; two on cost of marketing; one each on transportation
and the prices of farm products; four on produce exchange prob-
lems; one each on the following topics: inspection and grading, dty
markets and the parcel post, co-operative markets, problems of re-
tailing, and the weaknesses, remedies, and governmental activities.
Only a few of the more common problems in this book can be
reviewed here.
Are there too many middlemen ? Weld thinks the middleman
is not a fundamental weakness in our system. In some cases there
are too many middlemen, in others, too few. Some middlemen
actually cheapen production. He considers this problem one phase
of economic division of labor. "The tendency," says Weld, "dur-
ing the last twenty years has been towards a greater degree of
functional specialization, and in spite of popular opinion to the
contrary, it is also safe to say that as a rule such specialization cannot
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Book Reviews 87
develop unless it results in greater economy or efficiency in the mar-
keting process."
Co-operation receives only twenty-six pages of unenthusiastic
treatment. The chief success in co-operative marketing comes at
the country shipping points, for here, sa}^ the writer, is where they
fulfill the greater need. The attempt of the Equity Society to
establish a grain exchange at St. Paul he views with many misgiv-
ings. "The grain trade is organized on such an efficient basis," says
Weld, "that little if any improvement may be expected from at-
tempts of this kind, although if sufficient business is obtained, such
an organization may save its stockholders that part of the commis-
sions (one cent a bushel) represented by profit. This could be
accomplished just as well, if not better, by operating thru an organ-
ized grain exchange, as does the Grain Growers Grain Company in
Winnipeg; to establish a second exchange in practically the same
market, — i.e., if it is possible to develop a real exchange — would
result in a certain amount of economic waste and duplication."
The various terminal market activities in the grain trade receive
full and convincing treatment. Speculation is shown to have bene-
ficial functions. Under speculation, price changes are more frequent
but less severe. Futures are used to avoid speculation. The chief
evil of ^)eculation is due to the speculative efforts of those outside
the grain trade. Grain not hedged on the exchange, such as bar-
ley, show wider fluctuations than grains hedged, such as wheat.
Corners are of very rare occurrence. "There would be the same
possibility of cornering the supply of actual wheat if there were no
system of future trading, and the results would doubtless be more
serious." Mixing is demonstrated to be a good thing for the farmer,
since it raises the price of the poorer grades of wheat. The retail
margins are the biggest of all, no matter what the commodity is.
Wheat, however, shows the smallest margins of any product sold
by the farmer, thanks to the highly organized, competitive terminal
markets. The Minnesota farmer receives 90% of the miller's price
for wheat, for butter 77% of the retail price, eggs 69%, live stock
58%, potatoes 55%, diickens 45%, and milk 37/4%.
There is no single or simple universal remedy or no revolution-
ary process which may be applied effectively to the weaknesses of
marketing, says Weld. The activities of the federal department
of Agriculture, especially the Bureau of Markets under Chas. T,
Brand, receive commendation. The tariff is not mentioned.
In method, style, and substance, this book is the best I have
seen on the subject of marketing farm products.
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88 The Quarterly Journal
Both of these books contain full and satisfactory bibliographies
and indexes.
Jambs E. Boylb
Department of Economics and Political Science,
University of North Dakota
Report of thb Minnbapolis Survey for Vocational Educa-
tion. Bulletin 21, National Society for the Promotion of In-
dustrial Education, 191 6. 967 pp. Copyrighted by C. A.
Prosser.
This report marks a definite step forward in dealing with
problems of vocational education, as it provides a fund of informa-
tion upon which profitable discussion and school procedure may be
based. It is valuable in that it shows the industrial structure of
a modern city and presents those conditions by the light of which
educators are supposed to be guided when dealing with vocational
education.
The study appears to cover thoroly the lines of investigation
selected and is particularly valuable for showing the vocational edu-
cation needed for the building, electrical, metal, wood, and printing
trades, the flour and baking business, the laundries, garment making,
dress making and millinery, the knitting mills and department stores,
and for office work and home work.
Employers and employees were interviewed. This taking of
testimony brought out the actual requirements for holding the various
industrial positions. One source of information seems to have been
overlooked. It would be interesting to know what the employment
bureaus could have told both as to the need for vocational training
and as to the demand for workers in various employments.
The concrete evidence afforded upon aspects of industrialism
comes with the oJeasurable surprise of verification. We knew that
industry was specialized; the report shows that it is. The building
trades, for example, are carried on by contractors, brick layers,
masons, carpenters, electric wire men, hoisting engineers, laborers,
painters, decorators, plasterers, gas fitters, sheet-metal workers, sta-
tionary engineers, steam fitters, stone cutters and structural iron
workers. In the flour mill are found the roustabout, head miller,
second miller, smutter, oiler, grinder and bolter, sweeper, packer,
coal passer, fireman, engineer, electrician, baker, flour tester, chemist,
plumber and steam fitter, millwright helper, millwright, machinist,
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Book Reviews 89
elevator foreman, carpenter, and elevator man. Industrial speciali-
zation is revealed on every page.
Another fact stands out, — an industry makes widely var3ring
demands of service. In the milling business various employees
would not need to know how to read. Speaking of the elevator
man, the report says, p. 328, "Thus far he is the first man who
must know how to read, write and figure. * * * No technical
knowledge is needed. A man with ordinary intelligence can learn
in a week.*' One qualification of the smutter, and about the only
one, is that he have "extra sound lungs because his room has the
most dust."
A gradation of positions is recognized in the report; in fact
one of the important features of the report is the historicalness of
its findings on the gradation of vocations. Consider the "bucker."
The bucker places the rivet in place and holds a lever or bucking
iron against the rivet while the riveter hammers. "All the bucker
needs to know is how to hold this lever properly and a week is
ample time in which to acquire this."
The gradation of employments suggests to the authors of the
report a military comparison. In the army are officers, non-com-
missioned officers and privates. So in industry there is need of
highly trained technical intelligence at the top; then of a much
larger body of intelligent, trained employees for middle-grade posi-
tions. Down below are the positions for which little training is
required, or, as in the laundry, for which no training is required.
The needs of the first group, those of the high-grade technical
leaders of industry, are provided for in institutions for advanced
technical education. It is the vocational training of the non-com-
missioned officers, the individuals "who fill positions secondary and
subordinate to first class," that are felt to be neglected in the school
system.
About eighty-five percent of employees require vocational train-
ing, and it is agreed that there is a marked shortage of technical
training. A great many workers do not have enough training for
their work. Of the workers that require training for their work
the great majority have insufficient training.
It is evident that vocational training for various positions will
require varying periods of time in the public schools if such training
is to be given there. Industry does not imply the idea of four-year
courses for everybody. Courses will vary in length according to
the amount of training required for the employment, beginning with
nothing for some of the flour mill hands and going up to the doc-
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90 The Quarterly Journal
tor's degree for the head chemist. That is, so far as vocational
education is concerned, and this report does not deal with the educa-
tion of citizens. It confines itself to the training of producers.
Educators still have the problem of the social education of the
smutter, the bucker and the girl in the laundry.
One of the issues raised by this report is that of where the
line shall be drawn between the public school and other agencies
of vocational training. Should the public school confine itself to
giving insight into vocations and a general and preliminary training
intended to make the youth intelligent and adaptable in vocation
or should it fit the man for the job? The latter alternative would
entail a radical reorganization of the school system and vastly in-
crease school expenditure. The public schools must go further than
they have, but how far ? The small number of persons in many of
the specialized employments has to be considered. Certainly a small
city could not hope to provide complete trade training for all the
different types of workers within its limits.
Historically the learning of vocations occurred in connection
with the practise of the vocation. Presumably the finishing toudies
of vocational training will in the future be received under working
conditions. Business houses and industrial establishments must share
in the labor of vocational training and meet the public schools half
way.
Arland D. Weeks
Department of Education,
North Dakota Agricultural College
The Archaeology of the Holy Land: P. S. P. Handcock.
The Macmillan Company, New York, 191 6. Two folding
plans, 26 plates, 109 figures, and 383 pages. Price, $3.00
The author, who has performed a like service for Mesopotamian
archaeology, is by training and opportunity qualified for his task.
The wealth of the British Museum and the labors of the Palestine
Exploration fund have been especially at his command. And as
the preface attests, the researches of scholars of all nations have been
freely levied upon.
One special merit of the present volume is the systematic order-
ing of the material. What has, hitherto, been set forth in journals
and memoirs as excavations progrest, we now have before us thoroly
classified. Of special value to the present work have been the
massive tomes of Macalistcr to whom the author gives generous rec-
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Book Reviews 91
ognition. Invaluable records have come fromEl-Hesy, Ta'annek,
El-Mutsellim, Tell Sanda-hannah, Jericho and from other sites, but
it is Gezer that has come nearer than others to furnishing a chrono-
logical record from Troglodyte times to modern Arabs.
The chapter on caves and rock-cuttings admits us to the homes
of the original dwellers of the land. On a single site, Tell-Sanda-
hannah, were 400 such caves. The land rests on a bed of limestone
rock which the elements for ages have been honey-combing with
caverns. These natural beginnings primitive man with his crude
tools enlarged, joined together, and roughly embellished. A notable
instance of "an undisturbed Troglodyte dwelling" is from Gezer.
About 30^ ft. long, with a maximu mheight of 7 ft. 2^ in., this
cave still shows raised platform, floor pits, flints, potsherds, but — if
one excepts a single buffalo horn — no bones. How long has Man
lived on this earth 1 Estimates of enthusiasts of 8,000 B. C, 10,000
B. C. have been carefully qualified by scholars, yet here at Gezer is
a considerable degree of progress as far back as the neolithic Troglo-
dytes. It is but little over a year since an American scholar gave
us a sequacious narrative of Paleolithic man accepting the mean esti-
mate of 520,000 years. However, so long as doctors disagree (from
100,000 as Upham, Heim, to 800,000 as Lyell) we, perchance, must
be content with conjecture. We have long since seen dynasties
dropt a millenium over night and the supports knocked out from
under the most careful calculations by being shown the demonstra-
bility of error. A safe estimate for early Palestinian chronology
may be accepted as given by Macalister:
Primitive cave-dwellers 3,000 B.C.
Canaanites 2,500 B.C.
Semitic occupation 2,500-550 B.C.
Persian and Hellenistic 550-100 B.C.
The architecture of the land covers all stages from the rude
earth rampart suflicient against scarcely more than beasts and walls
Cyclopean in style to the elaborate structures of the Kingdom and of
the Greek period. One of the marvels is the water-supply of these
ancient sites. One reservoir has a capacity of 600,000 gals, and
another shows a water-passage 23 ft. high, nearly 13 ft. wide and
with varying dimensions extending for 2*19 ft. This tunnel seems
to have been abandoned somewhere about 1450-1250 B. C, and pos-
sibly was cut no later than 2000 B. C.
One of the great survivals of Canaanite life is the now famous
high-places. The ancient high-place comprised five features:
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92 The Quarterly Journal
1. Altar.
2. Standing stones and Asherah.
3. Ceremonial lavar.
4. Sacred cave.
5. Depository for rubbish.
It might be noted that no one site showed all these five types
of remains.
Of the myriad forms of pottery a chronological table has been
built up on the basis of "foreign influence," "technical processes,"
"ware," "shapes," and "ornament," covering a period of nearly 3,000
years. Implements have been discovered ranging from plows to fish-
hooks and from spindle-whorls to tweezers, mirrors, and buttons,
and made of stone, iron, bronze, bone, ivory, glass, silver, and gold.
Forms of burial vary from the Troglodyte crematorium to the
late Hellenistic hewn chambers with loculi carefully cut in the walls.
There are even Byzantine burial caves with benches on which the
shrouded corpses were placed. Space allows mention only of the
foundation burials of religious significance, which call up the few
hints in the Old Testament writings. The presence of numerous
Jar-burials near to an altar-site suggests sacrificial explanation; the
occurrence of jar-burials under buildings suggests the effort to ward
off a curse or some disaster; and jar burial and contracted burials
mark similarity with the ceremonial of primitive peoples elsewhere,
as in Egypt and Babylonia. What Bliss has done for exploration
in Palestine, our author has accomplished here, an epitome of the
ancient life of the land as shown forth in the handiwork of the
successive peoples, a vade mecum indispensable alike for the Bible
student and for the student of history.
Wallace N. Stbarns
Department of Religious Education,
Fargo College
Regulation of Railroads and Pubuc Utiuties in Wisconsin :
Fred L. Holmes, Madison, Wis. D. Applcton & Co., New
York and London, 1915. XII + 376 pp. Price $2.00 net.
There are in the United States to-day forty-two thousand miles
of railway, or one-sixth of our total mileage, in the hands of re-
ceivers. It is a disconcerting fact that practically all of the bank-
rupted roads are located in those parts of the country which are
notorious for the stringency of their regulations of railroads. The
railroads are making capital of this fact in a tremendous effort to
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Book Reviews 93
secure the abolition of all regulation, both that of the Interstate Com-
merce Commission and of State commissions.
In view of this situation, an intelligent, first-hand explanation
of the powers, methods, and accomplishments of what is admittedly
the foremost state railroad and utilities commission in the country
is a distinct contribution to the literature of applied economics. An
exposition of the workings of the regulatory body which has been
able to save to the consxuners of the state at least $3,300,000 in
reduced rates but which at the same time has so wisely safeguarded
the interests of the corporations themselves that the gross earnings
of the railways have increased 43% during the period of regulation —
such an exposition is in truth opportune at this time. Mr. Holmes
gives us in this book an opportunity to discover the principles upon
whidi Wisconsin regulation has proceeded so successfully.
A reading of this volume with a view to ascertaining what
distinctive features of the regulation of the Wisconsin Railroad
Commission are responsible for its rather isolated position among
the successful regulatory bodies, reveals the following facts:
1. The Commission has been fortunate in possessing members
hi^Iy trained in the principles of economic law. These men have
been able to apply these laws to concrete cases while at the same
time safeguarding established equities.
2. The Commission has not kept itself aloof and superior but
has invited and obtained the co-operation of the railroads and utilities
until these have come to look upon it as an indispensable partner in
their businesses. Its expert assistance in the formulation of rates
and standards of service is now recognized by the companies to be
of great value to themselves as well as to the public. In this way
the Commission has won the confidence of those who at first regarded
its existence as distinctly dangerous.
3. The Commission has been authorized to act upon the prin-
ciple that railroads and public utilities are natural monopolies and
as such are entitled to protection from competition. By virtue of
its power to refuse the necessary Certificate of Convenience and
Necessity, the wasteful duplication of plants and equipment has been
obviated. Even municipalities have been denied the right to erect
their own lighting plants, for it was shown that to do so would
inure to the financial loss of the citizens and consumers. The
admirable accounting systems installed by the Commission, in ren-
dering possible the ascertainment of such facts as these, have proved
to be one of the most valuable features of the Wisconsin method
of regulation.
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94 3^^^ Quarterly Journal
4. The constitution of the State of Wisconsin, in making pos-
sible the enactment of the Indeterminate Permit Law, fortunately
permitted the very foundations of this efficient regulation to be laid.
A commission thus armed with the power of terminating the fran-
chise of every utility under its control possesses the effective weapon
with which to enforce compliance with its orders. Then too, the
courts of the State have so progressively interpreted the laws of the
legislature and the orders of the Commission that the execution of
both these has been unhampered by the exercise of that ordinarily
troublesome privilege, the right of judicial review. The progressive
position of the courts is well stated by Mr. Holmes when he says:
"Gradually the Wisconsin Supreme Q>urt has abandoned the
customary practice of shackling Twentieth century progress with
Eighteenth century ideals."
In criticism of this work the writer must say that it appears
to him that the author, in some of the more difficult portions of
his exposition, has been either too thoroly or too insufficiently familiar
with the complex process involved to render clearly apparent the
underlying principles acted upon by the Commission. This is par-
ticularly true of the chapter, "The Making of Railroad Rates."
At best the complex factors which enter into the determination of
rates are apt to lose the inexperienced student in a maze of con-
siderations such as average cost per ton mile, terminal costs, move-
ment costs, transfer costs, thru and way freight costs, and classifica-
tions. Mr. Holmes' chapter is an excellent treatment of these
items separately but fails to co-relate them so as to indicate the com-
plete system of rate determination for any given shipment. This
example is, however, not typical of the book.
Edgar H. Gustafson
Department of Economics and Political Science,
University of North Dakota
The Work and Teachings of the Apostles, Volume VI in
"The Historical Bible": Charles Foster Kent. Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York, 19 16. One map, one chart, and
XI -[- 313 pages.
For many years Professor Kent has been working to present
to the lay student, especially the busy man and woman, the litera-
ture of the Bible in the light of modern, sane, scientific scholarship.
Already a score of volumes bear his imprint as author or editor.
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Book Reviews 95
This last volume is a fitting climax to the excellent series ''The
Historical Bible."
It is a veritable treat to have the literature of the New Testa-
ment thus set forth in the historical framework provided by the book
of Acts supplemented by helps and hints from contemporary writers.
When we see thru the eyes of that wonderful first century, passing
thru their experiences and enduring their trials and temptations, the
New Testament Scriptures take a deeper hold on us by the fact of
their issuance not from the philosopher's den but from the smithy
of men's souls. Since Ginybeare and Howson, now old yet ever
new, this task has been often done, yet each new treatment brings
new zest.
Beginning with an analysis of the authorities, Kent goes on to
draw a picture of the world of Paul and the other Apostles. The
Roman world as the circle of civilized lands, the arena In which
Christianity rose and finally won ; the culture and philosophy of the
Greeks; the conflicts of rival religions; and the needs of Roman
society especially of the humble folk to whom Christianity made
special appeal, are all set forth as a historic "background. An illu-
minated chart and an itinerary map of the eastern world westward
to Rome, form a fitting close to this part of the work.
Here begins the book of Acts. In the very words of the
Biblical narrative the story is told, helped on by marginal topics and
illuminating discussions at the close of each section.
According to the standpoint of our author the tradition of a
second Roman imprisonment cannot be traced earlier than the close
of the second century, on which point neither side, of course, can
present a clear case. There is an excellent discussion of the Corin-
thian correspondence, the four letters being traced (as also see Bacon,
Introd. to the N. T.). Paul's last letters date from Rome, and
the Apostle's death falk in 57 or 58 A. D. The letter to the
Ephesians possibly bore the superscription, ''to the Laodiceans."
The literary beauty of the letter to the Hebrews is fittingly
dwelt on, the work of "a theologian, a finished orator, and a master
of the Greek idiom," acquainted with the writings of Philo and with
the Alexandrian type of thought. On the authorship of James the
dictum of Jerome is followed — "written by a different James from
the brother of Jesus." The Apocalypse belongs to the Johannine
circle as do the Johannine letters. In four instances we cross, pos-
sibly, into the second century — the letter of James and the second
of Peter, the Johannine gospel and letters, and the Pastorak in their
present form. A classified list of questions and readings closes
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96 The Quarterly Journal
the volume. Probably no better presentation of the New Testa-
ment literature is accessible to lay students whether singly or in
classes. The entire series is a boon to Bible students and worthy
of confidence and study.
Wallace N. Stearns
Department of Religious Education,
Fargo College
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University Notes
Homer B. Sprogue The first article in this number of the Quarterly
twd the UnlTersity Journal, "President Sprague's Administration of
the University of North Dakota," will be found of great interest
to all friends of the institution. Doctor Sprague was, as stated,
president of the University from 1887 to 1891, during the early
days when it was in the process of formation. After an absence
of twenty-five years, he returned, last June, a man of eighty-seven
years, to give the Commencement address. This address was a
masterpiece — "Shakespeare*s Greatest Character — a Woman" — and
delighted not only all lovers of the English bard, but the entire
large audience as well. Doctor Sprague was the guest of the insti-
tution for several days, and the visit was greatly enjoyed as well
by new acquaintances as by old-time friends. He had a fund of
reminiscence and of recorded fact about the early days that drew
all to him. Again and again he exprest himself as surprised and
charmed with the growth and development of the University — the
enlargement of the material plant, the added number of faculty
and students, and the fine recognition that has been accorded it by
institutions of higher education thruout the United States. The
Quarterly Journal is more than pleased to present to its readers
the article referred to. The fulness of treatment — the very details
mentioned, even the visits of the wolves and the fracas in the Com-
mons — are, under the circumstances, refreshing and appealing. As
a whole it will not only be of interest to all friends of the institu-
tion, as said above, but, as well, prove of great value from the
historical point of view. The portrait accompanying the article is
particularly appropriate being taken about 1890 — during Doctor
Sprague*s work in the University. A pleasing feature of the com-
mencement exercises to which Doctor Sprague contributed so much
by his fine address was the conferring upon him by President McVey
of the degree of LL.D. In doing this the University felt that it
was both honoring and being honored.
FaenltT Cluui^es More changes than usual have taken place in
the University faculty this year.
Dr. L. D. Bristol, who has been Director of the Public Health
Laboratory and Professor of Bacteriology for the past two years,
resigned to continue his studies at Harvard University. He has
been succeeded by Dr. J. W. Cox as Acting-director. Dr. Cox has
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98 The Quarterly Journal
been Professor of Pathology in the School of Medicine. In the
department of Economics and Political Science some re-organiawition
was made necessary by the resignation early in the summer of Dr.
J. E. Boyle, who has become Investigator for the Agricultural Ex-
periment Station at Fargo. Dr. H. B. Whaling has been made
acting head of the department, and Mr. Stephen A. Park Jr. will
assist him as instructor in Economics and Political Science. Mr.
Park is a graduate of the University of Kansas and has pursued
graduate work at the University of Wisconsin for the past three
years. Dr. Fred Smith, who comes as Instructor in Classical Lan-
guages, took his graduate work at the University of Chicago. Dr.
Smith was born in England, and was both student and instructor
at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, and at the University
of Chicago. Dr. J. W. Todd who, during a year's leave of absence,
has been Professor of Psychology at the University of Indiana, has
returned to his work here. In the absence of Dr. Young, who
will be away on leave during 1916-1917, the work in zoology will
be in charge of Mr. George E. Johnson. Mr. Olsen, who suc-
ceeds Mr. J. M. Henry as instructor in commercial subjects, is a
graduate of the University of South Dakota and last year was in-
structor in the high school at Devils Lake, North Dakota. Miss
Ella Groenewold succeeds Miss Mary Howe as head of the depart-
ment of Home Economics. Miss Groenewold is a graduate of the
University of Chicago, and for the past two years has been serving
as instructor in domestic science in the Emerson School at Gary,
Indiana. She will be assisted by Miss Katherine Bower of Shen-
andoah, Iowa. Miss Bower is a graduate of the Kansas Agricul-
tural College and has had an extended teaching experience. Miss
Fannie Putcamp succeeds Mrs. E. C. Griess, nee Selma Steinfort,
as Instructor in German and Latin in the Model High School. Late
in the summer Mr. E. E. Fickett resigned his position as Instructor
in Metallurgy and Assaying to accept a position at the University
of Washington.
Dr. James Grassick of Grand Forks has been appointed Uni-
versity Physician. Dr. Grassick will have charge of the Dispensary
and general health conditions of students at the University. His
long association with the practise of medicine in the state will make
this a happy arrangement for the general care of the students. Miss
Minna Nyberg of Minneapolis has been appointed University Nurse
and Supervisor of Residence Halls. Miss Nyberg is a graduate of
the Swedish Hospital at Minneapolis and has had an extended ex-
perience in the University of Minneapolis Dispensary and the sum-
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University Notes 99
mer camps of the Minneapolis Visiting Nurses' Association. Miss
Ethel Halcrow, who last year was a member of the faculty of Wesley
College, is to be associated with Mr. Greenleaf in the work of the
University Bureau of Public Information.
Th« College of For a number of years the question of consoli-
Engineerini dating the colleges of engineering at the Uni-
versity has been under discussion. Some progress had been made in
this direction by the bringing of the different schools 'under the
administration of a Committee, consisting of the President of the
University, the Deans of the two schools and the Director of the
Course in Civil Engineering. The Educational Commission, pro-
vided for in Ch. 361 of the Session Laws of 191 5, recommended
to the Board of Regents that the engineering colleges and the course
in civil engineering should be organized in one college. This or-
ganization was completed in June of the present year. All courses
in engineering at the University are now given in the College of
Engineering and School of Mines. This concentration of organi-
zation should result in closer coordination of the work and make it
possible for the college to widen its scope in many directions. The
Board of Regents chose as the head of the new college, Doctor
Earle J. Babcock, who has served die University for many years as
Professor of Industrial Chemistry, Mining and Metallurgy, and
also as Dean of the College of Mining Engineering.
The placing of all the instruction in professional engineering
at the State University, in accordance with the general practise here
and elsewhere, is a step in the direction of developing distinctive
functions for the different schools and colleges of the state. This
move on the part of the Board of Regents should meet with the
hearty approval not only of the alumni of the University, but of
the people of the state, since without question diere is room for but
one College of Engineering in North Dakota.
The Depcrtmeiit of The death of Professor Perrott left the chair
GlMsioal L«ngoa«e. ^f Latin at the University vacant. His death
was much regretted and mourned at the University. It seemed
desirable, in view of many things, to unite the departments of Latin
and Greek under the title of the department of classical languages.
This reorganization is in line with the development of the work
in classical languages in many of the universities, and brings a larger
field and a wider opportunity to the department in the two litera-
tures. Professor Gottfried E. Hult, who has served as Professor
812096
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of the Greek Language and Literature for a number of years, was
made Professor of Greek and Latin and Head of the Department
of Classical Languages. Mr. Fred Smith, a Doctor of Philosophy
of the University of Chicago, has been appointed instructor in the
department.
The CommiMioner One of the provisions of the law establishing
of Educadon ^j^g g^^^.^ Board of Regents was the requirement
that they should appoint a Commissioner of Education from out of
the State. The duties of this officer are largely advisory, and in
this capacity he serves the Board in the making of reports, the study
of educational conditions, and advising the Board regarding the
situation in the different institutions in the state. For this im-
portant office Dr. Edwin B. Craighead, formerly President of the
University of Montana, has been selected. Upon the recommenda-
tion of United States Commissioner of Education, Dr. P. P. Clax-
ton, Dr. Craighead was made a member of the Educational Com-
mission, and the experience gained in that capacity was deemed of
sUiTicient value, together with his record as an educator, to bring
about his appointment as Commissioner of Education.
Dr. Craighead was born in Missouri, graduated from the Cen-
tral College of Missouri in 1883, pursued post-graduate studio at
the University of Virginia and the Universities of Leipsic and Paris
between the years 1884 and 1888. He served as Professor of
Greek at WoflFord College, South Carolina, 1888 to 1893, was
President of Clemson College, South Carolina, 1 893-1 897, of Cen-
tral College at Fayette, Missouri, from 1897 to 1901, of the Mis-
souri State Normal School 1 901 -1904, of Tulane University 1904-
1912, and of the University of Montana 1912-1915. Dr. Craig-
head has been a member of the Carnegie Board for the Advance-
ment of Teaching since its foundation. He brings to his new
position in North Dakota a wide experience and a ripe scholarship.
The Bendeke Loan The late Honorable Halfden Bendeke of Grand
CoUection Forks was an enthusiastic collector of paintings
and art objects. From his travels he had brought together in his
home in Grand Forks a considerable number of paintings, water
colors and etchings. His daughters. Miss Lillian and Miss Effa
Bendeke, have authorized the executor of the estate, Mr. Carl Gow-
ran, to place these pictures at the University as a loan. The group
contains some fifty oil paintings, about thirty-five water colors and
etchings, as well as two beautiful pieces of marble statuary. These
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University Notes lOl
will be placed in the buildings of the University and open to view
on certain days of the week to those interested in seeing them. This
loan which is made to the University by the Bendeke Estate is per-
haps the forerunner of larger collections, and it is hoped that in
the not far distant future the University may have an adequate place
to care for such collections. There is no public collection of paint-
ings in North Dakota, and it would be a most desirable thing, as
already seen in the interest shown to a considerable degree in the
museum collections at the University, if a beginning were made in
the providing of adequate housing facilities. It is to be hoped
that something of this kind may be brought to pass.
The Summer The 1916 Summer Session of the University
Session ^^ ^ success in every way. The attendance,
145, while not large as numbers run, is very encouraging, when all
things are considered, and is an evidence that the effort of the in-
stitution to be of service is being appreciated. The University itself
is only about thirty years old and its Summer Session only six. It
is, too, a ver>' substantial increase, more than 27%, over the at-
tendance of last year and represents a good average percentage of
the regular yearly attendance. As heretofore, the students were an
earnest, hardworking group of young men and women eager to make
the most of their opportunities. The new features of last year, the
evening lectures and the round-table conferences, were continued with
success. These features were extended by offering a series of moving-
picture and lantern-slide entertainments of an educational character
that seemed to be appreciated.
The following tables give data of interest in comparing the
work of the 191 5 and 19 16 sessions:
ATTENDANCE
Men --
Women
Students New to the University-
Former Students Returned
I9I5
1916
58
59
56
86
114
145
41
52
73
93
114 145
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ELECTION BY SUBJECTS
1915 1916
Biology 4 I
Chemistry 12 15
Economics - 27 37
Education 47 54
English 21 28
Fine Arts Not offered 10
French 6 5
Geology 4 o
German 21 21
History 5 18
Home Economics 9 21
Latin-America o 5
Library Science 4 o
Manual Training I3 n
Mechanical Drawing 7 10
Physical Education 28 34
Psychology 13 15
Sociology II 8
Spanish 6 5
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The Quarterly Journal
Volume 7 JANUARY, 1917 Number 2
Mitigating Rural Isolation
John Morris Gillbttb,
Professor of Sociology, University of North Dakota
Country Versus Rural Isolation
' I ""HE statement is often made that the great urban problem is
-■•^ that of congestion of population while the chief drawback to
rural life consists in the isolation of families and people. It is held
that life in cities is too compact while that in the country is char-
acterized by too great an aloofness. Altho there is truth in such
statements they must be accepted with due qualification, for a
knowledge of urban conditions teaches that congestion is only partial
in dties, that such centers present great variations in compactness,
and further, that crowding of populations is but one of the many
problems of municipal aggregations. In like manner an acquaintance
with rural conditions indicates that while isolation of families is
extreme in some portions of the United States, such as in the Rocky
Mountain division and in certain of the newer prairie states, in
many sections of the nation homes occur at frequent intervals,
affording many opportunities for social exchange. And as conges-
tion is but one of the problems which dty communities face, isola-
tion constitutes only an instance of the various kinds of rural prob-
lems.
It is also worth noting that isolation is not peculiar to country
populations. Isolation is not solely a matter of spatial separation ; the
greater the distance persons are removed from one another the more
intense the consequent social aloofness. On the contrary, isolation is
in part a state of mind, one of the chief factors of which is a feeling of
loneliness, and such a state frequently occurs among persons living
amid dense urban populations. Perhaps the greatest hunger for human
association and friendship is often to be found in the midst of the
throngs of great cities. Neighboring in cities is not always or mostly
with those who live next door or in the same block. The urbanites*
closest friends may be blocks or miles removed, necessitating the
occurance of social exchanges at infrequent intervals. Similarly the
Coprright. 1917, Univer$!t7 of North Dakota.
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1 08 The Quarterly Journal
church and other institutions that arc attended, the theater, the recre-
ation place and the like, may be far distant, requiring a considerable
journey to attend them.
Nevertheless, altho there is danger of exaggerating the isolation
obtaining in the coimtry, the social aloofness that exists there is real,
considerable, and serious. Grant to individuals living in cities friends
and a standing in some circle or set of persons, and unquestionably
opportunities for intercourse and amusement, culture and social ser-
vice are not only much more numerous in cities than in country
but in general the distance traveled to reach them is less; and per-
haps it should be added that the facilities of transportation and com-
munication are better.
Causes of Rural Isolation
Prior to any attempt to prescribe a solution for the problem of
rural social isolation it is essential that the causes of that condition
shall be discovered. In consequence of the undertaking it may be
realized that some of the causal conditions are relatively absolute,
unconditioned, and therefore irremovable and unpreventablc. Were
this premonition to prove true it would be necessary to think and
speak, not of overcoming rural isolation but of mitigating it.
There are three proximate conditions which account for the
rural social isolation existing in the United States; namely, spatial
separation of families, fewness of social institutions, and what may
be called the rural state of mind. These will be considered for the
purpose of evaluating the difficulty of overcoming or of mitigating
them.
SPATIAL SEPARATION
A fairly approximate perception of the degree of separation ob-
taining among persons and families in each of the nine geographical
divisions of the nation may be gained by dividing the rural popula-
tion by the appropriate division area. This is only approximately
correct for rural density since, besides the rural territory, the total
division area contains the urban area; and further the rural popula-
tion includes that of towns and villages, or all segregated populations
of less than 2,500 inhabitants each. The latter statement is un-
doubtedly of greater import than the former, creating the likelihood
that the rural population density is somewhat, tho not greatly, less
than the accompanying figures indicate. The following table sums
up the data:
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Rural Isolation 109
Rural Population Density in the United States, 19 10
Population Families
Division Rural per square per square
Division area population mile mile
New England 62,000 1,097,000 16 4
Middle Atlantic -_ 100,000 5,593,ooo 56 12.7
E. N. Cent. 246,000 8,633,000 35 8.1
W. N. Cent. 511,000 7,764,000 15 3.3
South Atlantic 269,000 9,103,000 34 6.8
E. S. Cent 179,000 6,836,000 38 7.9
W. S. Cent. 430,000 6,827,000 16 3.2
Mountain 859,000 1.686,000 2 0.47
Padfic 318,000 1,810,000 6 1.4
(Abstract 13th census, pp. 29 and 60.)
In this table the figures for area and population are correct
only to thousands and the error in the population per square mile
is less than five tenths. The number of families per square mile is
obtained by dividing the division population per square mile by the
average size of family for the corresponding division. (Same, p.
260). While no pretension is made to absolute mesurement, the
figures are valuable as an aid to visualizing what spatial isolation
means in the various portions of the country. Since the density
figures are averages for whole divisions it is apparent that the situ-
ation in extreme states must be widely different.
According to this table, four of the divisions have 34 or more
persons or practically 7 or more families per square mile, the Middle
Atlantic having 56 persons and almost 13 families per such area.
Where there are 8 families to the square mile they might be so
located in that space that the homes need be only about one fourth
of a mile apart. What really occurs is that the homes are placed
along adjacent lines of travel and lie comparatively near each other.
In the case of three divisions, containing over three-tenths of the
total rural population of the nation, there are from three to four
families to the square mile, requiring a separation of homes of per-
haps one-half mile or more. The Mountain and Pacific divisions
contain about one-twelfth of the rural population and in these divi-
sions the families must be on the average from a nule to over two
mfles removed from one another.
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Should we compare an urban with a rural conununity in respect
of the number and quality of social institutions used for communal
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purposes it would be possible to estimate roughly the force of the
second assigned cause of rural social isolation. It would be scarcely
fair to contrast with the average rural neighborhood the average dty
as a whole for this purpose, for such a city is a series of communities
rather than a sin^e community. It would be better to institute the
comparison between types of rural and urban neighborhoods.
In the typical rural conunimity are to be found church and
school generally, altho there are many neighborhoods without
churches. Farmers* clubs are developing rapidly but arc not yet
sufficiently numerous and imiversal to be considered typical of farm
communities. But perhaps Grange, Society of Elquity, the Union,
or some such organization might well be included. This list whidi
is liberal practically exhausts the list of institutions which rural
neighborhoods commonly possess and enjoy. In the town-country
communities (villages with the closely associated surrounding agri-
cultural region) no doubt should also be included the lodge. The
typical city community supports sdiool, church, saloon (save in pro-
hibition territory), lodge, play houses, dance halls, movies, pool halls,
and kindred places. Besides these the shops, stores, factories, and
streets bring individuals into frequent contact. Certainly institu-
tional facilities for social interchange in die typical urban neighbor-
hood are far more abundant than in the typical farm commimity.
Relative to their quality for purposes of social interchange the
institutions of the city communities are likely to be superior. The
average rural church is an anachronistic, semi-decadent affair. It
typically comprises a one-room building where all activities must be
accommodated. It practices what aptly has been called "ministerial
vivisection," the distribution of a minister's services between two or
more churches, with the probable consequence of being minbtered
to by a man of inferior training or ability. In consequence of these
conditions, not to speak of others, its activities are few and listless.
The typical country school is likewise a backward institution.
It, too, is a small one-room affair, without facilities for diversified
instruction, sustaining an ill-adapted course of study, with too few
pupils to create competitive interest in class work or to sustain organ-
ized play. It is ungraded, demands a multiplicity of brief classes
daily, and is taught by a poorly paid, poorly trained pedagog. In
contrast with these the average city church and school appear to be
very progressive and efficient institutions, and the other agencies
found in urban neighborhoods but not in rural are of equally pre-
possessing character.
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Rural Isolation III
RURAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Rural consciousness, or the form the rural social mind takes,
is a large factor in the production of rural isolation. What ma/
be phrased ''passive rural-mindedness'' operates as an eiEcient but
indirect cause of such isolation. This form of consciousness consists
in being satisfied widi aloofness, paucity of sodal organizations, dearth
of contact and community activities, with the consequence that the
individuak so conditioned do nothing and want to do nothing toward
improvement. Of course those who are so minded are not aware of
it any more than do the mass of people take cognizance of the
social customs and modes of procedure of their national, class, or
local groups.
Not all inhabitants of country districts are possest by passive
rural-mindedness. Some there are who are "urban minded," being
discontented with rural life and having a strong desire to dwell in
the dty. Probably only die powerlcssness to secure the finandal
means to carry out a successful removal stands in their way of join-
ing the urban ranks.
Again there is a state of consciousness which may be called
"active Tural-mindedness." Those who are actively rural minded
dwell in the country because they wish to do so. Nevertheless, diey
are intelligent regarding die deficiencies in rural community matters
and positively desire and strive to remedy them. This body of dri-
zens constitute the hope of the country-side. However it is likely
that the passively-minded individuals are in the majority, thus mak-
ing changes toward a better situation difficult and slow.
Those who have studied the origin and evolution of the various
forms of sodal consciousness would say that passive rural-minded-
ness is far less the result of biological inheritance than of habitual
assodation, the unresisting acceptance during the formative period
of life of those conditions and forms of life which obtain in the
family and neighborhood. Only in so far as rural individuals are
differentiated at birth by natural capadty, some being bom more
active and aggressive psychologically than others, does heredity play
any considerable part in the establishment of the passive and active
rural-minded classes. Given custom-bound families and neighbor-
hoods, a person of good ability by birth may and probably will
accept the prevailing outlook and develop into an individual of the
passively rural-minded sort.
When the outlook of the masses of country inhaUtants is such
that what obtains is accepted as inevitable, when the materials and
currents creating intellectual ferment are lacking, when sodal isola-
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112 The Quarterly Journal
tion is viewed as an ordinance akin to die order of nature, aloofness,
discreteness of existence, and impoverished social life appear under
the category of the anticipated and the established.
Significance and Effects of Isolation
Rural social isolation is conunonly alluded to as an indisputable
evil and the tendency is to accQ>t this judgment without question.
The conception that man is gregarious by nature has been so widely
sanctioned that any situation in which this collective inclination does
not or is not permitted to operate is at once viewed as unnatural
and harmful. Without pausing to challenge this idea, it may be
profitable to review the evidence in its support. If ancestry counts
for anything toward fastening traits upon the descendents, it would
be expected that gregariousness and the love of social contact would
be among man's most ingrained attributes. First, with a few ex-
ceptions all vertebrate mammals are addicted to leading a group
existence. The droves, herds, flocks, and packs of both domesticated
and wild animals bear testimony to this. Then man's most direct
and inunediate ancestral forms, the simians, were social to the extent
of living in families, sometimes, at least, in larger groups. While
man did not descend directly from simians, his immediate ancestor
must have been closely related to them and doubtless partook of
about the same characteristics.
Again, archeological evidence pertaining to die remains of pre-
historic man points imquestionably in the direction of the communal
existence of those ancient but near of b'n ancestors. The finds in
caves, kitdien middens, lake dwellings, and the like yield testamentary
support. Further, all our knowledge of mankind within historic
times, information regarding ancient Asiatic and African men and,
especially, concerning early European inhabitants bear no trace of
normal men and women leading other than a group existence. Euro-
peans have been village dwellers from the earliest historic rimes, so
much so that even agricultural activities are carried on frcnn village
centers. Finally, there is the profound and widespread movement in
recent times, the world-phenomenon of urbanization, the rapid trend
of population toward city centers, and the building up of munici-
paliries, great and small, the advance of mankind into an ubiquitous
and urban civilization. While the ultimate springs of this process
are science and invention applied to geographical and economic
things, forces which are intrinsic to modern society, the psydiical pro-
cesses of men are not only not averse to being impelled by these
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Rural Isolation 113
forces but manifest distinct and solicitous cravings for the conditions
and attractions to be foimd in compact aggregations.
The consequent expectation regarding the deep-seated results of
heredity and the inference from age-long participation in none but
collective existence compels the conclusion that modern man has re-
ceived a reinforced gregarious tendency from remote times and that,
unrestricted by contingent circumstances, he finds his highest satis-
faction in living under close intercourse with his fellows. The
American rural inhabitants are products of the past in like manner
with those of dties. They are inherently collectively inclined and
sensible of some of the advantages of association with neighbors and
friends. Abimdant evidence of this exists in the events and currents
manifesting themselves in the country. Under favorable conditions
the constituted proclivities assert themselves in the direction of rural
community improvement.
Since we may say that the desire for human association and for
frequent personal contaa is deeply ingrained in man's constitution,
it would be expected that any considerable deprivation and repres-
sion of that inclination would be considered an affliction and that
those limitations perhaps mig^t bring pathological consequences.
That rural social isolation is regarded as undesirable by coun-
try people is attested by several sets of events to be mentioned with-
out discussion: the flow of large numbers of persons from country
to city; the settlement of retired farmers in neighboring towns and
villages; the frequent testimony of intelligent ruralites to the irk-
someness and the undesirability of the customary social poverty ; and
the response to the introduction of social facilities by practically every
dass of non-urban residents, including the group we have alluded to
as the passively rural-minded. That the latter dass respond is not
inconsistent with calling them passively rural-minded, since they may
take advantage of privileges without partidpating in their establish-
ment.
The pathological consequences of rural isolation must be indi-
cated briefly. Isolation may be dther absolute or relative. It is
suffident to indicate the evil results of absolute isolation by alluding
to the fact that in penal systems solitary confinement has long been
regarded as one of the most extreme forms of punishment to be
accorded a prisoner and that it is generally used as a method of last
resort Very few convicts are able to endure its horrors of mental
strain for long, it is held in dire dread by prisoners conunonly, and
psychical collapse, even insanity, have often been its result. To con-
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114 The Quarterly Journal
demn prisoners generally to solitary confinement would be so in-
human that society would repudiate it
It has been recorded frequently in the annab of the frontier
that sheepherders who remain on die plains with their flocks for
months apart from human beings have lost their mental poise and
become insane. Freedom in the midst of nature without the stimulus
of personal association may not be sufficient to guarantee a normal
mental functioning.
This brief survey of the possible effects of absolute isolation
offers a good background for regarding aloofness in its relative form.
Relative isolation is found in the case of families who live sufficiently
remote from others to make social exchange difficult and infrequent
and where organizations to carry on associational activities are very
insufficient. Life under these conditions entails a degree of dehimian-
ization. The fulness of personality which frequent social exchange
brings is absent. If mind sharpens mind and ideas breed ideas, con-
tinuous confinement within the circle of a single family b insufficient
to make a full-orbed mind and to incite mental variation. Nor can
the greatest satisfaction be found in meeting and holding converse
with such a limited group, no matter how deeply regarded. Sudi
intense intellectual inbreeding results in an enfeebled psychical stock
and a narrowed existence.
Perhaps the most severe strain arising out of this situation is
suffered by the women of the farm homestead, especially by the
mother. Her sphere of practical action is within the confines of
the house, she cannot meet the neighbors at the borders of the ad-
joining fields as city women may talk across lots, nor in the exchange
of tools and work does she have the opportunity to converse as do
the men of the farm, and her field of cooperative exchange is limited.
Neither does she go to the neighboring town for marketing and
repair purposes as often as the men. Further, her work is of a rou-
tine nature, lacking die variety and the occurrence of new situations
that call for inventive talent which the activities of the outdoor
workers involve. That farm women age much earlier in life than
do the men is no doubt partly due to the greater absence of intel-
lectual incitement.
The sparseness of the data relative to rural and urban insanity
is one of the weak places in a comparative study of the conditions
regarding country and city. The conclusions which may be drawn
from the meager facts are tentative and to be accepted with reser-
vation. So far as they go they indicate that rural populations are
more prone than are urban inhabitants to melancholia and senile
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R ural Isolation 115
dementia. Sudi being the case the interpretation is somewhat obvious.
Melancholia appears to be an affliction to which farm women espe-
cially are addicted. Its great inciting cause may be regarded as the
monotonous and empty mental life they are compelled to lead. A
perfectly inept and stupid existence is well calculated to end in a
great stupor. Brooding over real and imaginary troubles and wrongs
breeds profound pessimism and despondency that the feeble spark of
intellectual interest involved in the surroundings is insufficient to
counteract The author came upon an instance in an agricultural
state of a housewife who had not been beyond the confines of the
farm for over three years. Her round of duties was her sole
interest It is remarkable that she and thousands like her are able
to withstand the strain and keep from succumbing to an overwhelm-
ing depression. Perhaps only the sensitive and the imaginative fall
easy victims to melancholia.
Senile dementia seems to be the form of insanity that is most
rife among agricultural males. When a man is too old to farm
actively there is little in rural communities to stimulate his mental
life. Probably he has never formed the reading habit so that papers
and books are not attractive to him. There is nothing to see or to
go to. His life work is closed and there is little to stimulate to
activity the mind and will. Left without incitement to normal ex-
pression, the will to live and to be interested in life is empty and
logically collapses.
Questionable Remedies
The problem of rural isolation has attracted much attention and
naturally has brought forth a number of proposals for solutions and
panaceas. Since some of these solutions are regarded with a degree
of seriousness, they should receive a brief critical examination.
One of the most short-sighted and brutal suggestions is what
may be called "familism." It is asserted that the social activities
and satisfactions of rural inhabitants inevitably must be limited to
the sphere of the family, since that institution represents the scope of
normal human association possible to country districts. This pro-
posal flies in the fact of accomplished facts and is only a dogmatic
generalization from a narrow range of data. It is doubtless true
that the majority of rural inhabitants realize the larger portion of
their associational life within the family and that many will do so
for some time to come. But nothwithstanding the fact that the
family is a most worthy and indispensible institution and that it is
destined to furnish much of the social contact for both rural and
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urban inhabitants in future, it must be said that it is too small, un-
resourceful, and monotonous to supply complete associational satis-
faction. Moreover, multitudes of country neighborhoods have estab-
lished and now enjoy larger community organizations. The trend
of the rural movement without question is toward the creation and
the adaptation of varied recreational and social facilities.
Another proposition is that American farmers shall abandon
their present system of widely distributed, separate homesteads and
segregate themselves in some kind of central farm village. Various
actual and ideal types of such communities present themselves, some
of which deserve attention.
The European form of farm village is generally thought of
when the proposal in question is considered. European farmers
almost universally live in small segregated communities, proceeding
from these during the daytime to prosecute their agriculture on the
outlying farms. In America, also, is to be found a few types of
agricultural village. In various sections of the United States immi-
grant Mennonites have established themselves in such communities,
very largely reproducing here the customary European prototype.
The most indigenously American farm village is to be found among
the Mormon settlements of the western portion of the United States
and Canada. When the Mormons settled Utah they designated an
agricultural community somewhat peculiar to themselves. The Mor-
mon settlers and recruits were to settle in centers, all of which were
built from a common plan. Each village resident had a considerable
plot of land surrounding his house, another plot of a few acres just
outside the center, a still larger piece still farther removed, and might
have more land still farther distant. The dwellings are character-
istically arranged relative to each other to secure family privacy. A
further important characteristic is that the church is the center of
community interest and lies at the foundation of the Mormon farm
village plan. (For a more extended account of the Morman farm
village, see the writer's G)nstructive Rural Sociology, second edition,
pp. 61-4.)
Besides these existent types of argicultural villages, a strictly
cooperative farm village community has been urged. It is proposed
that not only dairies and creameries, but also laundries, kitchens,
dining halls, and all phases of domestic and distributive economic
business should be cooperative.
These plans of and proposab for farm villages possess both
interest and value, nevertheless they are confronted by several ob-
stacles and objections. First, the great majority of American farmers
have much capital invested in houses, bams, other buildings, orchards.
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R ural Isolation 117
and other home equipment on their separate allotments of land. To
make a change to such a completely different system of living as the
farm village represents would involve the destruction of much of the
capital so invested and the incurring a large removal expense. The
economic loss involved in the proposal is so heavy that we cannot
expect seriously to see it executed.
Second, to the average farmer it would seem a costly inconven-
ience to drive daily several miles to carry on his farm work. Where
farms are small, as most of them are in Europe and to a less extent
in the irrigable sections of the United States, the distances to the
outl)ang land are not great. But the average size of farms in the
United States is 138 acres. Were the farm village large enough
to be of any great social advantage it should contain probably 100
families. This being so, in a district composed of average sized farms,
the more remote farms would be about four or five miles removed
from a centrally located village. This would mean a daily drive ^f
eight or ten miles, ^ich is practically prohibitive because of the
economic loss involved.
Third, a small village of the usual type possesses questionable
advantages, socially, when compared with open country communities.
Without the fuller social life, intellectual interests, ideals, and re-
sources of the larger urban aggregations, the petty gossip, jealousies,
and bickerings are not conducive to increased satisfaction or a higher
existence. The paudty of recreational and amusement facilities,
the almost entire absence of those of a wholesome kind, espe-
cially for boys from ten to sixteen y/cars of age, engenders idleness
and the resorting to vicious gangs and forms of sport ^ich are
demoralizing. The average small village in the United States rep-
resents one of the most deadening and disheartening forms of com-
munity, and, as a problem, challenges the serious attention of the
American nation.
The suggestion of a cooperative form of farm village is worthy
of consideration. That the scheme is Utopian should not condemn
it in advance. Its real test is, can it overcome the difficulties just
presented relative to farm villages in general?
In the case of the establishment of new agricultural communi-
ties, especially in irrigation districts where farms are small, the co-
operative proposal is most deserving of attention. Aside from these
relatively infrequent situations, the heavy investment in separate farm
plants and the remoteness of the majority of farms from the central
village would appear to make the proposal impracticable.
In view of these considerations we may regard our present sys-
tem of distributed and separate farm homesteads as permanent, and
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are forced to conclude that the mitigation of rural isolation must
come from other directions. In this connection it is worthy of note
that in agricultural Utah there is an observed tendency toward in-
dependent farm homes. From the top of the divide between Cache
and Salt Lake valleys in Northern Utah it is seen that in the former
valley, which was settled very early, there is an occasional homestead
in the open country while in the northern portion of the former, a
region settled more recently, separate farm homes ^pear to be the
rule.
Valid Sugobstions
There is little consolation to be found in picturing the sociali-
zation of rural life by revolutionary methods. Society in general
makes its advances by easy stages. Time seems to be abundant for
the operation of cosmic forces and, in most respects, social develop-
ment resembles cosmical evolutionary processes. Types of social life
persist almost unchanged from generation to generation and conunu-
nities of a given kind undergo transformations slowly, keeping well
within the confines set by their nature. Rural communities must be
expected to continue essentially as they are, with the exception of
some necessary and useful readaptadons to meet the rising demands
for a larger and richer associational life. Probably few or no brand-
new agencies will be created to meet the more pressing needs but
there will be an adjustment and expansion of the means that rural
society now possesses.
First, considerable may be expected from the improvement and
extension of the rural communicating system, including under this
caption roads, rural delivery, automobiles, interurban trolleys, tele-
phones, and periodical literature. Each of these agencies is making
its contribution toward the establishment of a more effective rural
solidarity and also toward bringing country and urban districts into
closer touch.
Improved and extended roads are essential to the development
of the economic interests of agriculture and are the indispensible
foundation for all larger community organizations and activities.
The larger organizations which the improved rural church, the con-
solidated school, farmers' clubs, and recreational and community
centers are demanding can materialize only as the highways are built
to permit rapid and comfortable transit.
The automobile and rural delivery are serviceable in creating
larger contacts and in stimulating the building of a better highway
system. Where population density warrants the establishment of
rural free delivery of mail, rural routes are assigned by the national
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Rural Isolation 119
government on condition that the routes to be used in carrying the
mail shall be put and kept in passable shape. Organizations and
individuals interested in the extended us^ of the automobile are pro-
moting bodi local and inter-community highway improvement. Since
so many farmers have become owners of cars, they have the more
heartily joined the movement for the establishment of good roads.
The automobile quickens rural life by bringing families and
conununities into closer and more frequent contact Distances which
once to<^ hours or dzys to compass by horse or horse-drawn vehicle,
now are covered in a few minutes or hours. Could every farmer
possess an automobile, the problem of establishing larger and better
rural institutions in considrable mesure would be solved because
trandt would be speedy and easy and because the care of teams
involved in travel by horse-drawn vehicles would be obviated.
Rural free mail delivery and the circulating library are effective
agencies for reducing isolation. The former places within reach
of out-of-town residents the possibility of daily contact with the
world of events by means of the daily press; makes possible more
frequent corre^)ondence with friends and relatives; and helps culti-
vate a habitual perusal of periodical and library literature. In its
turn the circulating library brings to neighborhoods which command
its services the enlivening store of fiction, the in^ration of good
literature, and the practical knowledge of the whole range of natural
and social science.
Social contact is more than the association of human beings in
the flesh. Much of the face-to-face give and take between individ-
uals, while mesurably demanded by nature and highly satisfying, is
likely to be empty and of little ultimate worth. While a somewhat
similar objection may be raised against promiscuous reading, good
reading does make possible a touch with vital affairs and a sympa-
dietic understanding of current, important movements. Society is
psjrchical in its nature ; its binding ties and relations arc non-material ;
it is made up of the mental elements which relate human beings in
a somewhat enduring manner. G>nsequcntly some of the most fun-
damental advances towai;d socializing rural life are to be effected
by that wider and deeper reading which reveals the more significant
truths about collective humanity and brings the individual into touch
with the great currents of life.
Second, a definite local communitization of rural districts con-
stitutes a further method of mitigating rural isolation. Communi-
tization takes place to the degree to which the inhabitants of a par-
ticular locality think and act together, the alternative, individuali-
zation being most often observed in the country, in that residents
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of sudi locality think and act as if they were only individuals. It
is highly desirable that people generally, and rural inhabitants
eq>ecially, should cultivate a neighborhood outlook, appreciate the
good results which flow from increased cooperation, and set about
establishing the agencies for realizing the conununity spirit.
A great deal needs to be said about the cultivation and educa-
tion of the social mind of rural districts as the means of realizing
an effective socialization and as a consummation of such process. It
may be said that socialization of country life has been accomplished
when and where the social mind of the inhabitants has beeQ pre-
pared adequately. Students of social psydiology are convinced that
no great object or ideal for society can be realized until the collec-
tive mind has been aroused, informed, and molded in the direction of
the desired goal. Intelligent leaders are a great asset to a cause but
pertiaps their greatest function is that of developing among the masses
a sympathetic point of view. There are at least two classes of lead-
ers, those wiio collect, organize, and interpret the facts of rural
communities, and those who carry the results of that work directly
to the people. The former workers really determine the direction
rural progress shall take by establishing a reasoned basis of inter-
pretation and of undertaking. The function of the other set of
workers is that of propagandist and disseminator, a very indispensible
service.
It is imperative that there shall be many institutions that train
missionaries for rural service and that there shall be multitudes of
such agents to come into direct contact with the farming families
thruout the United States. Let the original students of rural life
establish and expound the doctrine of socialization of country life
by printed page and lecture. Then let all the seminaries that send
out preachers, all the normal schools that educate teachers, all the
agricultural colleges that train county agents and instructors in agri-
culture and domestic science for their work, and all agencies ndiich
prepare and send speakers and lecturers into the rural field empha-
size the doctrine and with it discipline the minds of their candidates
for country work. Only by such a thorog^ing process of education
and dissemination can the fundamental sodal institutions of rural
communities be reached, and community outlook, life and coopera-
tion be established as second nature in the minds of the people. "As
a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," and as the social mind of
conununity and nation is formed and constituted, so its achiev^nents
and realizations will be. In conclusion, it is not too much to say
that all mitigation of rural social isolation depends on and awaits
the education of the rural social mind.
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Some Reasons Why North Dakota
Should Adopt the Uniform
Sales Act
Lauriz Vold^
Assistant Professor of Law, University of North Dakota
OXJTLINE*
PAGE
A. Plan of this Article _..-.--- 54
B. Prdiminary Survey of Codification . . > - _ 54
I. The Ancient World 54
II. Continental Europe --.---__ 55
III. Anglo-American Experience _----- 55
1. Archaic Codes ------- 55
2. Unsuccessful Projects ------ 55
3. The Field Codes ..-.--- 56
4. Private Codification ------ 56
5. Commissioners on Uniform State Laws - - 56
C. Why Codification Accords with our North Dakota Legal
System and History ------- 57
I. The Fidd Codes the Basis of Our Law and Practise - 57
II. Modification by Legislative Enactment . - - - 58
D. Some Present Defects in Our North Dakota Law - - 60
I. Lack of Uniformity with the Laws of Other States - . 6«
II. Lack of Certainty .-...--- 61
1. Lack of Certainty as to the Facts Involved - - 61
2. Lack of Certainty as to what the Law is - - 62
a. Causes -------- 62
b. Illustration ------- 63
c. Examples of Uncertainty in Our Law of Sales 64
d. Certainty the Prime Requisite - - - 67
E. How the Provisions of the Uniform Sales Act would Improve
our North Dakota Law ..----.123
I. A Step toward Uniformity with the Laws of Other Stales 123
1. Agreement with the Greatest Weight of Authority 123
2. Increase of Uniformity Everywhere - - - 124
3. Uniformity in Dealing with Precedents - - 124
11. A Greater Mesure of Certainty 125
I. Specific Provisions on Matters in Regard to which
our Present Code is Silent - - - - 126
a. Acceptance under Statute of Frauds - - 126
b. Partial Loss or Deterioration - - - - 126
c Effect of Conditions ------ 127
d. Warranty -------- 127
e. Rules for Ascertaining Intention - - . 127
f. Mercantile Theory of Documents of Title - 128
g. Auctions - ------- 129
h. Sale by a Person not the Owner - - - 129
L Suffidency of Delivery -. - _ - - 130
j. Ddivery of Wrong Quantity - - - - 130
• Page numbers in this Outltn*, up to pag« C7, r«ier to the first
Installment of the study found In the Quarterly Journal of October* 191€.
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PAGE
k. Delivery in Installments ----- 130
1. Right of Inspection ------ 130
m. What Constitutes Acceptance - - - - 130
n. Acceptance as Related to Action for Damages 131
o. Wrong Delivery ------ 131
p. Definition of Unpaid Seller - - - . 131
q. Lien after Part Delivery ----- 131
r. When Lien is Lost ------ 131
s. When Goods are in Transit - - - - 131
t No Right to stop against Transfer of Docu-
ments for Value without Notice - - 131
u. Effect of Sale of Goods Subject to Lien or
Stoppage in Transit - . - . . 132
V. Action for the Price ----- 132
w. Remedies for Breach of Warranty - . - 132
X. Effect of Uniform Sales Act on Right to Re-
cover Interest and Special Damages - - 132
y. Interpretation ------- 133
(i) General Provisions ----- 133
(2) Interpretation to Secure Uniformity - - 133
(3) Definitions ------- 133
3. ProWsions Making More Specific Various Matters
already Contained in our Code in a More Gen-
eral and Indefinite Form 133
3. Provisions Embodying the Rules Contained in Our
Code in Substantially the Same Form - - 135
4. Provisions Making Substantial Changes in Our Code 135
F. Objections to the Adoption of the Uniform Sales Act Answered 136
I. Objections Based on Distrust of Codification - - 136
1. In General -------- 136
2. Distrust of the Particular Mesure Submitted - 137
a. In Operation, will the Uniform Sales Act really
Produce Uniformity? ----- 137
b. Instead of Making the Law more Certain, will
it make the Law more Uncertain? - - 138
3. Objections to Codification of this Particular Branch
of the Law ------- 142
II. Objections Based on Fear that the Uniform Sales Act will
Change the Rules of Law already Announced in North
Dakota --------.142
1. Legislative Changes not Anomalous but Usual . 143
2. The Changes in our Present Code which would be
Produced by the Uniform Sales Act not Ob-
jectionable ------. 143
a. Substantial Changes not Numerous - - 143
b. Substantial Changes not Radical, but generally
Improve our Local Law - - - - 144
(i) General Considerations - - . . 144
(2) The Law of Warranty ----- 145
(3) Auctions ------.148
(4) Statute of Frauds ----- 148
(5) Enforcement of Seller's Lien - - . 149
(6) Seller's Right to Recover the Price - - 150
(7) Sale by One Having a Voidable Title - - 151
(8) Sale at a Valuation ----- 151
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 123
PAGB
c. The Changes hardly Touch Our Present Case
Law ------..151
(i) Where the Uniform Sales Act provides for
Cases not directly Covered in our Code - 151
(2) Where the Uniform Sales Act makes Affirma-
tive Changes in Our Code ... 152
(1) Warranty .--.-..152
(II) Enforcement of Seller's Lien - - - 152
(III) Seller's Right to Recover the Price . . 152
d. Some Possibly Doubtful (3ases ... 153
(i) Potential Possession ..... 153
(2) Resale by Seller in Possession ... 153
(3) Definition of Value . - . . . 153
(4) Waiver of (Causes of Action ... 154
G. SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS 154
{Continued from the Quarterly Journal of October, 1916)
E. HOW THE PROVISIONS OF THE UNIFORM
SALES ACT VfOULD IMPROVE OUR
NORTH DAKOTA LAW^
I. A Step toward Uniformity with the Laws of
Other States
I. Agreement with the Greatest Weight of Authori-
ty. It has already been briefly indicated^^ how our law in North
Dakota is defective from lack of uniformity with the laws of other
states. The remedy proposed is to adopt the Uniform Sales Act
The Act has already been adopted in a considerable number of
states.^ Complete uniformity with the laws of all other states by
this simple means is as yet unattainable, the Act not yet having been
everjTwhere adopted. It has been adopted already, however, in a
sufficient number of states to constitute the largest mass of authorities
in agreement on the questions dealt with to be found in the country.
The states which have adopted it all now have the same rule of law
on the questions involved. On those questions many other states
have each some local law. On the whole, that law often agrees
with the rules in the Uniform Sales Act,** but it is not always the
same on all points.^ Moreover, the laws of the states which have
not adopted the Uniform Sales Act, where they differ from the rules
61. See the previous article. Quarterly Journal of the University
of North Dakota. Oct. 1916. at pa^es 60-61.
62. See pa^e 67, previous article.
6S. The tJniform Sales Act beinj? a careful codiflcation of the com-
mon law generally prevailing, the rules of law therein exprest accord
with much actual case law in the various states thruout the country.
64. So, especially, in regard to the questions on which there is much
division of authority, the local law may not always be the same as that
exprest in the Act.
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124 The Quarterly Journal
in diat Act, may differ diversely in the different states.** If the law
of a particular state is not in accord with the Uniform Sales Act,
it does not follow therefore that its position is supported by the laws
of the other states which have not adopted the Act. Many of them
may agree with the rule in the Uniform Sales Act on that particular
point, while those that disagree scatter in several directions. Adop-
tion of the Uniform Sales Act in North Dakota would therefore
place our law, in so far, in accord with the largest unified body of
law on the subject prevailing at the present time in the country.
2. Increase of Uniformity Everywhere. It should not
be forgotten, moreover, that die adoption of the Uniform Sales Aa
in North Dakots is in this respect more than a local matter. In-
conveniences to us arise from differences between our law and the
laws of other states.*' Partly as a step toward removing those
inconveniences, let it be assumed that we adopt the Act. By adopt-
ing the Act we not only remove our own inconveniences in that
respect, but also remove, in so far, the inconveniences of those with
whom we deal in other states. All have suffered from the incon-
veniences arising from the same cause, lack of uniformity. If that
cause is removed, it relieves everyone concerned, and enables busi-
ness with others to be carried on more satisfactorily all around.
By removing the lack of uniformity here, therefore, we not only
improve our own law in this respect, but contribute a part toward
improving the law of every other state, and reap the reward of
more satisfactory desling with those with whom we do business
thruout the country.
3. Uniformity in Dealing with Precedents. A further
consideration in regard to the effect of the adoption of the Uniform
66. A ready example is afforded by the different vIewB adopted in
different jurisdictions as to whether title passes when the price of the
fTOOds yet remains to be determined by some further act such as wet^h-
inv or mesuriner. In some states it is held that there is a preaumptloo
in such cases that title was not intended to pass even when the wei^inff
or mesurinff was to be done bv r^^ ^TTT-- see 128 Ala. 221, 29 80. «40;
82 Me. 670. 20 Atl. 287. In other states it I3 held that there 18 such
a presumption only if what remains to be done is to be done by_the
seller. See 102 Ky. 166» 48 6. W. 222; 72 Minn. 169. 162. 75 N. W. 1.
In many states it has been held that there is such a presumptioa if
the price still remains to be ascertained, the court not adverting par-
ticularly to the question of who Is to do the welflrhing- or mesurinff.
See 26 Ark. 646; 90 Ind. 268; 2t la. 508; 57 N. H. 140; 22 Ore. 277. 80
Pac. 495: 86 S. C. 69. 16 8. K. 344; 45 Vt. 124; 14 Wash. 816. 44 Pac
644: 41 W. Va. 481. 28 S. K 800; In still other states it Is held that
there is no presumption at all as to whether or not title ts intended to
pass, from the mere fact that wei^hinir or mesuringr to determine the
price still remains to be done. See 107 Cal. 348. 40 Pac. 584; 69 Tes.
128, 6 S. W. 402. This position was also taken in New York before the
Uniform Sales Act was adopted there (116 N. T. 871. 22 N. B. 404; 174
N. T. 684. 66 N. R 1104). and is the position adopted In the Uniform
Sales Act. section 19. now in force In a considerable number of stataa
As to the authorities on this question at conmion law, see, further.
Williston on Sales, sec. 269. and Mechem on Sales, sees. 615-682.
66. See above, pp. 60-61.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 125
Sales Act toward bringing about unifonnity with the laws of other
states may be mentioned. The decisions of the courts of a number
of states on questions arising in regard to sales are already being
rendered under the Uniform Sales Act. Without the Uniform Sales
Act yet adopted here, can anyone tell what weight to attach to
those decisions as authorities when they are cited to our courts as
against conflicting decisions on similar facts from states where the
Act is not in force? If the Uniform Sales Act were adopted in
North Dakota, this question could present no di£5culty, since the
Act itself contains an express provision*^ to take care of the question
of what weight is to be given to decisions under the Sales Act in
other states.**
II. A GREATER MESURE OF CERTAINTY
Mudi more important, as a local matter, than securing uni-
formity with the laws of other states is the question of securing cer-
tainty in our local law.*^ The ordinary litigation in our courts is
usually between local people in regard to local transactions. For
every instance of difficulty on account of lack of uniformity with
the laws of other states in regard to sales, there are msny instances
of difficulty because the local law of sales is too uncertain. It is
not here contended that absolute certainty can be attained. All
legal history belies any such possibility. As controversies arise and
new situations are presented, courts will be needed to iq>ply the law.
It b submitted, however, that the adoption of the Uniform Sales
Act would definitely settle many unsettled questions in our local law,
to that extent render it more certain, and therd)y reduce die need
for so frequent and long continued litigation.
A comparison of the present position of our law with the pro-
visions in the Uniform Sales Act will demonstrate that in many
rcspocts the prevailing uncertainty may be reduced to greater cer-
taintir. Hie discussion to follow assumes that it is desiraUe to have
mks of law definite and settled,^^^ and is confined to showing the
mote important particulars in regard to which the Uniform Sales
Act is more definite and certain dian our present Q)de. Within
the limits of this examination no attempt can be made to discuss at
length the merit of the particular rules of law contained in the Uni-
form Sales Act where our Code has no rules at all, beyond noting
tbt fact tbat uliey are neither new nor startling, being based on
g. See Uniform Sales Act, sec. 74.
. As to how sec 71 has fared in the courts, see below, notes lOS
and 1^0.
t9. See above, pp. €1-59.
70. See atwve, pp. 67-S9.
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126 The Quarterly Journal
common-law development in actual litigation. For extended discus-
sion on the merits of each particular rule embodied in the Uniform
Sales Act the interested reader must be referred to the treatises on
the law of sales.''^
The Uniform Sales Act contains seventy-nine sections. Of
these, more than fifty''^ deal with matters in regard to which our
present Okie is entirely silent. Some thirty^' deal in detail with
matters on which the provisions in our Code take a more general
and indefinite form without being inconsistent with the provisions of
the Uniform Sales Act. Only a few''* of the seventy-nine sections
of the Act work substantial changes in the law already exprest in
our G>de. The correctness of these statements may be best demon-
strated by a Nttle prosaic attention to each of the sections in turn.
I. Spbcific Provisions on Matters in Regard to Which
Our Present Code is Silent, a. Acceptance under Statute of
Frauds. Section 4, (2) and (3),^^ codify the results of much liti-
gation under the Statute of Frauds, as to what is "goods" and what
is a sufficient "acceptance" to satisfy the statute. The Statute of
Frauds, as passed in England in 1677, required, among other things,
that for a sale of goods to be enforceable there must have been ac-
ceptance, etc., or a memorandum in writing, if the price was over
$50. Our Code substantially re-enacts the old statute in these re-
spects, without affording much assistance as to this question under
it which has led to so much litigation, tho one of our local cases''^
has reached a result substantially in accord with the rule in the
Uniform Sales Act.
b. Partial Loss or Deterioration. Section 7 (2) provides a
definite rule as to how the rights of the parties are to be adjusted
in case they have purported to sell specific goods, but the goods with-
out the seller's knowledge have partly perished or greatly deterior-
ated. This situation has led to considerable difficulty at common
71. See, for example. Mechem on Sales (2 vols.), Burdick on Sales.
Tiffany on Sales, and Willlston on Sales. The last mentioned. WilUston
on Sales. Is the best adapted work for use In connection with the Uniform
Sales Act. since the material is collected and arran^d appropriately
under each section of the Act.
72. See paires 126-183 of this article.
75. See pa^es 138-1S5 of this article.
74. See pagres 146-161 of this article.
76. As references may be freely made to our Code in any copies
of the Compiled Laws of North Dakota (191S), no attempt will here
be made to reproduce at lengrth all its language. Similarly, as references
may be made to copies of the Uniform Sales Act, it is unnecessary to
waste space by repeatingr its orovlsions here, except so far as is neces-
sary for clearness of expression. The references to our Code, in this
paper, are to the edition of 1918. The references to the Uniform Sales
Act are to that Act as recommended by the Commissioners and as ap-
pearing: in Williston's treatise.
76. 8 N. D. 76. 64 N. W. 228.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 127
lawy*^^ and is not provided for in our present Code. Section 8 deals
with similar questions involving similar difficulties where there is
a contract to sell specific goods, a situation equally unprovided for
m our Q)de.^'
c Effect of Conditions, Section 11 dcak with the effect of
conditions in a contract to sell or a sale, and distinguishes them from
warranties, which, in the proper usage of this terminology, are
promises.^* This inquiry is untouched in our Code.
d. Warranty. Section 14 (4) contains a well established rule
at common law, that in a sale of a known described and definite
article there is no warranty of fitness for any particular purpose.*®
On this matter our Code is silent. Section 15 (5) specifies that a
warranty of quality may be annexed by the usage of trade. It would
seem as if this result would be universally accepted on common-law
prindples of contract, the usage showing what the intention of the
parties, if called to the matter, must have been. Unfortunately, the
actual litigation on the question has led to much disagreement.*^ On
this question, too, our Code is silent. Section 15 (6) settles the
question that an express warranty does not exclude an implied war-
ranty unless inconsistent. This is in accord with the better view at
conmion law, there being nothing in the mere fact that a promise in
regard to one matter is exacted to indicate that other promises which
would be imderstood in the ordinary course are thereby excluded.
On this question, however, there is much conflict of authority in the
cases*^ and on it, again, our Code is silent. Section 16 (c) estab-
lishes the wholesome rule that the warranty in a case of a sale by
sample implies not merely that the goods are like the sample, but
that where the seller is a dealer in that kind of goods they are free
from defects rendering them unmerchantable which would not be
apparent on a reasonable examination of the sample. Common-law
authorities support this view** but on it there is nothing in our Code.
e. Rules for Ascertaining Intention. Section 19 contains a
number of definite rules for ascertaining the intention of the parties,
77. WiUlston on Sales, sec. 163, Mechem on Sales, sec. 199.
7S. See 129 U. S. 101, 9 S. Ct. 266, 82 L. ed. 636; 94 Mich. 127« 6S
N. W. 929: 5S Minn. 199, 64 N. W. 1110.
79. This feature is elaborately explained in WlUlston on Sales, sees.
180-lSl.
80. 157 U. S. 94, 16 S. Ct. 608, 89 L.. ed. 682; 176 111. 681, 61 N. B.
687; 76 Kans. 206, 91 Pac. 179; 82 Minn. 871, 80 N. W. 869; 189 Mass.
844, 76 N. B. 624.
81. See for example, 10 Wall. 888, 19 L.. ed. 987; 6 N. Y. 96, 66
Am. Dec. 821; 20 Pa. St 448; 87 111. 64V; 20 N. H. 884; 4 Taunt. 847.
82. Williston on Sales, sec. 289 and Mechem on Sales, sees. 1269^1260
dte numerous authorities on each side of this proposition.
88. U R. 4 Sx. 49; L. R. 7 C. P. 488; 12 A. C. 284; 151 N. Y. 488. 45
N. EL 866. 87 L. R. A. 799.
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128 The Quarterly Joumml
where diere is nothing in the transaction showing it affirmatividy,
as to whether title is to pass. This is a matter upon whidi diere is
an imniense amount of conflicting litigation.^ It is a matter, too,
whidi is of supreme importance, since, very often, the parties do
not think particularly about just exactly at what moment they want
title to be transferred, but that fact later turns out to be decisive
as to their rights when the goods have been lost or deteriorated
before the parties have entirely completed their transaction. In such
cases, of course, the loss, unless otherwise stipulated, or lifted by the
fault of either, must fall upon the one ^o was owner when the
loss occurred. As they did not arrange particularly about the mat-
ter before, after the loss occurs each is likely to insist that the other
was the owner who now must bear the loss. The general rule is
recognized diat title passed in a sale if the parties intended that it
should, but without affirmative evidence on what that intent was,
when the question has to be decided between two parties, presump-
tions must be resorted to. What those presumptions are to be, in
different corcumstances commonly arising, it is needful to have defi-
nitely specified in order to be able to settle such common cases with-
out too much long-continued and expensive litigation. The Uniform
Sales Act here specifies them, while on what they are to be there is
in the cases much conflict of authority and in our G>de there is
nodiing at all.
f. Mercantile Theory of Documents of Title. Section 20
(2), (3), find (4), and sections 27-40; Thb series of provisions
establishes the law of documents of title — i.e., bills of lading and
warehouse receipts, in accordance with what is called die "mercan-
tile" theory, as opposed to the "common-law" theory of such docu-
ments. Both theories have much support in decided cases, tho the
mercantile dieory is probably becoming more firmly established while
the common-law theory is waning.^ By the so called common4aw
theory of documents of tide the form of the docimient is prima fade
evidence of who has tide to die goods for whtdi the document was
issued. Other circumstances may, however, by this dieory, be
brought in ^ contradict the document and show that tide to the
goods was really elsewhere than in the persons indicated by the
document, just as other circumstances than possession may show
Hhat title to ordinary diattels is in others than the possessor. Such
a process, always permissible when the^uestio^ is raised onljr litli ff icu
S5. This ifl ^MVMeteUy ^tm* «kiO0 Um wnmrcmaWm tht^rr «Nas mAa^taA
in .ClM nnlforni QtOim Act th« Wartfhoma BeceipU Act, ant tht Bills of
Ladlna Act, and these Acts have been adopted m moFV and snMs alatsa.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 129
the original parties, if still permissible after the document has been
uansf erred to a purchaser for value in good faith without * notice,
makes such documents unsatisfactory as commercial documents on the
faith of which to advance money. To facilitate the use of such docu-
ments in the business world, either for use as security for advances
while tht goods are in transit, or for ready sale of such goods in the
interim by a negotiation of the document, the document itself must
be more conclusive. By the mercantile theory of documents of title,
adopted in many courts, therefore, the form of the document is con-
clusive and transferees may take it relying on the showing it presents
as to wlio is the owner. By this means a great deal of business can
be done without the necessity of tying up during the period of tran-
sit the amount of capital represented by the value of the goods
shipped. The considerations applying here for making these docu-
ments nK>re negotiable are thus analogous to those applying in the
case of ordinary commercial piq>er — i.e., bills, notes, and checks.
While our G>de, in sections 621011, has purported to make such
dociHnents negotiable, the language is very general and is just like
sknSar language in statutes of many other states which have been so
narrowly construed that their effect is to leave die documents trans-
leraUe, as under the oommon-law theory, but not negotiable in the
^ense of protecting a transferee for value without notice beyond the
proMTtion ectended in a similar transfer of ordinary chattdb.^* Our
loeal law on the subject, without decided cases in point, is therefore
moonclusive. In order to establish the negotiability of such docu-
ments «f title in aocordancc with the mercantile theory, to make it
safe to advance money on such bills of lading, we need the specific
{jcorotoos carrying this doctrine into effect which are contained in
the Uniform Sales Act.^
g. Auctions. Section 21 ( i ) states, in statutory form, what is
Aundandy dear on principle and audiority,^ diat where goods are
put up for sale by auction, in lots, each lot is the subject of a sep^
arate oofitract of sale. On this point our Code is ailcnt.
h. Sid£ by a Person not the Owner. Section 23 (i) states die
♦iHidawwnfril doctrine of the taw of property that <io one can give
'8S. 101 T7. 8. 197. 26 L.. ed. 8»2; lOS Mtnn. 147. lit If. W. 1680,
aj4f: $% ▲!». ito, la 80. ses; 44 juk. 244, 41 a W. SOS; 18 Waalu 24«.
%\ Pac. 4ei: 29 wis. 4S2. In a few cases a Wider comitnictiovi of Bueh
■tatutea has been riven. See 118 La. 254; 58 Md. 812.
87. For detailed <emalaaUoB of the merits of eaoh ^f the seotlons
e€ I0»e ilntform 0ales Act bearlna oa the roeroantilf tbeoiy of documents
of title and the authorities Involved In regard to each, see Wlllkpl^n aa
'^ 'ss. #aes. 405-444.
88. See 2 Taunt. 88; 124 Masa 88; 94 Mo. 870.
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what he has not. This doctrine is assumed^* but nowhere expressly
stated in our Code.
i. Sufficiency of Delivery. Section 43 (3) provides a definite
rule as to what is to be regarded as sufficient delivery in case of sale
of goods now in the possession of third parties, a question which has
caused considerable confusion.^^
j. Delivery of Wrong Quantity. Section 44 provides definite
rules as to how the obligations of sellers and buyers are a£Fected
by delivery of a wrong quantity of goods. Definite rules,
ascertainable in advance of litigation, to enable parties to adjust
their dealings and controversies are in this particular very important,
since it very often happens that the amounts delivered or tendered
do not tally exactly with the amounts bargained for, and it is die
uncertainty as to the legal effect of such discrepancies that leads to
controversy and often leads to long-continued and expensive litiga-
tion. On this, again, our Code is entirely silent.
k. Delivery in Installments. Section 45 provides, in statutory
form, a rule applying generally to contracts, what is the cflFect of
delivery in installments. As the question is one involving the inquiry
what is the contract the parties have made, the general rules stated
are likely not entirely to do away with disputes as to their applica-
tion.^^ Even granting that, however, it is better to have a rule to
go by in di^osing of such cases than to have to find a rule only
at the end of a long course of litigation, as is now necessary in North
Dakota, our Code being entirely silent on the question of delivery
in installments under a contract to sell or a sale.
1. Right of Inspection. Section 47 (3) establishes that where
the carrier is to collect on delivery of the goods the buyer has no
right of inspection until after he has paid. This provision is in accord
with decided cases^^ but we have nothing on the point in our local
law in North Dakota.
m. What Constitutes Acceptance. Section 48 defines what
constitutes acceptance of goods under a contract of sale, as intima-
tion of acceptance, exercising acts of ownership, or retaining the
goods. The inquiry whether the buyer has accepted the goods often
becomes material, both under the Statute of Frauds, as a satisfaction
of the statute, and under any inquiry whether the contract has been
89. See, for example, sec 5608 of Compiled Laws, 191S.
90. See the discussion and authorities cited in WiUiston on Sales,
sec. 464.
91. For some lltisration under these rules, see below, footnote 120.
92. 46 la. 210.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 131
performed. It is therefore desirable to have the law settled in regard
to what amounts to acceptance of the goods under the contract of
sale. Here, again, our Code is silent, but the Uniform Sales Act
contains a definite rule which may be ascertained in advance of
litigation.
n. Acceptance as Related to Action for Damages. Section 49
provides that acceptance of the goods does not bar action for dam-
ages if the goods do not correspond with the requirements of the
contract. It thereby settles this question which is involved in much
conflict of authority at common law. The North Dakota cases which
we have on the question are in accord with the view adopted in
the Uniform Sales Act.**
o. Wrong Delivery. Section 50 expresses a well-settled rule at
conmion law, that the buyer is not bound to return goods wrongly
delivered.** Our Code, however, is silent on the question. Similar
remark may be made on section 51, covering the buyer's liability for
failure to accept delivery.
p. Definition of Unpaid Seller. Section 52, definition of un-
paid seller, is new to our Code. It is defined in the Uniform Sales
Act for the sake of accuracy in dealing with the subsequent sections,
giving the remedies of an unpaid seller.
q. Lien after Part Delivery. Section 55, providing for the
unpaid seller's Uen after part delivery, covers an important matter
in regard to which the Code is silent.
r. When Lien is Lost. Section 56, providing how the unpaid
seller may lose his lien, by delivery, waiver, etc., is also a specific
provision in accordance with common-law principles and authority
on matter in regard to which our Code is entirely silent.
s. When Goods are in Transit, Section 58, defining in detail
when goods are in transit for the purposes of the law of stoppage
in transit, is very much more complete than our Code, based on
dedded cases*^ involving various circumstances not dealt with in our
Code at alL
t No Right to stop against Transferee of Documents for Value
without Notice. Section 59 (2) affirmatively provides that the bona
fide transferee for value of an order bill of lading after an unpaid
98. See 6 N. D. 433. 67 N. W. 208; 11 N. D. 262. 91 N. W. 70.
94. See. for example. 161 Mass. 676, 681. 87 N. E. 742; 66 111. 612;
lis N. W. 686 (Minn.).
96. See the extended discussion and numerous authorities cited in
Wllliston on Sales, sees. 623-689.
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132 The Quarterly Journal
seller's notice to the carrier to stop the goods is to be protected.
This is in accord with the mercantile doctrine of bills of lading,
already set out in sections 27-40. On this question we have nothing
definite in our Gxie, nor have we local cases on the subject.**
u. Effect of Sale of Goods Subject to Lien or Stoppage in
Transit. Section 62, in providing that a sale of the goods by the
buyer while they are in transit shall not cut off the seller's right
to stop them, is stating a generally accepted rule*^ about which,
however, our Code is silent. The last part of the section, protecting
the transferee of an order bill of lading under such circumstances,
while involved in some conflict of authority at common law,*^ ex-
presses the correct view on principle, in accordance with the mer-
cantile dieory of bills of lading adopted in the Uniform Sales Act.
V. Action for the Price. Section 63 (2) expresses what is un-
doubted common law,** tho our Q>de is silent on the subject, that
if the contract makes the price payable on a day certain, irrespective
of transfer of title or delivery, the seller may recover the price,
according to the terms of the contract, unless he manifests inability
to perform or shows an intention not to perform. Such contracts
are rare, apart from contracts of conditional sale, which are well
known and constantly enforced by the courts.^®^
w. Remedies for Breach of Warranty. Section 69, consisting
of various subdivisions, specifics far more completely than our Code
what are die bu)rer's remedies for the seller's breadi of warranty.
Yet, with the exception of one subdivision, (i) (d), it is consistent
with the general provisions found in our Code in Sections 7157-9.
In parts it goes into much detail in regard to features as to which
our Code is entirely silent, as in subdivisions (3), (4), and (5). In
regard to subdivision (i) (d), which works a change in our Code,
see bekw.i^i
X. Effect of Uniform Sides Act on Right to Recover Interest
and Special Damages. Section 70 contains the provisions that the
enactment of the Uniform Sales Act diall not affect tlie right to
recover interest or special damages in any case where by law tli^
may be iiecoverable. This is to guard against any undesigned chzfigt
M. See footnote 51. srevlAua article.
97. See, for example. Ill llaes. 4»0; 108 N. T. 8S8, 18 N. B. 888.
88. See footnote ^1, previous article.
88. flee, for example. i«4 Mam. 6H.
180. Conditional fialee are recegnixcd aa a mattar of coutae in JVorth
Dakota, ae they are in other states generally. See 11 ». D. 188. f 1 9. W.
88. 81 N. D. «08. 188 M. W. 9BI.
101. See p. 148.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 133
in other parts of the law as a consequence of the enactment of the
Uniform Sales Act.
y. Interpretation, (i) General Provisions. Sections 71-73
contain various rules of interpretation of the Act itself, quite in
accord with accepted principles. Section 75 provides that the pro-
visions of the Uniform Sales Act are not, unless so stated, applicable
to mortgages. It was thought best not to attempt to deal with the
peculiar rules of mortgage law as such in connection with the Uni-
form Sales Act, but to leave them to be dealt with, if so desired, by
independent legislation.
(2) Interpretation to secure Uniformity. Section 74 provides
that the Uniform Sales Act is to be so interpreted as to give effect
to the purpose of uniformity. This principle is indispensable if the
purpose of uniformity is to be consistently carried out,^^^ and has
already won recognition from severd courts^^^ among them the
Supreme Court of die United States.
(3) Definitions. Section 76 provides a considerable list of
definitions of terms used in the Act itself. In this respect the Uni-
form Sales Act follows the example set in the National Bankruptcy
Act, in the Negotiable Instruments Law, and in other statutes, de-
fining its own terms, so far as possible, to prevent confusion as to
orhat they mean. In regard to these definitions in the Uniform Sales
Act little or no question has been raised, except in the case of the
definition of "value," the eflfect of which is considered below.^^*
2. Provisions Making Morb Spbcific Various Matters
Already Contained in Our Code in a More General and
Indefinftb Form. Lack of adequate space in an article of the
present character does not permit any detailed discussion of the
merits of these provisions. For such discussion the reader is referred
to die treatises. Such detailed discussion is here unnecessary, too,
for reoHximending the Uniform Sales Act for adoption in North
Dakota, since the matter3 in the following sections we have already.
The Uniform Sales Act, in dealing with them, is better, however,
since its provisions are more specific and therefore easier of appli-
cation and better avoid litigation.
What the provisions are which substantially correspond may
best be indicated by bringing them together in parallel colmuns.
Where the provisions of the Uniform Sales Act not only make more
102. See WlUiston on Sales, sec. 817.
108. See footnote 120, for cases decided under sec. 74 of tlie Uniform
Sales Act.
104. See paire 168.
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134
The Quarterly Journal
spedfic what is dready exprcst in general terms in our G>de, but
set out rules of law on matters in regard to whidi our law is silent,
they have in the main been already dealt widi above.^^ Where diey
produce or are likely to be alleged to produce affirmative changes
in our law, they are dealt with below.^^* The following presenta-
tion of corresponding similar provisions is believed to be substan-
tially correct, it being understood that the provisions of the Uniform
Sales Act are usually more specific.
North Dakota
Compiled Laws, (1913)
Uniform Salrs Act
Sec 6004
Sec
. I
and
9
«
5885-6
41
3
<i
596a
44
4
(2)
«
5535
44
6
4<
5951 and 5956
44
5
<l
5854 and 5868
44
7
(I)
4<
6005
44
9
(2)
((
5878
44
9
(4)
(4
5982
44
13
and
14
44
5973
44
12
<4
5987
44
13
41
5975
44
13
44
5974
44
15
44
5981
44
15
(I)(2)
44
5976
44
16
(a)
44
5535
44
17
and
18
44
6210-11 (part)
44
20
(I)
44
5996-97-99
44
21
(2)
44
6000
44
21
(4)
44
5969
44
22
44
7221 (part)
44
26
44
6209-11
44
27-29
44
5989
44
42
44
5969
((
43
(I)
44
5968
(4
43
(I)
if
5967
41
43
(2)
and (5)
44
5970
44
43
44
5972
(4
43
(4)
44
5971
44
46
(4
5990
4(
47
44
5965
44
53
and
54
44
6864
44
54
44
6864 and 6881
44
53
(2)
44
6881
44
57
44
6883
44
58
44
6884
44
59
106. See pa^es 126-133.
106. See pages 144-154.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 135
Sec. 5966
Sec 61 (1). 65
" 5936
" 61 (a)
" 7155
" 63 (I)
" 7146, 7156
" 64
" 7191— 7193
" 68
" 7157— 7JS9
" 69 (6) and 69 (7)
3. Provisions Embodying the Rules Contained in our
Code in Substantially the Same Form. Comments on these
provisions are for the present purpose obviously unnecessary. The
provisions need only be brought together in parallel columns.
North Dakota
Compiled Laws^ (1913) Uniform Sales Act
Sec 5950, 5952-55 Sec i
" 5966 " 53 (a), 53 (d)
" 6881 " 53 (b), 57
4. Provisions Making Substantial Changes in Our
Code. These provisions are few in number. The changes they make
ire dealt with below^^ showing thst in most cases these changes
are not radical but are in accord with conmion-law principles and
are usually desirable changes to make even on their own merits.
From this survey of the principal provisions of the Uniform
Sales Act which give us definite rules of law where our present
Code is silent or indefinite, it is easily apparent that the enactment
of the Uniform Sales Act would greatly tend to make our local
law more certain. True, we have not only the Code but also re-
ports of decided cases in North Dakota, but in regard to most of
the rules dealt with in the Uniform Sales Act our Supreme Court
has not yet spoken.^^^ We are usually constrained to rely either on
the Code we have, which is often inconclusive or silent on the ques-
tion in hand, or we must rely on the common-law authorities gen-
erally, which are usually more or less conflicting, necessitating our
litigating every point anew and appealing it to the Supreme Court
for final decision. The enactment of the Uniform Sales Act, which
is a definite codification of common-law results, would therefore give
us not only greater certainty than we have in our present Code, but
also greater certainty than we could hope to attain thru our case
law even by many years of continuous litigation.
107. See footnote 106.
108. See pa^e 62, previous article.
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136 The Quarterly Jourmd
F. OBJECTIONS TO THE ADOPTION OF THE
UNIFORM SALES ACT ANSWERED
I. Objections Based on Distrust of Codification
I. In General. The average lawyer, trained under our
common-law system, is apt to be imbued with a sort of instinctive
distrust of codification, which, when analyzed, is found to rest upon
some conviction that codification makes the law too rigid and pro-
jects the moribund ideas of the time over future generations.^^ For
the purposes of this article the correctness of such views in regard
to codification need be neither affirmed nor dented. Living under
the Field Code, which is a crude codification, we suffer already
whatever evils of this nature codification is calculated to bring about.
Lawyers and judges in trial practise, however, constantly lean on
the Code as now existing, and show no disposition to abandon it
as a practical guide in litigation. The ordinary citizen who is not
a lawyer, far from being averse to the principle of codification, wel-
comes the project as a step in reducing the law to certainty, expect-
ing thereby the more readily to adjust his conduct to conform to the
law and thus avoid litigation. Whether the objections to codifica-
tion are right or wrong, therefore, our local situation actually is
that we have it, that our people approve it, that the members of
our legal profession practise under and rely upon it, and that the
objections to it are felt most strongly, not by our own people or
lawyers who have experienced its effects, but by those who have been
trained apart from the codes, whose actual experience widi codified
law is negligible, and whose views on the question are derived rather
from academic reflection than from practical experience.
In view of our actual local situation, dierefore, die fact that
the Uniform Sales Act is an act of partial codification should rather
commend than condemn it in the eyes of our people, while the fact
that it is a thoro, improved, and up-to-date codification of the sub-
ject dealt with should, as a practical matter, commend it both to
supporters of the principle of codification and to its opponents. Those
who su{^)ort the principle of codification can welcome the Uniform
109. For authorities on the effect of codifloatlon renerany, m%,
especially, Savi^ny, Von Beruf. Unserer Zeit fOr Gtosetsg-ebun^ und
Rechtswissenschaft (On the Vocation of our A^e for Legislation and
Jurisprudence) a«rainst codiflcatlon, and Austin, Jurisprudence. Lecture SS.
in its favor. Also see Carter, Law: Its Origin, Growth, and Function,
Lects. 11, 12. While the average lawyer who distrusts codification ordi-
narily has not precisely formulated his objections, they are usually based
upon some one or more of the considerations dealt with at length by
these writers and briefly adrerted to in the text. For a blbliOffi«phy af
the literature of codification, see Pound's OutliiiM ^C Lacturea on Jtiria-
prudence, Lect. XTV.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 137
Sales Act as a new improvement upon the Oxle, a piece of machinery
for the administration of justice which in their opinion has accom-
plished much good in the past and which will accomplish mudi
more in the future. Those who object to the principle of codifica-
doQ may equally welcome the Uniform Sales Act as an improve-
ment upon a code which in their opinion has already both made
our law rigid and projected upon us the ideas of the past Whether
one is disposed to commend or to condemn the principle of codifica-
tion, therefore, he may, where codification of a sort already is an
accomplished fact, support the project for systematic thoro revision
to bring the existing codification into accord with the law of the time.
2. Distrust of the Particular Mesure Submitted-
Objections to the Uniform Sales Act may be raised on more practical
grounds than mere distrust of the principle of codification. It may
be objected that tho some codification of the law of sales might be
desirable, yet that this particular Act, recommended by the Commis-
»oners on Uniform State Laws, is defective on various grounds, a
couple of which may here be briefly answered.
a. In Operation will this Uniform Sales Act really Produce
Uniformity? Some have said that the Negotiable Instruments Law
failed to produce uniformity and have asked the question : "Can any
better be expected of the Uniform Sales Act?" While it may be
granted that the Negotiable Instruments Law might in some respects
be improved,^^^ it is generally conceded that its effect has been
salutary,^^^ that in many points it has produced uniformity,^ ^^ and
that nowhere among the states which have adopted it is there any
thou^t of its repeal. In our own state the Negotiable Instruments
Law has been in force for some seventeen years, no repeal is con-
tenq>lated, and its effect has admittedly been, not only to make our
law of negotiable instruments uniform with that of other states, but
also to make our law of negotiable instruments more certain than
it was before.^^^ If such salutary effects could be produced by the
Negotiable Instruments Law, which was rather hastily drawn, with-
out mudi consultation or extended criticism,^^^ much more may be
expected of the Uniform Sales Act, which was drawn by an expert
110. 8«e the Ames-Brewster controversy, in Brannan's Negotiable
Instruments law.
111. See, for example, Domestic Commerce and Uniform State Laws,
by 8. R. Child, in "The Nation's Business," June. 1916.
112. See, for example, the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments
Law. sections 86. 39, 124. Others with similar effect are mentioned in
Brannan's Negotiable Instruments Law. (2nd. ed.), p. 164.
lis. Comparison of the present code sections on Negotiable Instru-
ments with those they superseded will amply bear out this remark, there
belnir but few local cases as yet decided by our court.
114. See footnote 110.
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alter msture deliberation, and sever^ times revised in die light of
the most searching and intelligent criticism the country alfords.^^*
A further consideration to show that the Uniform Sales Act
aetufldly produces uniformity is found in the seciton of the Act itseU
providing for its being so construed as to effectuate the genend pwr*
pose to make uniform the law vA those states which enact it.^^* No
corresponding provision is foimd in the Negotiable Instruments Law.
This provision has already been acted upon by the courts and is
upheld even by the Supreme Court of the United States.^^^
b. Instead of Making the Law more Certain, will it make the
Law more Uncertdnf It has already been shown above*^* that on
many points the Uniform Sales Act will give us definite ruks of
law where with our present Code and decided cases we have no
certainty at all. Despite such a showing, however, it is sometimes
contended that any attempt to codify the law will have precisely
tlie opposite effect, to render the law more uncert&in than ever.^^*
The argument to establish so strange a proposition is that tho the
rule may be phrased in definite language, stated in so many wor^s,
its naeaniiig in application only the courts can determine thru the
process of litigation, and that until a line of cases under the formal
rule has been developed no one can tell what the court will do, there
being no cases showing what the court has already done under simi-
lar circumstances.
The answer to this argumoit as applied to the Uniform Sales
Act, so far as it needs any answer, is three-fold. First, the Act was
carefully drawn as a codification of already existing case law. It
does not, therefore, introduce novel or peculiar doctrines in regard
to which there is no way of forecasting what the position of a court,
in the application of them to actual litigation, would turn out to be.
There is nothing new or st&rtling in the Uniform Sales Act, but its
contents are based thruout on the results which have been worked
out thru the courts in the process of actual litigation based upon
the pre-existing and generally prevailing principles of the common
law. The problem of forecasting from the past what a court should
do in the future will therefore not be markedly different when new-
situations arise under the Uniform Sales Act from what it would
be under the ordinary esse law situation.
The second answer to the objection that the Uniform Sales
lis. See above, p. 67.
116. Uniform Sales Act, sec. 74.
tl7. See footnote 108.
US. See pages ISS-ISS.
119. Such is, for example, the araument in Carter, Law: Its Orlfflii.
Growth, and Function.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act I39
Act might render our law more uncertain rather than more certain
is found in the course of decisions in the states which have already
adopted it. In several states the Act has now been in force for a
number of years. Litigation on the questions dealt with has often
taken place. The courts have decided cases under the Act, have
found no difficulty in applying it to actual litigation, and have ex-
perienced no difficulty in seeing what it means.^^^
120. Of the considerable number of cases alreadjr decided under the
Uniform Sales Act In states where It has been adopted, most of the
cases involve no question of doubt as to the meaning of the statute,
but are cases applying- the law to the facts. Some citations, mostly
gathered by Professor Willis ton, of cases under different sections of the
Uniform Sales Act are for the sake of completeness here reproduced.
Section 4
Prested Miners Co, v. Oamer (1910) 2 K. B. 776;
Ooldowltz V. Kupfer. 141 N. Y. Supp. 681;
Willard V. Higdon. 91 AtL 677. (Md.);
Peck V. Abbott & Femald Co.. Ill N. B. 890. (Mass.);
Davis V. Blanchard. 188 N. T. Supp. 202:
McAusland v. Rleser. 90 AtL 261. (N. J.).
Section 8
Automaltc Time Table Advertising Ck>. v. Automatic Time Table
Co.. 94 N. E. 462. (Mass.).
Section 9
Cobb. Bates & Terxa Co. v. Hills. 94 N. B. 266. (Mass.).
Section 12
Nelson Co. v. Sliver. 146 N. Y. Supp. 124;
Debany v. Rosenthal. 162 N. T. Supp. 1048;
Qascoigne v. Cary Brick Co.. 104 N. E. 784. (Mass.).
Section 18
Carbollneum Wood Preserving Co. v. Carter. 60 N. J. L. J. 861;
(N. Y. Munlc. Ct.) commented on in 27 Harv. L. Rev. 287;
Dreisbach v. Bckelkamp. 88 Atl. 176. (N. J. L.).
Section 14
Lissber^er v. Kellogg. 78 Atl. 67. (N. J.).
Section 16
Leiter v. Innls. 188 N. Y. Supp. 536;
O. B. Shearer Co. v. Kakoulis. 144 N. Y. Supp. 1077;
Wasserstrom v. Cohen. 160 N. Y. Supp. 688;
Kansas City Bolt Co. v. Rodd. 220 Fed: 760 (C. C. A.);
Pentland v. Jacobson. 165 N. W. 468. (Mich.);
Oearing v. Berkson. Ill N. EI 786, (Mass.);
Marx V. Locomobile Co.. 82 N. Y. Misc. 468. 144 N. Y. Supp. 987;
Quemaponing Ooal Co. v. Sanitary, etc., Co. 96 Atl. 986. (N. J.);
Ohio Electric Co. v| Wis. & Minn. L. & P. Co.. 156 N. W. 112.
(Wis.);
Bonwit-Teller v. Kinlen. 160 N. Y. Supp. 966;
Sure Seal Co. v. Loeber. 167 N. Y. Supp. 827;
Matteson v. Legace. 89 Atl. 713. (R. I.);
Proctor v. Jacobson. 165 N. W. 468, (Mich.);
Proctor v. Atlantic Fish Co., 94 N. E. 281. (Mass.).
Section 16
Stewart v. Voll, 79 Atl. 1041, (N. J.).
Oascoiffne v. Cary Brick Co., 104 N. E. 734, (Mass.).
Section 17
Isaacs v. MacDonald. 102 N. B. 81, (Mass.).
Section 18
Bondy V. Hardine. 102 N. E. 935. (Mass.).
Section 19
Automatic Time Table Adv. Co. v. Automatic Time Table Co., 94
N. B. 462. (Mass.);
J. B. Bradford Piano Co. v. Hacker, 166 N. W. 140, (Wis.);
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George A. Ohl & Oo. Inc. v. Barnet Leather Co.» 98 AtL 716, (N.
J. L.);
Bondy v. Hardlne. 102 N. K. 986, {liass.);
Sanitary Carpet Cleaning' Co. v. Reed Mfg. Co., 146 N. Y. Supp.
818, 888.
Section 22
Schang: v. Bramwell, 143 N. Y. Supp. 1067;
Oollerd v. Tully, 80 Atl. 491, (N. J.);
O'Neil-Adams Co. v. £nclund. 98 Atl. 624,( Conn.):
Dinsmore v. Moag-Wahmann Co., 89 Atl. 899, (Md.).
Section 28
See Roland M. Baker Co. v. Brown, 100 N. R 1026,( Mass.);
In re Richheimer, 221 Fed. 16, (C. C A,).
Section 33
See on corresponding- section of Warehouse Receipts Act
Rummell v. Blanchard. 216 N. Y. 348; 110 N. B. 766.
Section 88
Roland M. Baker Co. v. Brown, 100 N. B. 1026. (Mass.);
See on corresponding section of Bills of Lading Act. which is prac-
tically identical,
Commercial Nat. Bank v. Canal Louisiana Bank. 239 U. S. 620.
Section 42
Gruen v. Ohl. 80 Atl. 647, (N. J.);
Bridgeport Hardware Mfg. Corp. v. Bouniol, 93 Atl. 674. (Conn.).
Section 43
Lenders v. Fahlberg Works, 160 N. Y. Supp, 636;
Bridgepart Hardware Mfg. Co. v. Bouniol, 93 Atl. 674, (Conn.);
Schiff V. Winton Motor Car Co., 153 N. Y. Supp. 961, 964 (App.
Term);
Dordonl v. Hughes, 85 Atl. 363, (N. J.);
Gruen v. Ohl, 80 Atl. 647, (N. J.);
Stephens- Adamson Co. v. Bigelow, 92 Atl. 398, (N. J.).
Section 44
Boyd V. Second Hand Supply Co., 128 Pac. 619, (Arli.);
Kirshman v. Craw ford -Plum me r Co., 150 N. Y. Supp. 886;
Shipton V. Weil, (1912) 1 K. B. 674.
Section 45
Commercial Casualty Co. v. Rice, 167 N. Y. Supp. 1;
Quarton v. Am. Law Book Co.. 121 N. W. 1009, 1013, (la.).
Section 46
Schanz v. Bramwell, 143 N. Y. Supp. 1057;
Haupman v. Miller, 157 N. Y. Supp. 1104;
Miller v. Harvey. 144 N. Y. Supp. 624;
Wimble V. Rosenberg, 67 Solic. Jl. 392. 784.
Section 47
Gerli V. Mistletoe Silk Mills. 76 Atl. 335. (N. J.):
Bridgeport Hardware Mfg. Co. v. Bouniol, 93 Atl. 674, (Conn.);
Section 48
Gerli V. Mistletoe Silk Mills. 76 Atl. 836, (N. J.);
Salomon v. Olkin, 154 N. Y. Supp. 204.
Section 49
Marx V. Locomobile Co., 144 N. Y. Supp. 937;
Shearer Co. v. Kakoulis, 144 N. Y. Supp. 1077;
Nelson Co. v. Silver, 145 N. Y. Supp. 124;
Levy v. John C. Dettra Co., 164 N. Y. Supp. 176;
Bngllsh Lumber Co. v. Smith, 157 N. Y. Supp. 283;
Gasoolgne v. ClSary Brick CX>., 104 N. E. 734, (Mass.);
Rothenberg v. Shapiro. 140 N. Y. Supp. 148;
Kugleman v. Ritter. 152 N. Y. Supp. 1027;
Reglna Co. v. Gately Furniture Co.. 164 N. Y. Supp. 888;
Interboro Brewing Co. v. Independent Ice Co., 166 N. Y. Supp. 411,
Leiter v. Innis, etc.. 0>., 188 N. Y. Supp. 636.
Section 60
Putnam v. Bolster. 216 Mass. 867, 878, 103 N. E. 942.
Section 61
Roppenberg v. Owen, 146 N. Y. Supp. 478.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 141
The third answer to this objection, if any further answer is
needed, is that our present law is now so uncertain in many re-
q)ects,^*^ often with no announced law on the particular subject at
all, either in the present Code or in the decisions of the courts, that,
even granting the merit of the objection, we will gain rather than
lose by adopting a statute which does furnish definite rules of law
for many important questions.
As to this objection that the Uniform Sales Act would actually
increase uncertainty, therefore, it may be shortly answered that our
present law could hardly be made more uncertain than it already
Section 68
Northern Grain Co. v. Wiffler, 168 N. Y. Supp. 723, (N. Y. App. Div.):
Rummell v. Blanchard, 163 N. Y. Supp. 169. (N. Y. App. Div.);
Also see 216 N. Y. 848, 110 N. E. 766.
Section 60
Putnam v. Bolster, 216 Mass. 367. 878. 103 N. E. 942;
Churchill Grain Co. v. Newton. 89 Atl. 1121. (Oonn.).
Section 61
Boyd V. Second Hand Supply Co.. 123 Pac. 619. (Ariz.).
Section 62
Mordaunt v. British .Oil & Coke Mills (1910) 2 K. B. 602.
Section 63
Illustrated Postal Card Co. v. Holt. 81 Atl. 1061, (Conn.);
Home Pattern Co. v. Mertz Co.. 86 Atl. 19. (Conn.);
Home Pattern Co. v. Mertz Co.. 90 Atl. 33. (Conn.);
Also see 228 Fed. 698.
Section 64
Home Pattern Co. v. Mertz Co.. 86 Atl. 19. (Conn.);
Bixler V. Finkle. 88 Atl. 846. (N. J.);
Varley v. Bedford. 166 N. Y. Supp. 697.
Section 67
Oruen v. Ohl, 80 AU. 647. (N. J.);
Pope V. Ferguson. 88 AtL 863. (N. J.).
Section 69
Gerli V. Mistletoe Silk Mills. 76 Atl. 886. (N. J.);
Borden v. Fine. 98 N. R 1073. (Mass.);
Marx V. Ijocomobile Co., 144 N. Y. Supp. 937;
G. B. Shearer Co. v. Kakoulis. 144 N. Y. Supp. 1077;
Reffina Co. v. Gately Furniture Co., 164 N. Y. Supp. 888;
Impervious Products O). v. Grey. 96 Atl. 1. (Md.);
Miller V. Zander. 147 N. Y. Supp. 479;
Frieder v. Rosen, 147 N. Y. Supp. 442;
Silberstein v. Blum, 163 N. Y. Supp. 34;
Salomon v. Olkin, 164 N. Y. Supp. 204;
Interboro Brewing- Co. v. Independent, etc.. Ice Co.. 144 N. Y. Supp.
820;
Lewistown. etc., Co. v. Hartford Stone Co.. 110 N. R 616, (Ohio);
Coast Central Millinsr Co. v. Russell Lbr. Co., 89 Atl. 898. (Conn.).
Section 71
Re Walkers v. Shaw. (1904) 2 K. B. 162.
Section 74
Pope V. Ferguson. 83 Atl. 363. (N. J.);
Felt V. Bush. 126 Pac. 688;
Roland M. Baker Co. v. Brown, 214 Mass. 201, 100 N. B. 1026;
Also see 239 U. S. 620, 36 Supr. Ct, 194 at p. 197.
Section 76
Boyd V. Second Hand Supply Oo.. 123 Pac 619. (Ariz.):
Willard V. Hiffdon, 91 Atl. 677. (Md.).
121. See above, p. 62.
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is, that there is no reason for anticipating an increase in uocertainty
since this Act is based diniout on decided cases, and that in pfaclise
under the Uniform Sales Act no such result has actually occurred.
3. Objections to Codification of this Particular
Branch of thb Law. In some quarters the contention is made
that while codification of certain branches of the law may be de-
sirable, yet in other branches codification would as a practical mat-
ter be futile and the results of attempted codification in such branches
undesirable. For example, it will be admitted that it is practicable
and perhaps desirable to codify the rules of law relating to property,
because they change at best very slowly and great importance is
attached to their stability. On the other hand, it will be suggested
that any codification of the modem law of torts would be futile,
it being still so largely formative in its character. That there is
sound sense in taking such a position may also for present purposes
readily be granted.
The answer to that position, if it is relied upon to oppose the
adoption of the Uniform Sales Act, however, is that the rules appli-
cable to sales transactions are really rules of property. In sales
transactions, as in other dealings with property, rather than to have
great flexibility with its oonsequent uncertainty, it is important to
have such certainty that business can be carried on with reasonable
security. ^^^
11. Objections Based on Fear that the Uniform Sales Act
will Change the Rules of Law Already Announced
IN North Dakota
The most serious objection to be raised against the adoption
of the Uniform Sales Act in North Dakota is that it would work
changes in our law as already announced. Lawyers, especially,
will be prone to hesitate at the adoption of an Act with which they
are not entirely familiar, preferring to put up with the evils they
have rather than jump to others they know not of. That such an
attitude is sound may be granted without thereby consenting that
absolute stand-patism is always on every occasion preferable. To
be skeptical and require to be shown is very different from die
uncompromising attitude which tolerates no change whatever. To
the reasonable person it may be shown that the fear of making a
few slight changes in the already existing rules of law should not
stand in the way of adopting the Uniform Sales Act in North
Dakota and securing the benefits of uniformity and certainty which
122. See above, p. 67.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act i!46
mould follow. The demonstration that any such fear is unwaih
nnted rests on several grounds, which will here be briefly dealt widb
in turn.
1, Lbgislativb Changes in thb Existing Law not
Anomalous but Usual, That the fear of changing existing law
as such is inconsequential in our modem states is apparent from aH
our legislative history. Legislatures commonly meet every two years,
and Congress meets every year for the avowed purpose of enacting
new laws as well as for the purpose of providing appropriations to
carry on the governmental machinery. At every session of rficse
bodies new laws of one kind or another are passed.^*^ If these laws
are desirable as a matter of intrinsic merit in the situation to which
they are to be applied, the mere fact that tiiey change the pre-
existing law is not allowed to stand in the way of their enactment.
Sudi being the situation, in regard to proposed legislation generally,
the mere fear that the Uniform Sales Act might change some ex-
isting law should not be regarded as intrinsically important, unless
definite objections appear to the changes actually brought about.
2. Thb Changbs in our Present Code, which would be
Produced by the Uniform Sales Act not Objectionable.
a. Substantial Changes not Numerous. Xhe sections in our present
Code which would be displaced by the provisions of the Uniform
Sales Act arc embraced almost altogether in Chapters 57 and 58,
numbered from section 5950 to 6006 inclusive. Of the sections in
these chapters several would not be touched at all, as they deal with
matter outside the range of the Uniform Sales Act. Such are sec-
tions 5957-5960, 5963, 5964, 5986, 5991-5993, 6002, and 6006,
which, therefore, would remain in our Code as before and not be
repealed at all.
Of the other sections in these chapters which would be re-
pealed, a large number, as has been explained above,^^ are con-
tained in the Uniform Sales Act either in substantially the same
form or in a more satisfactory form because more specific. Such
are sections 5950, 5952-5955, 5962-5969, 5971-5976, 5987, 5989,
5990, 5996, 5997, 5999, 6000, and 6005. The remaining sections in
this part of the Code, which would be replaced by the Uniform Sales
Act, nearly all relate to the law of warranty in sales. These are sec-
tions 5977-5985, 5988, and 5994. Besides these, there are section
5961, on the Statute of Frauds, section 5966, the part on how the
128. See above, p. 68.
124. See pa^es 188-136.
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144 ^^^ Quarterly Journal
unpaid seller may enforce his lien, and sections 5998 and 6001, on
auctions. For the sake of completeness, mention must also be nuule
of section 6003, a definition of barter, which is not contained in so
many words in tiie Uniform Sales Act. The definition in our Code,
however, is of no value, and has never become the basis for any
North Dakota court decision.
Sections scattered elsewhere thruout the Code are very rarely
affected by the Uniform Sales Act. Of these only Section 5888 (4)
and sections 7 153-7 159 would need to be repealed. Two others,
sections 4340 and 5880, would be somewhat modified in applica-
tion.^^^ Sections 7 153-7 159 dealing with the mesure of damages in
sales and warranty are, with one exception noted below,^** substan-
tially re-enacted in the Uniform Sales Act. Section 5888 (4) is
substantially a duplicate of section 5961, on the Statute of Frauds,
and would be affected in the same way.^^^
From this cursory review it is apparent that the principal dianges
which the Uniform Sales Act would make in our Code is in the law
of warranty in sales with a few minor changes in regard to the
Statute of Frauds, manner of enforcement of the seller's lien, auc-
tions, infant's right to avoid a sale, and sales at a valuation. The
effect of these several changes is dealt with below.^** Aside from
these few changes, most of which are of a minor character, the Uni-
form Sales Act either re-enacts more specifically the law we already
have in our Code in more indefinite form, or it definitely specifies,
on the basis of the generally prevailing common law, rules of law
to cover numerous situations often arising which are not dealt with
by our Code at all.
a. The Substantial Changes not Radical, but generally Improve
our Local Law. ( i ) General Considerations. That the changes
made in our Code by the Uniform Sales Act are not radical may
be inferred, even without any minute comparison of the detailed
provisions, from the fact that the Uniform Sales Act is a careful
codification of the common law prevailing generally in this country,
based thruout on decided cases. Our Code, also, is an attempt to
codify the common law. Both, then, rest upon the same basic foun-
dation, and depend for their underlying principles on the same body
of case law. The Uniform Sales Act, to be sure, is a more recent
codification, and includes much matter drawn from cases decided
since the Field Code was drafted. Those new cases, however, were
12s. See page 161.
126. See pa«re 160.
127. See pa«re 148.
128. See pa^s 144-162.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 145
decided according to common-law principles, deduced from the pre-
existing authorities, and introduced nothing strange and startling into
the law. It is therefore no accident, but a natural consequence, that
even dose comparison between the Uniform Sales Act and our
present Code discloses so few marked diversities between them, tho
it does disclose very conspicuously that the Uniform Sales Act is
much nx>re complete and specific in its provisions. Even in the few
cases where substantial affirmative changes are made in the Q>de
by the Uniform Sales Act, it may be inferred, in the light of these
facts, that the changes are not of a startling but of a very moderate
character.
A little detailed examination of these changes will confirm the
conclusion that the changes in question are not radical, and that
they are usually worth making on their own merits, even apart from
the question of whether the Uniform Sales Act should be adopted
to secure uniformity and certainty generally.
(2) The Law of Warranty. Section 15 of the Uniform Sales
Act produces a more marked change in our Code than any of the
other sections. Even in this section, which deals with implied war-
ranties of quality, the general manner of dealing with the question
b the same as in our Code — namely, that there is no implied warran-
ty, apart from the categories especially dealt with in the statute.
The categories, however, are somewhat different.
Under sections 5979 and 5980 of our Code the warranty dealt
with is confined to the manufacturer. Under section 15 (i) of the
Uniform Sales Act the warranty is implied in a sale, whether the
seller » a manufacturer or not, if the buyer relies on the seller's
skill and judgment.
Section 15 (2) of the Uniform Sales Act covers the matter
dealt with in Sections 5978, 5981, and 5985 of our Code changing
the law of section 5978 by leaving out any reference to deterioration
after shipment, and changing the law of section 5985 by making the
warranty apply regardless of whether the buyer buys for immediate
consumption or for resale.
Section 15 (3) of the Uniform Sales Act changes the law of
section 5981 by referring only to actual examination of the goods
instead of opportunity to examine.
Sections 12 and 15 (i) of the Uniform Sales Act also
modify section 5988, by permitting a warranty against known defects
if the buyer relies upon the seller's skill and judgment in the mat-
ter. This is often important in cases of doubt and difficulty on the
part of the buyer in regard to appreciating the seriousness of defects.
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146 The Quarterly Journal
Section 5994 of our Code provides that a breach of warranty
entitles the buyer to rescind a contract of sale but not an execu t ed
sale, '^unless the warranty was intended by die parties to operate as
a condition/' It has also been difficult under thia section to deter-
mine what the qualification meant.^'^ It is a better rule, oa the
merits, to let the buyer rescind either a contract of sale or an ex-
ecuted sale, if there is a breach of warranty. That leaves die ques-
tion of whether there can be a rescission to depend alone on the
question whether the warranty has been broken, a result which is
far preferable since the questions of what conditions were intended
to be included and just at what moment title was intended to pass
are so often obscure, the parties in their bargain not having adverted
specifically to those matters at all. This section of our Code would
be changed by the Uniform Sales Act, section 69(1) (d)to letting
the buyer at his election rescind or sue for breadi of warranty,
whether title has passed or not.
The general e£Fect of these changes in the law of warranty is
to make the law of warranty somewhat more stringent on the seller
than before. This is quite in accord with the tendency shown at
comnaon law in more recent times, as well as with the tendency
shown in our own recent Icgislation.^^^ It will be remembered that
in the earUcr conunon law the law of implied warranty was very
much restricted, and that as time has gone on its range has been
more and more extended. The Uniform Sales Act, being based on
the common law of the present, therefore usually goes farther in this
respect than does our Code which was drawn up more than fifty
years ago. For further discussion of the intrinsic merits of this par-
ticular development, as for discussion of the intrinsic merits of other
provisions of the Uniform Sales Act, reference must be made to the
treatises.^^^
A few further changes in the Code, mosdy minor in their
nature, connected with the law of warranty, must be mentioned.
Under the Uniform Sales Act sections 5977, 5983, and 5984 of our
Code would be repealed. Section 5977 is in part covered by section 15
( I ) of the Uniform Sales, Act, but not as to the seller's warranting
his own good faith in the transaction. Such a warranty is unnecessary
since bad faith here would in any case give rise to a cause of action for
fraud, and unless there were bad faith there would be no breach of
warranty under this section. Such a warranty, too, is unknown to
12t. See 14 N. D. 419. lOS N. W. 92; 21 N. D. 676. ISS N. W. 1S7;
169 N. W. 2. (N. D.).
180. See Compiled Laws <191S) sections 6991-699S and section 600S,
which were recently added to our Code.
181. See footnote 71.
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North D&ioki md tks Uniform Sales Act 147
tbe common law of saks, and was equally so unknown at the time
section 5977 was originally introduced into the Field Code.^'^ Fur-
ther, no case involving any warranty in sales of goods under this
section has arisen in the fifty odd years of this section's useless ex-
istence on the statute book, either in North Dakota^^ or Califor-
nia.^^ It would therefore do no violence to the law of North
Dsakota to have section 5977 repealed without substantial re-enact-
ment in the Uniform Sales Act.
Section 5983 of the present Code which would also be r^>ealed
without substantial reenactment in the Uniform Sales Act is reason-
ably covered by Section 14 of the UnifcHin Sales Act if the sale
is by description, and is also partly covered by section 15 (i) and
(2). So far as section 5983 of the Code goes beyond these portions
of the Uniform Sales Act it is either unimportant or mischievous,
since the marks referred to may be wholly inunaterial, forming no
part of the description or of the inducement to buy and being in no
wise relied on. Further, its unimportance is shown by the fact that
since the Field Code was adopted no cases have been decided in
reliance on this section, either in California^'^ or North Dakota.
Section 5984 of the Code is not contained in any corresponding
form in the Uniform Sales Act. It may be properly omitted from
the sections of the statute relating to sale, however, since it deals
with negotiable instnm:ients only, was drafted as a codification of
some cases relating to negotiable instruments^^^ and is substantially
contained in the Negotiable Instruments Law, appearing in that con-
nection in our Code as part of section 6950. It should be noted, in
confirmation of this view, that the only case decided in North Dakota
under this section was a case involving a negotiable instrument.^^^
It is therefore no objection to the adoption of the Uniform Sales
Act which deals with the sale of ordinary chattels^ not with bills
and notes, that this section would disappear from the sections of
die statute dealing with ordinary sales.
182. In the Commissioners' note to the original Draft Civil Code
of New York (The Field Code) the cases cited do not stand squarely for
any such proposition as they are cited to support. In only one of them,
20 N. Y. 2S7, does even the language mesurably bear it out, and that
Is a case of neg-otiable instruments in its turn citing* for its support.
Story on Promissory Notes, sec. 118.
133. One North Dakota case, 19 N. D. 317. at p. 326. 124 N. W. 64,
refers to this code section merely to assure that the caae in question was
not within its provisions and that it therefore could have no application.
134. See Kerr's Cyc. Codes of Cal., Civil Code, sec. 1767 and notes.
136. See Kerr's Cyc. Codes of Cal., Civil Code, sec. 1778 and notes.
186. See the cases cited by the Code Commissioners under sec. 888
of the Draft Civil Code of New York: 4 El. ft Bl. 183; 4 Gray 156: 15
Johns. 240; 2 En. ft BL 849; 1 Hill. 287; 20 N. Y. 226; 15 id. 487; 2 B\ng.
<N.C.) 724; 4 Scott 849; 20 N.Y.287.
Parts of this section were early repealed in California. See Kerr's
eye Co4m of OU., Civil code, 1774, and notes thereto.
137. See 24 N. D. 646. 140 N. W. 726, 47 L. R. A. <N.S.) 246.
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148 The Quarterly Journal
(3) Auctions, Section 21 of the Uniform Sales Act, while
strictly in accord with the common law in the matter, changes sec-
tion 5998 of our Code which provides that when a sale is made
by auction upon written or printed conditions, such conditions cannot
be modified by any oral declaration of the auctioneer, except so far
as they are for his own interest. No such provision is contained in
the Uniform Sales Act. Such provision, too, tho dted by the Field
Code conmiissioners as based on decided cases, is apparently opposed
to the common law in this country.^^ It has never become the
basis for any case law in North Dakota, nor have any California
cases under it decided what sort of modifications will be held good
under it as made for the auctioneer's own benefit.^** Our law would
therefore lose nothing of importance, but would gain in certainty
by the repeal of section 5998 of the Code and the adoption of the
provisions of the Uniform Sales Act in its stead.
(4) Statute of Frauds, Section 4 of the Uniform Sales Act
slightly changes section 6cx>i, as it changes section 5888 (4) on the
same point. The parts of the Code referred to say that the
auctioneer's entry is binding on the parties the same as if made by
themselves. Such is also the conmion law embodied in section 4
of the Uniform Sales Act except in cases where the auctioneer is
himself interested as a seller.^^^ This qualification would probably
be read into the present Code also.^^^ No local case has been de-
cided under this part of the sections. This change in the Code, if
indeed it amounts to any change at all, is therefore not a worthy
objection to the adoption of the Uniform Sales Act.
Section 4 of the Uniform Sales Act also changes the expression in
sections 5888 and 5961, that "no sale is valid unless," etc. to "shall
not be enforceable by action, unless," etc. The distinction between
the two expressions is merely formal. Under either form it has
been held that such sales, without the proper memoranda to satisfy
the Statute of Frauds, may be shown for other purposes so long as
it is not attempted to enforce them affirmatively by action.^**
Section 4 of the Uniform Sales Act makes a further change,
which is more substantial, in sections 5888 (4) and 5961 of our
188. See 24 L. R. A. (N.S.) 488.
189. See annotations under sec. 1795. Kerr's Cyc Codes of OaL, Civil
Code.
140. See. 9 Gray 897. 69 Am., Dec 296; 46 Mo. 444. 100 Am. Dec 886.
141. See. for example. 1 Cal. 415. under the Identical section In CaUl-
fornla, that the auctioneer is agrent of the parties for this purpose only
at the time of sale, not afterwards, which is a common-law proposition.
142. See. for example. 5 S. D. 58. 58 N. W. 8. treatinip the case
thruout as if the langrua^e were "unenforcible" and even reciting in
terms that the two expressions are equivalent Many authorities on the
question are cited in WilUston on Sales, sec 71.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 149
Code, in changing the amount fixt by the statute from $50 to $500.
This change is based on such considerations as that $500 more nearly
represents at the present time the value that £10 represented in the
original English Statute of Frauds, and that it may be questioned
whether in small transactions, where the custom of reasonable men
does not prescribe a writing, the Statute of Frauds does not cause
more fraud than it avoids.^^^ The American statutes in the various
states have usually but not always fixt the amount at $50, while
one, in Florida, fixes no limit at all. With the steadily rising prices
this absolute amount of course makes the statute actually applicable
to smaller and smaller transactions. In a few of the states which
have adopted the Uniform Sales Act the amount prescribed by the
Act has been changed, tho the old figure of $50 has not always been
retained.^**
Section 4 of the Uniform Sales Act also contains the merely
formal change of using the term "of the value of" instead of **of
the price of" as in our Code, This change in the wording does
not produce any substantial change, the word "price" having uni-
versally been liberally construed in the American cases to cover barter
as well as sales transactions. ^^^
(5) Enforcement of Seller s Lien. Section 60 of the Sales
Act changes our Code provision, section 5966, on the enforcement
of the seller's lien. Our Code provides that the unpaid seller,
to enforce his lien, may sell as in the case of pledge. Sections 6785-
6789 provide that in case of sale of pledged property, the pledgee
must first demand performance of the pledgor "if he can be found,"
and must give actual notice of the time and place of sale at sudi
a reasonable time before the sale as will enable the pledgor to attend
the sale, and the sale, when made, must be made by public auction.
These provisions applicable to pledge would still remain in the Code
after the adoption of the Uniform Sales Act, but would no longer
be applicable to the case of an unpaid seller enforcing his lien. The
provision of the Uniform Sales Act on the subject permits the unpaid
seller, after the buyer's default has lasted an unreasonable time, to
148. See Williston on Sales, sec. 70.
144. See footnote 143.
146. Our present Code, in sec. 6004, ^Ives the same effect, in pro-
viding that this provision of the Statute of Frauds applies to barter if
the value is $60 or more. Some situations mig-ht be ima^ned where it
would make some difference whether thOi word **price" or the word "value"
was used in the statute, as for example, whether "value" is the value
put on the article by the parties or by a reasonable person. Since we
have already, under section 6004, whatever difficulties this inquiry can
bring, as the difference can become practically important only in the
case of barter, its presence is no objection to the adoption of the Uniform
Sales Act.
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ISO The Quarterly JounuA
sefl again without formalities, and without notice to the defaulting
buyer, provided he exercises reasonable care and judgment. Notice
to the defaulting buyer, will, however, be material on the question
of reasonableness. The purpose adopted m the Uniform Sales Act
is to enable the unpaid seller in possession of goods to realize upon
them after the buyer's default has lasted an unreasonable time widi-
out the necessity of intricate or uncertain formalities. That this
is the better rule as a practical matter can hardly be open to question.
(6) Selle/s Right to Recover the Price. The ordinary rule
at common law is that the seller under a contract of sale whidi is
broken by the buyer can recover the price m full only if title has
passed to the buyer. If title has not yet passed when the contract is
broken, the seller still owns the property and is entitled only to
damages for breach of contract.^** There is, hovewer, a con-
siderable body of law allowing the seller under certain circumstances
to treat the goods as the buyers and recover the whole price, and
some of the authorities even go so far as to let the buyer recover
the whole price as a matter of course regardless of special circum-
stances and regardless whether title has passed before the contract
was broken.^** It has even been gravely contended that this last-
mentioned rule prevaib in North Dakota, tho our court in its de-
cision discountenanced any such view.^*^
Under the Uniform Sales Act, section 63 (3), the rule is settled
that the seller may recover the full price, even tho title has not
passed at the time of the breach, only in the cases where the goods
cannot be readily resold at a reasonable price. This takes care of
die only cases where the ordinary common-law rule imposes con-
siderable hardship upon the seller and yet prevents the title from
being foisted upon the buyer without his consent in ordinary cases.
It is roughly analogous to the generally prevailing rule in equity
permitting specific performance of a contract for sale of a unique
chattel on the ground that damages for the breach are inadequate.
This section of the Uniform Sales Act would, to the extent
stated, modify section 7156 which limits the seller's recovery of the
full price to cases where the title has passed. It would, however,
prevent any such rule as was recently contended for, that the seller
should be allowed to recover the full price in all cases, from becoming
established in our law, and would definitely put the question at rest
in this state if it has not been settled already.^**
146. See above, pa^es 68-64.
147. See 158 N. W. 187 (N. D.).
148. As our court makes much of the fact that there had been an
anticipatory breach, in 168 N. W. 187, it is not possible to say with
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North Dak^ia mid Hu Uniform Sales Act 151
(7) Sde by Om Having a VoidMe Title. Under our Code,
4MO, a minor may tell and transfer title to property of
irittch he is the «wner» but he may, within certain limitations, avoid
sudi sde and get the property back. The minor may thus get the
property back, even dio his transferee has sold it to a purchaser for
Trine mthout notice, such purchaser getting only the same defeasible
tide that his seller had. A similar situation exists in regard to idiots,
under secticm 4344 of our Code. By section 24 of the Uniform
Sales Act dns rule is changed to protect the purchaser for value
without notice if he acquired the title from the minor's transferee
before the minor, etc, had avoided the sale. This change in the
law is justified by Professor Williston in these words: ''It is de-
sirable that at some time the title to goods bought from an infant
or lunatic should be perfected, and the advantage to trade and the
stability of titles justifies the diminution in the privilege of infants
and lunatics.^^^
(8) Sate at a Valuation. This subject is not provided for
directly in our Code, but would fall under section 5880 providing
that if a oootract provides an exclusive method by which its con-
sideration is to be ascertained which appears possible on its face but
in fact is or becomes impossible, then such provision only is void.
The result then is that a sale on terras to be fixt by a third person
may become a sale for a price to be determined on principles of
quantum meruit as what the goods were reasonably worth, which is
very different from what the parties themselves agreed. The Uni-
form Sales Act, section 10, provides that in such cases the sale shall
be avoided except as to the goods which have already been delivered
to and appropriated by the buyer, for which he must pay a reasonable
price. The position taken in the Uniform Sales Act is probably more
nearly in accord with common-law prindples.^^^
c The Changes hardly Touch Our Present Case Law, ( i )
Where the Uniform Sales Act Provides for Cases not directly Cov-
ered in our Code. As the Uniform Sales Act is an up-to-date and
careful codification of the prevailing common law, and as our cases
are worked out on common-law prindples, based on common-law
audiorities, if there is no code section applicable to the case in hand
entire assurance that the broader question Is also decided, whether title
can ber passed to the buyer without his consent where he srives no pre-
vious notice of repudiation but merely refuses to receive the ^oods
when tendered.
149. Williston on Sales, sec. S48.
150. For extended discussion of the merits involved in this propo-
sition, see Pothier. Sale, .No. 24; Story on Sales, sec. 220; 1 Parsons.
Contracts, 5th ed.. p. 625; 4 Kents' Commentaries, p. 468, p. 477; 1 Mechem
OB Sales, sec. 213; Williston on Sales, sees. 174-177.
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152 The Quarterly Journal
it may be expected that the cases thus worked out in our cou^s
should in the main agree with the provisions of the Uniform Sales
Act which are additions and not changes in our Q>de. This con-
clusion is amply confirmed by examination of the reports of our de-
cided cases. Some of the cases have been referred to above, in con-
nection with various provisions of the Act, whidi add to or make
more specific the law contained in our Code. No cases directly
opposed to any of these provisions have been found, tho it would
probably be rash to say there may not be even isolated dicta running
in other directions.
(2) Where the Uniform Sales Act makes Affirmative Changes
in our Code, ( I ) Warranty, Under our Code, section 5994, per-
mitting rescission for breach of warranty only if the sale was not
executed, unless the warranty was intended to operate as a condition,
there are several cases trying to define what that proviso means. *^^
As this section would be changed by the Uniform Sales Act which
allows rescission for breach of warranty whether title had passed or
not, these cases would be likewise superseded, so far as the question
of rescission for breach of warranty is concerned. Similarly, one
case^^^ dtes section 5984, which is repealed by the Uniform Sales
Act. As the substance of this section, however, is contained in section
6950 of our Code in reference to negotiable instruments which would
not be repealed and as the case mentioned is a case of a negotiable
instrument, the repeal of section 5984 does not materially affect the
case law situation.
No cases involving any question depending on sections 5982-
5983 having been dedded in our court, repeal of those sections docs
not affect the case law situation.
Repeal of section 5977 equally leaves the case law situation
untoudied there having been but one case in which the section is
dealt with and that only to show that the case in question was not
within it.^^'
(11) Enforcement of Selle/s Lien. One case,^^ decided
under 5960, which says the seller may foreclose his lien as on pledged
property, is no longer applicable under the Uniform Sales Act, section
60, which permits informal resale if done with reasonable care and
judgment.
(ill) Seller's Right to Recover the Price. The particular
161. 14 N. D. 417. 104 N. W. BIS; 21 N. D. 575. 182 N. W. 137;
N. D. , 159 N. W. 2.
152. See 24 N. D. 645. 140 N. W. 725.
158. See 19 N. D. 317, 124 N. W. 64.
154. See. 16 N. D. 398. 114 N. W. 818.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Act 153
distinction introduced by section 63 (3) has not previously been
found in our local cases. Since our cases on the question, however,
have been rather inconclusive, and have not even yet reached any
entirely definite rule,^^^ the effect of the Uniform Sales Act
upon these cases is more conspicuously to render them certain than
to change any rule they already express.
d. Some Possibly Doubtful Cases. ( i ) Potential Possession.
As has been seen above^^^ our cases have never decided whether
future goods may be presently sold so as to pass title now. The
doctrine of potential possession has been cited in briefs to our court,
but has never been either accepted or rejected. If the conclusion
under the cropper's contract cases is that there is no lease at all, the
question of potential possession does not even arise. That the legal
conclusion is that there is no technical lease is probably no longer
open to much question.^^* It is therefore submitted that the Uni-
form Sales Act, section 5 (3), does not change any local case law in
Norrii Dakota by providing that where the parties purport to effect
a present sale of future goods, the agreement operates as a contract
to sell the goods.
(2) Resale by Seller in Possession. Section 25 of the Uni-
form Sales Act provides that a sale by a seller in possession of
goods already sold, if delivery is given, will protect the second pur-
chaser who receives the goods paying value in good faith without
notice. This definitely settles, rather than dumges, our local law.
Our Code says retention of possession by the seller is presumptively
fraudulent,^^^ but we have neither code nor local cases on the ques-
tion whether delivery, apart from the question of fraud, is necessary
to convey title good against subsequent purchasers from the original
seller. The rule in the Uniform Sales Act is based upon the com-
mon law on the subject generally prevoiting in this country.^^^
(3) Definition of Value. The definition of value in section 76
of the Uniform Sales Act makes an antecedent claim "value" for a
traiisfer of goods or documents of title either in satisfaction thereof
or as security therefor. This definition, tho not in accord with the
weight of American authority apart from the Uniform Sales Act,***
is more nearly correct on prindple*^^ and accords with the i^nstnic-
ISS. See note 48, p. 64.
ISe. See footnote 156.
1S7. See, sec 7211.
168. See 86 Minn. 264. Also WlUlslen on Sales, eec. 360. As the eases
are -dually also concerned with the Question of fraudulent retention ef
possession, there are not so many clear*<;ut ca«es on this proposition jt|one.
16 1. See above, notes 48 and 46.
160. The effect will generally .1^. binder this dsAmltSon of ^yalue.
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154 '^he Quarterly Journal
tion of value adopted in the Law of Negotiable Instruments.
Whether or not it changes sections 5873 and 7303 of our CoAt on
what is valuable consideration can be decided only after it is deter-
mined what those sections together mean, a task which neither our
lawyers nor our courts have as yet been able to perform.
(4) Waiver of Cause of Action. Sections 5991-93 and sec-
tion 6002 af our present Code provide in substance that waivers of
causes of action for breach of warranty, express or implied, cannot
be made in advance, and that agreements waiving such in advance,
or imposing unreasonable terms as to notice which practically worb
a waiver, shall be void. These sections are new legislation enacted
in 19 1 3 overruling some of our cases which had sustained sudi
waivers in favor of threshing machine companies.^*^ The Uniform
Sales Act has no necessary e£Fect upon these provisions. While it
provides that implied obligations may be varied by agreement,^^^
which is well established common law, resting upon the fundamental
liberty of contract, it does not purport to deal with the question of
waivers of causes of action, but expressly provides^^' that the rules
of law of the particular jurisdiction as to fraud, mistake, etc, or
other invalidating cause shall continue to apply to contracts to sell
and to sales of goods. If agreements of waiver are void, therefore,
under these sections of our Code, such invalidity is recognized in
the Uniform Sales Act.
G. SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
The case for enacting the Uniform Sales Act in North Dakota
may be shortly recapitulated. Our law is suffering from lack of
uniformity with other states and, especially, our law is on many
points very uncertain. This lack of uniformity and lack of certainty
may be in large mesure remedied by the adoption of the Uniform
Sales Act. The list of particular benefits from such a step is long,
the list of changes in existing law is short, and the changes them-
selves are often of a minor nature. At the price of making a few
minor changes in our law we may get the benefit of more satisfactory
dealing with those in other states resulting from uniformity, and
especially we may get the benefit of definite rules of law for the trial
of our local cases, where as yet we have them not, by which con-
that there is the leeral detriment which constitutes valuable consideration
tinder ordinary principles of contract, except in the single instance where
there is a transfer of the sroods as security for a pre-existing debt where
there was no obligation to give security.
161. See. for example. S N. D. 81. 64 N. W. 811; S N. D. 220. SS
N. W. 680: 6 N. D. 48; 10 N. D. 120. 86 N. W. 226 (gloves).
162. Unltorm Sales Act. Sec. 70.
16S. Uniform Sales Act, Sec 7S.
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North Dakota and the Uniform Sales Jet 155
troversies can be settled when they arise, or even be prevented from
arising. By profiting from the lesson of the experience of others in
litigation, which is codified in the Uniform Sales Act, we can attain
at a stroke thru legislation what it has cost others years of expensive
litigation to reach. By legislation we may get these rules at once.
By litigation we can get them only gradually, in a long course of
years. By legislation we can get them complete. By litigation we
can get only isolated fragments at a time. Litigation will always
be dilatory, fragmentary, and expensive. Legislation can produce the
result at a stroke, promptly, completely, and practically without
expense. We should therefore adopt the Uniform Sales Act to give
to our law greater uniformity and especially to give to our law a
much greater degree of certainty.
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The Next Step Toward Efficiency in
Public Health*
John W. Cox,
Professor of Pathology and Acting Director of the Public Health
Laboratories, University of North Dakota
TACK
I. Introduction : Relation of Appropriations to the Securing of
Accurate Vital Statistics - - « - - - 156
II. North DakoU Health Laws: Especially those Referring to
Vital Statistics -156
III. Results of these Laws. Study of Vital Statistics . - 160
IV. Causes of Failure in the Collection of Vital Statistics - 160
1. Rural Community . ......160
2. Ignorance of People ...... 161
3. Negligence of Physicians ----- 161
V. Suggestions for the Removal of the "Causes of Failure" 162
1. Appropriations .......162
2. All-time Health Officers ..... 163
3. Publicity: The Influencer of Sentiment . . 164
4. Method for Collecting Rural Statistics . . 164
5. Co-operation of Physicians ..... 164
L Introduction
APPROPRIATIONS to be used in securing the collection of
vital statistics bear the same relation to health laws that gaso-
line bears to the motor car. If the complicated machinery, namely,
our health laws, is well constructed and efficient, it will stand vigor-
ous usage and will furni^ much needed power by the thoughtful and
economical application of fuel. The power developed, however, will
be in direct proportion to the capabilities of the health organization.
Careful study of our health car makes us suspicious that at present
It is not developing over one-third of its horse-power — ^i.c., Vital
Statistics.
Let us closely examine the laws and determine whether they
have been intelligently assembled and whether they are workable.
II. Laws Referring Especially to Vital Statistics
The North Dakota health laws which refer especially to vital
statistics are, for the most part, the result of two legislative enact-
ments:
• Read before the Grand Forks District Medical Society, December*
ltl4, and before the North Dakota Health Offlcem* Aseociation. January,
1916.
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Efficiency in Public Health 157
The law of 1905, often called the morbidity law, defines the
duties and powers of the village, the city, the county, and the state
boards of health and defines with regard to the registration of in-
fectious, contagious, and epidemic diseases the relations of citizens
and physicians to these boards. In 1907, as a residt of a request
from the United States Bureau of Census, the legislature passed the
model registration law. This law is said to represent the combined
judgment of all those interested in securing vital statistic legislation
and registration of deaths and births, as well as the knowledge and
experience of those best qualified to speak with authority on the
subject.
A study of these laws shows that the State Board of Health
is invested with the power to make and enforce all needful rules and
regulations for the prevention and cure of any contagious, infectious
or epidemic disease; that a State Bureau of Vital Statistics is estab-
lished under the immediate superintendence of the State Board of
Health, the secretary of this board being ex-offido state registrar of
vital statistics; that each incorporated village and city and each
township constitutes a primary registration district for deaths and
birdis in which the dty, town or village derk acts as the local
registrar; that the local registrar receives twenty-five cents for each
report of death and birth forwarded to the state registrar; that the
state registrar is to supply all local registrars with printed blanks
and forms for use in registration and is to issue such detailed in-
structions as may be required to secure the uniform observance of
the modd registration law and the maintenance of a perfect system
of registration; that the state registrar is charged with supervisory
power over health officers, local registrars, and sub-registrars in all
parts of the state; that he shall report the cases of violation of the
modd law to the state's attorney and may call upon the attorney
feneral to assist in its enforcement; and that the state superintendent
of health may cause the removal of any health officer for n^lect
of 4uty.
The following demands are made upon the county superin-
tendent of health by the morbidity law: That he shall make an
immediate report to the state superintendent of health when any
contagious, infectious or epidemic disease occurs in his county; that
be sludl furnish at the expense of the county, all township and vil-
lage derks and all physidans within his jurisdiction with proper
blanks for reporting to him all contagious, infectious, and epidemic
diseases; timt he shall enforce all laws, rules and regulations to the
end diat the health of the pec^le be conserved and protected; that
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158 The Quarterly Journal
whenever a village boar4 of health or township board of health
within his jurisdiction neglects or refuses to perform any of its
duties or refuses to execute any of the orders and regulations of the
county board of health, he shall execute its orders and regulations
by agents of his own appointment; that he shall by the 15th of each
month report to the secretary of the state board of health the name
and address of each case of dangerous and infectious disease occur-
ring within his jurisdiction ; that he shall receive the sum of twenty-
five cents for each separate record ; and that for neglect to perform
his duties, he shall forfeit a sum not to exceed fifty dollars for each
offense.
Section 267 of the Morbidity laws, whidi governs the duties
of the city board of healdi and city health officer, was amended m
1913 as follows: The city health officer ^all see that the health
ordinances of the city, the rules and regulations of the board and
the rules and regulations of the state board of health and the health
laws of the state are fully complied with thruout his jurisdiction
and he is charged with their strict enforcement. He shall instruct
all physidans m his jurisdiction in the proper mediods to employ in
reporting contagious and infectious diseases and shall fumbh all
necessary blanks for that purpose, such blanks to be of the form
prescribed by the state board of health. He shall keep a record of
all dangerous, contagious, and infectious diseases and shall, by the
lOth of each month, rq>ort to the secretary of the state board of
healthy on blanks furnished him for that purpose, all cases of dan-
gerous, infectious, and contagious diseases.
The health officer of each dty shall receive, for the making and
reporting of records to the state health officer, the sum of twenty-
five cents for each record.
Any health officer, county superintendent of health or any mem-
ber of any local board of health who neglects or refuses to perform
any of the duties required to be performed by him shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor and may be punished with a fine or imprisonment,
or both.
The morbidity law states definitely: that each prastising phy-
sidan shall report immediately in writing to the local board of
healdi, all cases of contagious, infectious or epidemic diseases. Sudi
report diall be made within twenty-four hours when death is caused
by an acute infectious or contagious disease; that the keeper of each
private house, boarding house, and hotel, the keeper or proper officer
of every work house, poor house, reform school, jail, prison, hospital,
asylum or other public or diaritable institution, shall report in writ-
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Efficiency in Public Health 159
ing to the local board of health within twenty-four hours after the
existence of such a disease shall become known to such person ; and
that the penalty for neglect or refusal to give such notices is a fine
of $20.00 for each offense.
Most of the burden for the registration of deaths falls upon
the undertaker who receives no direct benefit from it. The law
directs that he shall secure the death certificate from the attending
physician and such information as required over the signature of
the informant. The filing of this death certificate with the clerk
of the town, village or city in which the death occurred, permits
the issuance to him of a burial permit. This permit must be given
to the keeper or sexton of the cemetery before interment is allowed.
The sexton in turn is required to keep a record of all buriak and
to return the permit to the office of the issuing clerk. When a death
occurs without an attending physidan, the town, village or city derk
under whose jurisdiction it bdongs is required to ask the local health
officer, if he is a physidan, for permission to issue the permit. The
law states that if any undertaker fails to follow this law he shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars.
Artide 13 of the model law reads: "It shall be the duty of the
attending physician or midwife to file the certificate of birth properly
and completdy filled out, giving all the particulars required by this
act, with the local registrar of the district in which the birth oc-
curred, within three days after the date of the birth, and if there be
no attending physician or midwife, then it shall be the duty of the
father of the diild, householder, or owner of the premises, manager
or superintendent of public or private institutions in which the birth
occurred, to file said certificate of birth with the local registrar with-
in three days after the birth. Still-bom diildren, or those dead at
birth, diall be registered as births and also as deaths. A penalty of
not less than five dollars for each offense can be inflicted for failure
to comply with birth r^istrations."
Probably there are few who would care to critidze these laws.
.A^arently, they have been intelligently assembled. That they are
workable, we must acknowledge, since many other states have adopted
them with successful results. This fact being true, it is evident that
we must compare the results produced under our administration and
enforcement with the average results secured in the United States
Registration Area.
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III. Rbsults op These Laws
The Census Bureau of 1909 comments at some length upon the
extremely low death rate of some of the western states. The Bureau
makes the statement that rates under seven per thousand, when they
continue for several years and relate to inhabitants of several thou-
sand, tmless the population consists almost entirely of young adults,
may safely be taken as indicating deficiency in the registration of
deaths. With this statement in mind, it is easy to appreciate why
the United States Bureau of Census considers our published death
rate of 5.9 per 1000 (1912) unreliable. During the same year, the
average death rate in the registration area was 14.2 per 1000. Thus,
North Dakota might feel proud if she could prove that her death
rate no more than equalled either Minnesota, who has a remarkably
low rate of 10.5 per 1000, or Montana, our nearest western neigh-
bor, who shows a death rate of 10.2 per 1000.
By reporting 5.9 it is evident that North Dakota is failing to
report at least 40% of all deaths. By the study of the specific rates
for typhoid, tuberculosis, and diphtheria, this can easily be proven.
Typhoid caused 21 deaths per 100,000 (191 2) in the United
States Registration area. The typhoid average in Montana and
Minnesota was 21 deaths per 100,000 (1912), but the typhoid rate
in North Dakota is recorded as 16 deaths per 100,000 (1912).
Tuberculosis caused 159 deaths per 100,000 in the United States
Registration area (191 2). It also resulted in an average of 130
deaths per 100,000 in Montana and Minnesota (1912), while North
Dakota dares to state that only 49 per 100,000 died there (1912).
Diphtheria and croup resulted in 18.2 deaths per 100,000 in
the United States Registration area (1912). In North Dakota 6.2
deaths per 100,000 were reported fr<Mn these diseases (1912).
From these facte it can be seen that North Dakota is basking
in the sun of false security when she reports 21.8 deaths per 100,000
from carcinoma. Its prevalence in the United States is at least 3^4
times this number
IV. Causes of Failure
The reason for our failure in securing dependable vital statistics
can be summed up in a few words — ^viz., i. North Dakota is a
rural community; 2. Ignorance of the value of vital statistics; 3.
Negligence of our physicians.
North Dakota is essentially a rural community. Over 80% of
the population is found outside of cities and villages of 1000 or over.
This rural population of 468,000 is scattered over 70,000 square
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Efficiency in Public Health l6l
miles with an average of less than seven persons to the square mile.
Because of this condition, the collection of vital facts becomes a
difficult task. Health officers, physicians, and town clerks are few.
In many sections they are almost unknown. That the residents of
such a conmiunity should know much concerning health laws or their
administration is not to be expected. Under these conditions, it is
evident that the births and deaths will not be registered until the
laws are made known to the citizens of the rural districts, the ad-
vantages of vital statistics are explained, and easy means are provided
for every registration.
Ignorance of health laws is not essentially a rural fault. It is
believed that 99% of the citizens of the urban communities are lack-
ing in the fundamentals which make the registration of the births
and deaths possible. This is because those who are masters of this
sdence have been unable to impart it to others. Do not infer from
thb that our sanitary officials do not recognize the necessity for the
education of the citizens. The facts which can be easily ascertained,
show that nearly all health departments are unable to enlighten the
citizens because of a lack of funds.
The failure of the present morbidity law is often due to the
negligence, of a few physicians in each community. The state, in
return for the special privileges it has granted the f^ysician
an.d in the acknowledgment that no body of men are in a better
position to know the presence of acute infectious and contagious dis-
eases, demands that each physician report all cases of morbidity in
his practise. Many are failing to do their part Will thb contimie?
What has the future in store for the entire profession unless it
awakens before the citizens become aware of its neglect?
Let me quote from a ^)eedi by the Honorable Eugene H. Por-
ter, former Health G)mmis8ioner of New York State, who, in de-
ploring the negligence shown by physicians, said:
"If this great and ^lendid domain of public health does not
belong to medicine, where are its rulers? If this is not the kingdom
of physicians i/viiere is its monardi? Is the community health and
welfare of no ooncem to the profession? Is the prevention of pol-
lution of waters of no interest to medical men? If the investigation
of the causes of typhoid fever, its prevention and prophylactic treat-
ment 'it in a field quite apart* from general medicine, then has medi-
cine fallen from its once high estate. If the investigation, preven-
tion and cure of tuberculosis is of no concern to the profession, what
in the name of Galen is? Must the foundation of sanitary science
be lacking because the physician cannot interest himself in reporting;
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morbidity? Arc all the various lines of activities in Public Health
to be regarded as outside the profession? I say then that these mat-
ters have been too long disregarded and stupidly ignored; that the
blindness of the profession in this great field is a public disgrace and
that if the profession of medicine does not at once claim as its very
own this vast domain of health conservation, if it .does not at once
take possession of this, its rightful kingdom, it will, ^om of its
prestige and dignity, fall to a low state and decay in the gloom of
the past.
"The old idea was the cure of the individual. There was no
protection or prevention. The doctor dealt with single isolated
cases. He naturally had no concern for the health of the community.
The new conception is not individual but collective. It is concerned
with the health of communities — ^villages, towns, cities, states. The
old blind faith in doctors has gone forever. If we are to receive and
retain the public confidence we must first deserve it, and to deserve
it we must serve the people in public health.
"Now the community is going to look to somebody for public
health conservation. Already it is loob'ng more and more anxiously
to physicians, health officers, and health departments. When the
people compare the health departments and the physicians shall they
be found in antagonism? It is or ought to be unthinkable. The
profession is as much concerned with the prevention of disease as
with the cure of disease. It is even more concerned. Ever3rthing
that relates to the general health is a vital part of the broad practise
of medicine.
"If we are ri^t in saying that 'preventive medicine is today the
most important branch of medical science,' and that vital statistics
are 'our greatest public health need,' it naturally follows that to
assist in and encourage the prompt, accurate, and full notification of
all infectious and contagious diseases is the greatest opportunity that
the individual members of our profession in this state have to assist
in the great work of the prevention of disease, not only in the state
but also in the nation at large. It is the old question of little drops
of water and little grains of sand; and xmless every physician is
alive to his duties and responsibilities in this matter at all times, our
vital statistic records will be of little value, and the great work of
the prevention of disease will be neglected for many more years."
V. Suggestions for thb Successful Operation op Our
Health Laws
I. Appropriation. Health laws may as well not exist if they
are not properly enforced thru adequate appropriations. This means
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Efficiency in Public Health 163
that the State Dq>artment of Health should be placed upon a busi-
ness status — efficiency tests should be introduced and maintained. The
expenditure of public funds should be exerdsed wisely and economi-
cally in order that the greatest sanitary benefit can be secured. The
q>pr(^riation which has been available for several years past to en-
force the sanitary laws of our state has been the ridiculous sum of
$200 per year. This has been wisely used in publishing a monthly
health bulletin. The encouraging results obtained justify us in de-
manding that each community tax itself liberally to support high
standards of health administration. For several years the need of a
sufficient appropriation has been pointed out to the legislature. So
&r, it has availed little. It evidently rests with us to prove "that
the chief assets of our community are the life and health of its
citizens" in order that we may secure a yearly appropriation, the
value of two lives, i.e., $io,ooo.
2. All-time Health Officer. The men with whom we should
entrust the health of our community should mesure up to certain
standards. Long experience has proven that our present organiza-
tion of imder-paid health officials is inadequate. The future health
officer diould be well trained in the modem science of sanitation and
public health. He should be an all-time health officer whose com-
pensation should be sufficient to attract him and to keep him in the
service without inflicting any harddbip upon him or his family. His
tenure of office should be co-extensive with his efficient service. The
efficiency of his administration should be judged by the corrected
deadi rates of his district, by his ability for lowering the death rates
for diildren under two years of age, and by the specific death rates
of preventable diseases.
The duties of the all-time health officer could be increased to
advantage. The offices of the city and county coroner should be
abolished and their duties transferred to him; all cases of death due
to ill-defined causes -should be reported to him in order that he might
ascertain the actual causes by an autopsy; die duties of the county
and city physician rightfully belong to his office; he should be re-
quired to maintain a press and an educational bureau in order to
secure the co-operation of his employers; it should be his duty to
act in an advisory capacity to all expectant mothers; heretofore, he
has been handicapped because of lack of police power. It stands to
reason that if an efficient health officer could supervise an energetic
health education in our public schools for ten years, he could plan
and secure the support of North Dakota in any rational public
health propaganda.
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3. Publicity: Influencer of Sentiment. Granted that we secure
an adequate appropriation and that we are pennined to choose a
proper personnel, there still remains a great need which we dare
not overlook: namely, public sentiment, active and desirous for health
improvement. It has long been recognized that the results produced
are directly proportional to the value placed upon them by the com-
munity. Knowing this, we must act accordingly and give publicity
to our desires and hopes, state our reasons, and gradually educate
those who must be our co-workers. Sentiment is most easily
aroused; by popular health talks in the daily press; by directing the
discussions and papers among civic organizations ; by securing health
Sundays and clean-up-day movements; and how easy it would be
to take advantage of every boy's desire to be a member of an exclu-
sive boys' club and to establish a "sanitary guard" in each school.
These boys, if directed, would be powerful in producing sentiment
in the right direction. As a result, in ten years we would be in pos-
session of an electorate who would understand values.
4. Method for Collection of Rural Statistics. To advance
rural hygiene, accurate vital statistics must be secured. The solu-
tion of this problem will do much toward placing us in the Federal
registration area. The State Department of Health of Louisiana,
thru the co-operation of the Postmaster General, has authorized all
postmasters to act as local registrars. Thus Louisiana, by securing
a large number of responsible local registrars situated in convenient
and popular offices, has solved the problem. It has been suggested
that North Dakota secure the permission of the same authority to
appoint all riders of the United States Free Delivery as sub-regis-
trars. They could perform the same duties in their territory as the
village or town clerks. Each rider passes along his route daily.
All cases of sickness, births, and deaths are forced upon his attention.
How easy it would be for him to register births, to send notification
cards to health officers and to issue burial permits. In this manner
the question of securing accurate vital statistics and thereby advancing
rural and dty health conditions may be solved.
5. Co-operation of Physicians, Thus far our problem has been
easy, but we have failed to devise a means for the notification of
all cases of infectious and contagious diseases. At present, the co-
operation on the part of all physicians is the solution. The law
demands it. Thus even if we desired, we are unable to seek other
agents. Under existing conditions it will be necessary to force co-
operation from those who so far have failed us. What can we do
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Efficiency in Public Health i6s
or say to bring this about? I am here tonight to plead for co-opera-
tion. The uselessness of the task must be apparent to you, because
those I should like to reach and those for whom I might have pre-
pared a message are, for the most part, not members of your society.
The fact that they are not interested in your meetings places them
in a class by themselves. These are the men who, because of greed
and selfishness, cannot report cases of morbidity. Many try to jus-
tify their actions under the plea of professional ethics. But ethics
and confidential relations cannot enter into the reporting of infec-
tious and contagious diseases which, if not reported, may cause the
death of unsuspecting citizens. The law demands co-operation on
this subject, therefore its violation should not be permitted with
impunity. Possibly, under the conditions, your society as a solid,
ccMiperative organisation can outline a plan which by its publicity
will force other physicians to co-operate from fear of censure. With
this in mind and the absence of a better solution, I should like to
propose the following: That a city and a county ordinance J>e passed
whidi will require the health oS^otx to print weekly the number of
cases of morbidity in the city and county, the names of the lAysi-
ctans reporting and the number which each reports. There can be
but little doubt that those who are now failing to co*operate will
be stimulated thru the advertising which this publicity offers. This
plan may be distasteful to many. However, I believe it is mild
compared with the one i^ich will be eventually adopted for securing
efficient and accurate morbidity returns.
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J
Regulation of Public Utilities
Hbiskbll B. Whaung,
Assistant Professor of Economics and Political Science ^
University of North Dakota
A S ordinarily used, the term public utility includes gas, water,
•*^ heat, electric light, power, street railway, and telephone
plants. An enumeradve statement of the meaning of a term is,
however, not satisfactory. In thb article the term is used in its
economic sense — a natural monopoly of a public necessity, excluding
those which are essentially interstate in character.
I. The Necessity for Regulation
The necessity for regulation of public utilities lies in the nature
of the public utility business.
In the first place, public utilities are natural monopolies. Natu-
ral monopolies are those which depend for their existence on natural
forces as distinguished from social arrangements. They grow up
independently of man's will ; legislative enactments are powerless to
prevent them. They are a result of theUaw of decreasing costs,
or increasing returns, and this law is more potent than any statutory
provision. It is clear, of course, that one gas company, by eliminat-
ing die duplication in manufacture and distribution, can produce
gas cheaper than two gas companies. There is, therefore, an
increment in gain resulting from combination that will overcome
all obstacles. As a permanent phenomenon, competition in the pub-
lic utility field is economically impossible. Where it does prevail
temporarily it is wasteful and the invariable tendency is to combi-
nation and monopoly.
In the second place, the services rendered by public utilities
are public necessities. Modem standards of living require pure
water, efficient telephone service, gas, electric lights, and adequate
transportation facilities. At one time these services may have been
thought of as luxuries to be enjoyed by the few, but that time has
passed and they are now recognized as urgent necessities for all
urban residents. Moreover, they are rapidly coming to be regarded
as essential for rural communities. To mention only one fact: the
telephone has done, and is doing, a great deal to remedy isolation
which is one of the most serious rural problems. In virtue of this
fact the telephone is a rural necessity of the first importance.
These two facts, ( i ) that public utilities are natural monopo-
lies, and (2) that the services rendered by them are necessities which
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Regulation of Public Utilities 167
the citizens of a civilized nation cannot do without, put those in
control of public utilities in a peculiarly strategic and responsible
economic position. They are able, to the detriment of public wel-
fare, (i) to render poor service, (2) to discriminate as between
persons in service rendered, and (3) to diarge unreasonable rates.
And since private gain is the primary motive underl3ring business
activity they usually do all three of these things. It would be ideal,
of course, if competition could be relied on to control services and
rates in die public utility field, but it cannot be. Consequently,
government must undertake to protect its citizens thru regulation.
II. Methods op Rbgulation
The rights and duties of public utilities and the rights and
duties of die public are formulated in laws. ImpcMtant as it is that
these laws be adequate it is even more important that adequate means
of enforcing them be established. Without the latter the former
are impotent
There are four methods of enforcing public utility laws; name-
ly, (i) by law suit, (2) by the legislature, or municipal council,
(3) by the people directly, i.e., thru die initiative and referendum,
and (4) by a public utility commission.
Of diese four mediods, enforcement thru commission is easily
superior to the others. It is elementary, of course, diat any regula-
tory body must have a comprehensive knowledge of the public utility
business before it can equitably undertake the task of regulation. The
range of required knowledge is wide: it embraces (i) the law and
its interpretation by the courts^ (2) the construction, maintenance,
and operation of public utility properties, (3) tarifb, (4) business
administration, and (5) corporation finance. Hius the services of
die lawyer, the engineer-— civil, electrical, mechanical, and what-
not — die accountant, the statistician, the financial expert, and the
economist are needed in order to have adequate and just regulation.
It is obvious that the courts, the legislature, municipal councils, and
the peoi^e do not have all this complicated information, nor have they
the time to acquire it Indeed, it would be rather foolish to expect
diem to distract their attention from their various duties and voca-
tions for the purpose of knowing these things. Only a ^>ecial body
of experts whose sole function it is to understand regulation can
effectively and jusdy exercise the regulatory power. Moreover, in
the commission, audiority is centralized and responsibility localized.
In addition, however, it may be pointed out ( i ) that the courts
can exercise only remedial power. They cannot lay down rules to
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govern the future, and this is obviously necessary for effective regu-
lation. Moreover, judicial procedure is slow, and trials are costly.
(2) The legislature meets only occasionally. Regulation thru it
would be ^asmodic at best. Effective regulation requires continuous
supervision. (3) To attempt regulation by the people directly is to
throw the whole question into petty politics. One neetd only mention
this.
There is no way to escape the fact that regulation to be effective
and just must be thru commission: a commission of competent men
whose sole function is to understand the public utility business in
its relation to public welfare.
III. State Versus Local Commissions
The state commission is undoubtedly superior to the local muni-
cipal coounission. There are several reasons for this.
In the first place, the cost of instrumental equipment is quite
heavy. The smaller cities cannot afford to purdiase this equipment ;
there is no reason for the larger cities to do so«-it merely involves
dui^ication, and this is uneconomic
In the second place, inter-corporate relations make it all but
impossible for a municipality, with its limited and enumerated powers,
to secure adequate data for regulatory purposes. The problem is a
state-wide one, and sometimes interstate.
In the third place, only a state commission can secure die requi-
site comparative information essential for efficient regulation. Elab-
orate statistical studies, based on this oom|>arative 4ata, will often
disclose to a particular community the grossest waste in public
utility operation.
In the fourth place, public utility operations are not purely
intra-urban. Inter-urban and inter-county development is very rapid.
G>n8equently, unwise regulation in one city may haniper the develop-
ment of utilities in another. Only a state conumssion can cope
with this problem.
In the fifth place, a central commission affords better protec-
tion to investors thru its wider knowledge and its financial experts.
Finally, experience has demonstrated condusivdy the fact tbat
the state commission is further recaoved from politics than is tbe
local commission. Moreover, the slate commission is more likely
to attract men who are actuated by motives of ; public welfare.
All diis does not mean that purely local matters are not left
in the hands of local authorities, but it does mean tkat efficient
regulation is b^ond the reach of tbe municipality unaided, and ttiat
the state commission is fundamentally necessary.
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Regulation of Public Utilities 169
IV. Essentials op a Regulatory Poucy
The essentials of a comprehensive regulatory policy may be dicust
under the following heads: (i) the indeterminate permit, including
the exclusive grant and purdiase features, (2) valuation, (3) de-
predation, (4) capitalization, (5) accounting, (6) service standards,
(7) rates and rate of return, (8) municipal control, and (9) con-
clusive findings of facts and burden of proof.
I THE INDETERMINATE PERMIT
The perpetual franchise is merely an aggravated form of the
term franchise. G)nsequently, all the disadvantages of the term
franchise appear in their worst form in the perpetual grant. It is,
therefore, unnecessary to discuss the perpetual franchise separately,
for both experience and theory condemn the term franchise.
In the first place, the term franchise is inelastic. It matters
not whether the restrictions embodied in it are few or many; it
matters not wliether the term is long or short. The term franchise
is too inelastic to meet the requirements of rapidly changing economic
and social conditions. For most commimities future conditions and
needs cannot be foreseen even over short periods of time ; the growth
of the community cannot be foretold, changes in the arts embraced
in the public utility service cannot be predicted, the requirements
for the performance of adequate service at reasonable rates cannot
be prophesied. It is certain, then, that a term franchise will work
badly either for the public or for the public utility.
In the second place, a limited franchise imposes a useless bur-
den on the public Provision must be made for the amortization
of the investment during the life-time of the franchise. But the
need for the service does not terminate with the franchise grant.
This requires the public to pay, in addition to a reasonable return
on the investment, the value of the investment during the period
for which the franchise runs. Or, assurance must be given that
the grant will be renewed vfhkii aggravates the problem of inelas-
ticity or introduces the problem of political chicanery.
In the third place, the renewal of the franchise gives rise to
a lot of political manipulation. Superficially, the interests of the
public and the public utility are quite divergent; the one usually
wants unreasonably good service at unreasonably low rates ; the other,
unreasonably poor service at unreasonably high rates. And usually
the dty authorities are no match for the accomplished lawyers of
die corporation. Nor is the electorate, tminformed in the intricate
details of the problem, in a position to dedde the matter. The
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immediate result is political intrigue and die ultimate result is that
the dty ties itself up for a period of years in a contract in which
public interest is more or less submerged.
In the fourth place, not only are the utilities unwilling to
make extensions under the term franchise, but often are unable to
secure the necessary capital with which to do so. Thus is commu-
nity development retarded and distorted.
In summary, the total results of the term franchise are (i)
to saddle the community with an inelastic contract which cannot
meet changing economic and social conditions, (2) to impose an
unnecessary burden on the public by forcing it to amortize the invest-
ment during a relatively short period, (3) to induce political chi-
canery, and (4) to retard community development and unsettle in-
vestment conditions. All this means inadequate service and un-
reasonable rates. Moreover, it means friction; friction between the
public utility and the public which jeopardizes the fundamental in-
terests of both.
The objections to the term franchise are largely overcome by
the indeterminate permit with the provisions (i) that the public
may revoke it at any time upon payment of the fair value of the
utility property and (a) tfiat the grant is exclusive. This sort of
franchise has all the advantages of the long term or perpetual
grant — chiefly settled investment conditions. Adequate protection is
i^orded the investor in the purchase clause. The exclusive feature
eliminates the wastes of the competitive duplication of plants. It
is elastic: the public is in a position to work out its own 'salvation'
by taking over the plant when dissatisfaction becomes serious enough.
The experience of Wisconsin and other states that have adopted the
indeterminate permit conclusively proves its effectiveness.
Retroactive action is not legal nor just, but provision may be
made for permitting any utility to exchange its term franchise for
the indeterminate permit. And with the expiration of a term fran-
chise it should be superseded by the indeterminate one.
2 VALUATION
Valuation is necessary for the purposes (i) of determining the
amount that ought to be paid by a municipality should it take over
a utility and (2) of fixing rates. The object of valuation, obviously,
is to establish a fair relationship between die purchasing municipality
or the rate-fixing body on the one hand and the public utility on the
other, and the monetary mesure of this relationship is investment.
TI1C public utility cannot justly be required to sell its bu»ness for
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Regulation of Public Utilities 171
less than it has necessarily spent in establishing it, including risk
cost, nor can it equitably be required to accept a reasonable return
on a less amount. On the other hand, it cannot expect to capitalize
its monopoly position and place a value higher than necessary in-
vestment on its properties.
3 D£PRBCIATION
Depredation may be defined as a decline in value. It is of
two sorts: (i) physical depreciation, or a decline in value due to
wear and tear, and (2) functional depreciation, or a decline in value
due to obsolescence or inadequacy.
Of the fact of depreciation there can be no doubt ; the relation
this fact bears to investment is not so clear. It is usually held that
investment is mesured by cost new less depreciation. This position,
<4mously, assiunes that market value is identical with service v^ue.
But diis is by no means true. Moreover, it assumes that, altho the
service value may remain unimpaired, the utility ought to charge
rates high enough to cover the decline in market value. This would
be, patently, foolish.
Of course, to the extent that depreciation represents a decline
in service value provision should be made for replacement. And
where lio such provision is made it amounts to payment of dividends
out of capital, mismanagement, or unwise investment. In any of
these cases depreciation should be deducted from cost new to deter-
mine investment
The degree to which depreciation indicates a .decline in service
value depends i;(^olly on die size of the utility and the multiplicity
of items involved. In practically all small utilities there is no serious
error in identifying the two phenomena. Consequently, it is sub-
stantially correct to accept cost new less depredation as the criterion
of investment. But for the largest utilities thb would be entirely
uneconomic and unjust
Depredation ought to be accounted an operating expense. A
failure to make suffident allowance for depredation amounts to con-
fiscation. On the other hand, too great an allowance amounts to
extortionate rates. This is a complex problem which we cannot
discuss further at thb time.
Inadequacy may ordinarily be foreseen and provision made to
meet it. But obsolescence usually cannot be predicted. It, there-
fore, exists as a risk of the business. Risk involves cost, and this
must ultimately be paid by the consumer. This risk is reduced to
a minimum if an item is considered obsolescent only when the saving
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172 The Quarterly Journal
in operating cost is as great as the increase in capital diargcs incident
to its adoption. Thus altho it is not possible to construct obso-
lescence 'mortality' tables it is possible to insure against fortuitous
changes in the art of production. This policy has die same econo-
mic validity that all insurance has: the elimination of risk, and the
consequent reduction of costs.
4 CAPrTAUZATION
Evidently stock and bond issues may be treated in three ways
(i) there may be no state control of issues, (2) there may be abso-
lute control of securities issues, and (3) there may be a modified
form of state control
The first method is manifestly fraught with evils and abuses
and must be discarded.
The second amounts to state authorization of issues. This
method is invalid. In the first place, it is a substitution of the
managerial power for the supervisory power. The state cannot
exercise the managerial function. It is absurd to think that any
commission can, with its manifold other duties, comprdiend business
situations as fully as can the managers of a business. It is equally
absurd to suppose that business opportunity waits for commission de-
cisions. The delay incident to commission decisions will result in
clogging the industrial machinery. In the second place, careless
authorization or authorization based on insufficient evidence would
go a long way toward destroying public confidence in regulation.
Moreover, a difficult legal situation presents itself. It is not
yet settled whether authorization constitutes validation. If this
should be the case it would force capitalization into rates. But
whether legally so or not, it would be ethically true. Further,
validation of subsequent issues validates all prior issues. This would
introduce into rates all the 'watered stock' of the past and force the
public to pay a return thereon.
The third method, publicity of issues, seems to be the valid one.
Pure food laws are passed on the theory that a man should be in-
formed as to what he is buying and not that he should be told
whether a particular article is good for him or not good for him.
Likewise die state should undertake to inform the prospective in-
vestor of the conditions surrounding the issue, but emphatically it
should not say this is a good stock and that is a bad bond.
However, certain specific abuses may be directly prohibited, as for
instance, (i) stock and bond dividends, (2) the purchase of less
than all of the stock of one corporation by anodier, and (3) the
issue of bonds in excess of paid in capital stock.
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Regulation of Public Utilities 173
In this way we leave the managers free to run their businesses.
Full publicity prevents any undue inflation in securities issues. The
bond-holders are amply protected. A difficult legal situation is
avoided. The state does not give its sanction to conditions that it
has no expedient way of knowing much about.
5 ACCOUNTING
The functions of accounting are threefold: (i) the determina-
tion of the cost of rendering the service and, therefore, of estimating
earning power. This is of importance in fixing rates. It furnishes
the investor with the information necessary to discover the validity
of securities. (2) Accounting furnishes the data necessary for com-
parative studies. This oftentimes enables a utility to lessen its
operating costs. (3) Accounting furnishes an admirable index of
the economic development of communities.
To do all this, however, accounting must be uniform. It must
conform to the principles of good accounting, and yet be elastic
enough to meet the requirements of utilities of various sizes and
operating conditicMis. Without an adequate system of accounting
regulation cannot be effective.
6 SERVICE STANDARDS
Poor service is uneconomical and a fruitful source of complaint
and dissatisfaction. It is, probably nK>re than any other one thing,
the cause of the ill feeling that sometimes exists between the public
and the public utility. And this is harmful to the interests of both.
But more than mere dissatisfaction is the fact of positive detri-
nient to public welfare. Unsanitary water is obviously unsocial.
Low water pressure may result in serious loss by fire. Improper
extensions, on the part of a street railway, may direct the develop-
ment of a city in an undesirable way. Too high voltage in the elec-
tric service may injure lamps and too low voltage may injure eyes
and health. Poor telephone service is more than annoying.
In order to remedy this situation it is advisable for the state to
prescribe proper service standards. For instance, the Wisconsin com-
mission requires of all utilities that the heating value of gas be not
less than 550 British thermal units at any time and that the monthly
average be at least 600 British thermal units. This gives a heating
value sufficiently high for lights, cooking and power, and at the
same time has regard for manufacturing costs.
In the nature of the case service standards are not static. There
must be continual supervision and revision by a central commission.
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Supervision is effective if state inspectors, analogous to state bank
examiners, are appointed.
7 RATES AND RATE OF RETURN
Control of rates is obviously essential. The determination of
the proper rate of return is, also obviously, a difficult undertaking.
Rates shoul.d be high enough to permit a return that will attract
capital into the public utility field; but they should not be higher
than this. It is well uiiderstood, of course, that capital is subject
to the universal laws of competition, and that this competition affects
North Dakota as well as the rest of the world. The rate of return
is, therefore, determined by forces beyond the control of man. But
it may be discovered. The money market reflects it. Consequently,
any regulatory body should busy itself with finding out what the
particular rate is in its particular locality. '
Rather than retard the development of public utilities, how-
ever, it is better to err on the side of too high a rate dian too low
a one. As a matter of fact, tho, it is possible to determine with
approximate accuracy the proper rate ; it is usually the normal return
to capital in a particular community. But risk must be duly con-
sidered.
8 MUNICIPAL CONTROL
The degree of municipal control presents an interesting prob-
lem. Probably the experience in Wisconsin has been most satisfac-
tory. The law there provides that municipal councils have power
( I ) to determine the quality and character of service of any utility
operating in the city and to fix the charges therefor, (2) to require
of any public utility such additions and extensions as may be reason-
able and necessary for public service, (3) to designate the location
and nature of such improvements, the time in which they must be
completed, and the conditions of construction, (4) to provide a
penalty for non-compliance with any of its requirements. In all
cases, however, the conunission has the power to set aside any munid-
pal requirement.
The wisdom of constituting the state commission a board of
review is clear. Only a state commission, as was pointed out above,
can have the fundamental data necessary for the most effident and
just regulation.
It is immaterial whether the municipality merely regulates or
whether it owns it plant. Central supervision is requisite. It mat-
ters not how public spirited the men who operate the utility may be.
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Regulation, of Public Utilities 175
they are not in a position to know the essential facts of regulation as
well as the body of experts whose sole function it is to know them.
9 CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE
An essential of sound regulation is that the findings of facts of
the commission should be conclusive, and that the courts should pass
only on matters of law. This is obviously true because the com-
mission is in a better position to weigh the facts than is the court.
Moreover, the burden of proof should invariably rest on the public
utility in any case. I may rest my case on these points by dting
the effect on national regulation of such clauses in the Hepburn
act of 1906. Those at all familiar with the history of regulation
know that the Interstate Commerce Commission has been mudi more
effective since that time than before it. It spells the difference
between judicial regulation and administrative regulation.
V. CoNDmoNs IN North Dakota
I WATER, GAS, LIGHT, HEAT AND POWER COMPANIES
The Laws of North Dakota relating to water, gas, light, heat,
and power companies, in so far as regulation by the Board of Rail-
road Commissioners is concerned, are found in Chap. 208, Laws
of 1915, sections i to 5 inclusive. It is here provided (i) that the
Boar4 of Railroad Commissioners may fix the rates to be charged
by the utilities mentioned when (2) petitioned by 20% of the quali-
fied electors of any community, or when the local coundl may, by
majority vote, resolve that the rates are unreasonable.
These provisions are wholly inadequate to promote public wel-
fare.
2 TELEPHONE COMPANIES
Laws regarding telephone companies are found in Chap. 209,
Laws of I9I5> sections i to 16 inclusive, sections 4813 to 4821 in-
clusive, sections 4784, 4785, 9230, 994i» 10043.
The essential provisions are (i) publicity of rate schedules,
(2) state control of rates and service upon complaint of the tele-
phone company, municipality, or 25% of patrons, (3) uniform ac-
counts, (4) valuation of property, (5) certificate of public neces-
sity and convenience, (6) physical connection, and (7) penalties.
This is by far the most adequate law regarding public utilties.
3 STREET RAILWAYS
Section 589 of the Compiled Laws of 191 3 gives the Board
of Railroad Commissioners control over common carriers operated
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by steam. No authority is given over common carriers operated
by electricity.
4 RELATION OF COURTS TO COMMISSION ORDERS
The relation of the courts and commission seems to be conducive
of public welfare. My information from the Secretary of die Com-
mission is that in only one case has the court overruled a decision
of die commission. Nevertheless, in law the provisions, are inade-
quate. Section 4744 of the Compiled Laws of 191 3 provides that
the report of the commissioners is prima fade evidence in a case.
But no provision is made for considering die commission's findings
of facts as conclusive, nor is the burden of proof put on the com-
plainant.
VI. Legislation
If the conception of the problem of regulation, as outlined above,
is correct, it woidd seem that some provision should be made (i)
for the indeterminate permit with the exclusive grant and purchase
features, (2) for making the commission's findings of facts conclu-
sive and for placing the burden of proof on the public udlity, (3)
for enlarging the jurisdiction of the commission to include electric
railways and (4) for increasing the powers of the commission so
that it could (a) make valuations of all public udlides in the state,
(b) supervise the issues of securities by public utilides, (c) require
uniform accounts of all public udlides, (d) fix service standards and
determine rates, (e) act as a board of review in franchise relations
between any community and any public udlity, and (f) supervise
municipally owned plants.
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Notes From an Agricultural Field
Trip Across North Dakota
Jambs E. Boylb,
Field Agent in Marketing, State Experiment Station,
Agricultural College, North Dakota
Yj^OR the purpose of making a preliminary agricultural survey
-^ .of North Dakota, I made a 520 mile field trip diagonally across
the State in the spring of 19 1 6. The means of transportation
was a strong heavy top buggy, drawn by two bronchos. The route
of the trip, in general outline, was from the southwest comer, on
the South Dakota border, to the northeast comer, on the Manitoba
border. More specifically, the itinerary began on a ranch at Het-
tinger, Adams County, and led northwest to Medora in the heart
of the Badlands, thence in a general northeasterly direction, past
Langdon, Cavalier County, and into Manitoba at Mowbray. The
Missouri river was crossed on a ferry at Washburn, there being no
wagon bridges across this river in North Dakota.
The trip was made in company with William L. Johns, an
advanced student in agricultural econmics at the State University.
A complete camping outfit was taken along, to use in case of neces-
sity. But it proved to be a convenience rather than a necessity, for
we found plenty of farm houses or ranch houses, even in the most
sparsely settled portion of the State. The greatest distance between
settlers' homes on the whole trip was but five miles, and this in
only one or two instances. And as for drinking water, here too
our supply in our water bag proved a convenience rather than a
necessity. We could have found drinking water in abundance along
the way, but the water bag was very convenient for making cocoa
when we made a noonday camp by the roadside.
Certain social conditions may be briefly mentioned, before speaking
more particularly of the economic features of North Dakota agricul-
ture. The tremendous masses of foreign-born is the most striking
fact in North Dakota's social life. During the thirty-day drive we
succeeded in staying over night at a farm house almost every night,
and yet we spent the night in only three American homes. Indeed,
outside of the villages, we found very few Americans. Immigrants
have settled in such compact groups, particularly the Germans com-
ing from the old German colony near Odessa, Russia, (and given
in the federal census as "Russians") that their children, even their
children's children, do not become Americanized. One night was
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178 The Quarterly Journal
spent in one of these "Russian" homes where the father and mother
had both been born in North Dakota, yet, of the four diildren in
the home, none of them could speak or understand English. It
sounded very strange at the table to hear this American-bom father
reprove his second-generation-American-bom daughter in this fash-
ion: "Maria! lassen Rudolph in Ruh'." But Maria could under-
stand no other tongue. The compact settlement, the parochial school,
the German paper,— ^all combine to prevent these little Americans
from being Americanized. There are six papers published in the
State in the German language. According to our federal census
of 1910, North Dakota has a population of 577,056, of whom 407,-
394 are of foreign parentage. These are chiefly Scandinavian, Ger-
man, and British. The census figures show Scandinavians, 173,000
(composed of Norwegians, 123,000; Swedish, 27,000; Danes and
Icelanders, 12,000) : German-speaking, 133,000 (composed of "Rus-
sians" 62,000; Germans 60,000; Austrians 11,000) : British 64,000
(composed of Canadians, 52,000 and Irish, 12,000). In most Scan-
dinavian homes, however, we found the man of the house able to
speak English, and, in every case, the diildren spoke English fredy.
The estate of the foreign woman, particularly among the "Rus-
sians,'' is very lowly. To this general statement there are a few
conspicuous exceptions. As a general rule, when eating in these
homes we found the "women folks" would stand respectfully behind
our chairs or remain in the background completely. The man seems
to be literally lord and master of the home.
Local Elevators
North Dakota being primarily a grain producing State at this
particular stage of its agrarian evolution, it will be necessary to
speak at this point of one phase of grain handling, namely, the local
elevator question. North Dakota has 2,000 local elevators with a
total storage capacity of 60,500,000 bushels. Allowing each elevator
a conservative turn-over of six times a year, we have storage enough
to handle 363,000,000 bushels of grain, an amount of storage much
in excess of present needs. At grain shipping points the custom is
to erect from four to seven houses with capacity ranging from 20,000
to 40,000 bushels each. The average house is 30,000 bushels, cost-
ing $7,500, or twenty-five cents a bushel. Thus a 40,000 bushel
house should cost $10,000. Local elevators are of three classes,
according to their ownership : farmers' elevators, 485 ; independent
elevators, 540 ; and line elevators, 975. The line elevator is owned
by a large mill or grain dealer, usually, that maintains a "line" of
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An Agricultural Field Trip 179
houses along one or more railroads. Most of the farmers' elevators
are called "cooperative,'' altho probably only half of them are based
on strict cooperative principles — dividends on stock limited to some
per cent sudi as seven or eight ; balance of net earnings distributed
as a patronage dividend on bushels of grain delivered ; one-man-one-
vote. In farmers' elevators a difference of practise prevails concern-
ing admission of bankers and business men to membership. The
problem is solved in a few cases by admitting these men, but limiting
shareholding to eight shares to one person, by limiting voting power
to one vote to one person, by limiting office holding to farmers, and
by limiting dividends on stock to seven per cent. In this manner
control of the corporation and all surplus earnings remain safe in
the hands of the farmer. A few elevators have in their by-laws a
so-called "penalty clause," imposing a penalty on members delivering
grain to competitors. But this clause is rarely enforced, and then
with disastrous results. Elevators are weak in the matter of bonding
their manager. Many farmers' elevators employ a local farmer for
manager and then refuse to place him under any kind of surety bond,
on the ground that they know him to be honest in advance. The
pay of a good manager is often inadequate. The compensation ranges
from $75 to $175 per month. An almost universal weakness in the
farmers' elevator is the financial reserve or surplus. Very few main-
tain any reserve fund whatsoever. Many are heavily mortgaged and
provide no sinking fund. Indeed, some with a heavy mortgage soon
maturing and with foreclosure staring them in the face nevertheless
dedare big dividends and let the crash come. An increasing number
are adopting the Government bookkeeping system. Perhaps the most
vital need at the present time is a uniform accounting S3rstem. As is
well known our State Banking Department maintains a careful audit
of all State banks thru a force of Bank Examiners. Our Railroad
Gimmission has supervision over the grain elevators, their storage
tickets covering deposits of grain, and other matters pertaining to
the elevator business, but thus far the State has made no adequate
provision for a financial examination of the elevator. Line elevators
are audited from the central house in a thoro manner. But thus
far the farmers' elevators have neither a state system nor a self-
developed system of auditing. This stands to-day as their unsolved
problem.
The farmers produce grain from fields which year by year show
a marked increase in foul weeds. Yellow mustard, kinghead, cockle,
and wild oats are die commonest kinds. Elevators now "dock" the
grain a certain number of pounds per bushel, thus allowing for the
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foreign matter found in it But with die increase in the cost of
feed stuSSf there has come to be a great market value for the "screen-
ings" consisting chiefly of the weed seeds screened out of the wheat
and other grains. This situation has caused the farmer no little
concern over the dockage and screenings question. There are now
four ways of meeting this problem. ( i ) The local elevator cleans
the grain, giving the farmer the screenings and diarging him one
cent a bushel and in some cases two cents a bushel for the woric
But this can be done only in slack seasons, for during the wheat
movement, the elevator is swamped with its own business. The
farmer receiving his screenings returns diem to the farm and grinds
them for stock feed. If the screenings are not ground, they may
scatter foul seed about the place. (2) The local elevator may clean
die grain, ship the screenings in carload lots to the terminal market.
In diis case the farmer is docked on the foul matter in his grain,
and allowed nothing for the screenings. One manager last year
made $2,ocx> on his screening; another made $5,000. The screen-
ings were sold at fifteen dollars a ton. If the elevator is a farmers*
cooperative elevator, these earnings are prorated back at the end of
die year. If it is a line or independent house the farmer gets noth-
ing back. (3) The farmer may ship his own grain to the terminal
market, have it cleaned there and the screenings sold. In this case
he gets full price for his screenings and escapes with little or no
dockage on his grain. (4) The farmer may ship his own grain
to the terminal market and sell it there undcaned. In this case
he suffers the dockage which the State Inspection Department finds
he deserves, is out of pocket the freight on the screenings, and may
also lose one grade in his grain by reason of the foul matter in i\»
While failures among farmers' elevators are numerous these
failures will doubtless prove to be the stepping stones to success in
the future. The farmers' elevators are now gaining in number much
faster than the other kinds of elevators.
Creameries
Cooperative creameries are having a mixed success. In one
county, for instance, out of five once active cooperative creameries,
two were found still running and three eidier dead or in a state
of suspended animation. Grain farming enters a region and drives
out the creamery. Labor is scarce. Creameries are promoted by
agents with machinery to sell, in regions where there is not a supply
of milk cows. The centralizer creamery, doing business on a big
scale, is able to drive out the small creamery in some cases. With
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An Agricultural Field Trip i8i
the coming of more diversified farming the local creamery will
flourish, it is hoped.
Speculation and Land Values
Speculation is not confined to the produce and stock exdianges
of the dty. Indeed, we find the contrary is true. Unorganized
^)eculationy unmitigated by rules and hence unlimited both as to its
extent and in its sharp practises is found excq)tionally ac^-ive in con-
nection with the land, in both farm land and village land.
Even the homesteader in most cases seems to be a land specu-
lator. In one county, homesteaded eight years ago, four fifths of
the homesteaders have now quit their land. They either sold out-
right, or borrowed on a. mortgage, and abandoned their claim. In
other words, most of these homesteaders were not seeking a home,
but a peculation in land. The tumble-down sod-house, left by
these departing homesteaders in some sections, gives the country an
unprosperous appearance usually out of keeping with the real facts.
Occasionally a bonafide homesteader stays by the land. In one sec-
tion homesteaded sixteen years ago, we found one Norwegian far-
mer of the most progressive tjrpe, with a new modern house, new
bam, and fine live stock and farm equipment. He had bought out
bis three homesteading neighbors. Near this place was another
farmer who had bought out six homesteading neighbors. On his
farm of seven quarter sections he had just erected a modem, $8,000
house, hard-wood fini^, electric light, hot water heat, bath and
toilet. Another farmer who had homesteaded in 1882 now has eight
quarters, having bought out his seven homesteading neighbors. He
too has a large barn and strictly modern house of sixteen rooms.
The flight of the homesteader is one phase of land speculation. Eadi
tiny village now boasts one or more "Real Estate Agents." Some
of these do a r^;ular commission business in land on strict commer-
cial principles. They are well established and perform a service to
the community. At the other extreme, however, and using the
same honorable title, are a class of scalpers who are in and out of
the real estate market, and who have a well-eamed reputation of
fleecing the "suckers" whom they catch. One farmer, for instance,
was brought from Iowa with his wife and family and savings of
half a life time, $15,000. He was influenced to buy a half section
of farm land which, at that season (^ril), looked to be worth the
price, namely, seventy-five dollars an acre. The land was bought.
It proved to be an alkali tract, and not flt for tillage. In fact the
purchaser leamed later that the tract had been listed for sale with
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1 82 The Quarterly Journal
a bona fide real estate agent at twenty-five dollars per acre. The
purchaser abandoned the place at the end of the first season, losing
his payment of fifteen thousand dollars, and becoming a renter. If
real estate speculation were carried on on an open public organized
market, like the grain exchange, deals so near to fraud as this could
be eliminated. It is difficult to say what per cent of the farmers
expect to make their money farming their farms and what per cent
expect to make their money by selling their farms, but it is likely
true that the average farmer is one-third farmer and two-thirds
speculator.
One village, some two years old, has hit upon a plan for avoid-
ing speculation in town lots. No person is permitted to buy a lot
in the village without first making a satisfactory contract to erect
a building on this lot. This precaution was taken thru fear that a
larger and older village a few miles away might quietly step in, buy
up all the desirable lots, hold them idle, and thus put a quietus on
die infant rival.
MiSCBLLANSOUS
Good Roads, — ^We drove across the State in June and July
and found the roads generally in good condition, thanks to nature.
Weather conditions were such as to leave the roadway in good order.
Mention should be made of the fact, however, that the Yellow Trail,
the Red Trail, and the Wonderland Trail showed the good results
of much scientific road making. These highways are a boon to the
traveler. Now that the farmers are investing in automobiles the
construction and up-keep of trails and country roads seems assured.
Fences. — ^The western part of the State is still in the barb-wire
state. Barb-wire is looked upon as cheaper than woven wire or other
forms of fencing. But considering the heavy toll taken annually in
maiming or killing the live stock of ranchers and farmers, it is
probably the most expensive fence in existence. The first cost of
other kinds of fencing, in connection with the scarcity and high cost
of credit, prevents the abandonment of this cruel and dangerous
fence. The problems of securing fence posts is also a big one. We
noted that along the Northern Padfic Railway, particularly near
the Badlands, that ranchers and farmers were given tHe old rail-
road ties as fast as they were displaced with new ones. The demand
for these ties was very keen. In one case we noted more than a
dozen individuals waiting while the section hands removed the worn
ties. These ties are used not merely for fence posts, but also for
building stables and sheds, and for fuel. On the Great Northern
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An Agricultural Field Trip 183
Railway, so far as we observed, all worn ties are removed, carefully
piled on the right-of-way, and burned. This happens on the high
prairie, where no wood is to be found in many miles. Perhaps the
logic of the road is that the settlers should exploit for fuel the great
deposits of lignite that underlie most of this sparsely settled section.
Banking — ^The part played by the village bank in developing the
rural conununity in North Dakota is very notable. The bank build-
ing is frequently the first building erected in the village. The banker
is "Philosopher, guide and friend" to the farmer as well as to the
business man in the community.
Tenantry. — Tenantry, while not of great extent at present
(above fifteen per cent of the farmers) is r^idly increasing. The
ill-kept farm of the renter is becoming more and more in evidence,
as the older farmers retire to the neighboring village to live.
Tractor vs. Horse Power. — ^The contest between tractors and
horse power is now at its highest. We found many tractors stand-
ing discarded, rusting in the fields. We found the young attorney
for a large tractor company with a valise full of chattel mortgages
ready for foreclosure, taken on the farmers' live stock, implements,
etc, in exchange for tractors. The attorney estimated that four-
fifths of the farmers buying tractors were bankrupt in the end by
doing so. However, other farmers considered that the horse was
die costlier machine of the two, working but 100 hours in a year
and costing $85.00 for feed.
Prosperity. — ^The general impression of the* farmers' prosperity
may be stated in this manner: The farmer with brains and good
health is more prosperous than his city brother of similar attainments.
A fair per cent of farmers, as with all other classes, are not pros-
pering. Yet considering dieir investment of money, brains, and
time, it is believed that they actually enjoy more material prosperity
than any other class of people making a similar investment. The
great mass of the farmers, however, certainly do not use their land
up to its full efficiency. Agriculture may be said to be in a gener-
ally low state, both as regards production and marketing.
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The Land, the People, and the
Schools of South Africa'
C. £. COLES^
Late Missionary-superintendent of Schools in South Africa, and
sometime Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute
THE late Professor Henry Drummond somewhere describes
South Africa as "the Land of Dust and Flies." A more
recent Australian traveler volunteered the information that Soudi
Africa was "a washed out country full of stoney rises." Both these
travelers su£Fered from insuiEcient data and their judgments are
faulty. There is dust and it sometimes drives thru the country like
a blizzard. And there are flies of innumerable species. But a
brief residence in that land will make a man immune to the attacb
of the flies, and die dust will be welcomed as the harbinger of the
fructifying rains.
Thb Land
The physical features of a land have a great deal to do with
the thought, manners and customs, and general characteristics of the
people. Around the coast of South Africa runs a fringe of low-
lying land the belt in which malaria, lice, ticks, and snakes make
their home. From this narrow fringe die land begins to rise in a
succession of ledges surrounded by mountains. The local name for
the country within the mountains is "basins." You advance upward
and inward by climbing the mountain, crossing the ledge and climb-
ing the mountain again on the further side which is the higher side
of the basin until you reach the vast table-land in the center of the
country which is the ideal South Africa. From the coast to the
table-land may be 150 miles inland as at East London or only 50
miles as at Cape Town or even 350 miles as at Durban, Natal.
Cape Town is built along the fringe by the sea-shore at the
foot of Table Mountain which rises precipitously behind the city
to a height of 3,500 feet. Johannesburg is built on the table-land
* Much of the data In this article will be found in the Reports of
the Educational Department of the Cape Province to the Legislature of
that Province. I would draw special attention to the Report of 1909
which is of the nature of a survey of the progress of education during
the years 1892-1909. The Appendix II. of the report for 1912 is also
of ffreat value. The Cape Town E^lucational Guide of 1914 will show
the educational facilities in the Cape Province Capital. I am also greatly
under obligation to Dr. Thomas Muir. C.M.O.. Superintendent-General of
Education for the Cape Province. pro-Chancellor of the University of
the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Dr. Muir is one of the greatest
educational authorities in the British Empire.
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South Africa 185
5,000 feet above sea level and 500 miles from the nearest coast-line.
In a land where the physical di£Ferences are so vast within so small
an area and where Nature plays her fantastic tricks with every turn
of the wheel of time, you will expect an alert, mobile, quick-witted,
and progressive people. This people you have in South Africa.
Nelson's latest Encyclopedia states with trudi, "South Africa
is said to be the finest maize growing country in the world, owing
to its highly favorable climatic conditions, especially abundance of
sunlight and a long growing season.'' This b not an article on
Agriculture altho something might be said, under that head in regard
to the splendid Agricultural Q>llege at Stellenbosch, but it is a well
known fact that South Africa has marvellous recuperative powers
and after a long spell of intensely dry weather a three days' rain
will speedily turn the arid qountry into a veritable garden. The
land is now known for its gold and diamonds; it will yet be known
for its agriculture. Corn, cattle, and mohair are its principal pro-
ducts on the farms, but cotton, ostrich feathers, wool, grapes, bananas,
peaches, oranges, and apples are fast coming to the front, and this
variety of products will make a strong appeal to the modern agricul-
turist.
The Union of South Africa (U. S. A.) is a federation of self-
governing States or Provinces called the Cape, the Transvaal, Natal,
and the Orange Free State. The Cape Province has a Protectorate
in Bechuanaland and both the Cape and Natal have large Native
Reservations known respectively as Kaffraria and Zululand. Rho-
desia is not yet an integral part of the Union but maintains its own
government under the Charter Company. This form of Govern-
ment has become an anomaly in the British Empire and it will not
be long before Rhodesia will make the newest and largest addition
to the Union. Right in the heart of the Union however is another
little country the inhabitants of which are a warlike people who have
never been conquered in war. Basuto-land is completely surround-
ed by Union territory and it is governed by Native Chiefs acting
under the advice of an Administrator who reports directly to the
Colonial Office in England. Basuto-land has been called the Alps
of South Africa and no white man is allowed to take up residence
in the country without permission of the reigning Chief and the
BVitish Administrator.
The total area of British South Africa including the Union,
Rhodesia, and the Dependencies is 1,758,831 square miles. If we
include the recently conquered territory of German Southwest Africa
whidi the Union Government has declared it will not surrender
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1 86 The Quarterly Journal
(vide speeches by Prime Minister Botha and Secretary Smuts at the
Cape University Convocation 191 5) the total area will then be
2,081,281 square miles. The total area for the United States of
America is given as 3,026,789 square miles which would make British
South Africa a little more than two-thirds the size of our country.
The great need of both countries however is a sufficient and worthy
population. While our country has a population of more than
90,000,000 whites, South Africa has only 1,160,018 whites and a
total population of 7,660,280. The table-land country is eminently
suited to a white population and when the settlement facilities have
been developed there as here, South Africa may be expected to main-
tain a vast population.
The People
South Africa is the most kaleidoscopic ethnologically of all the
British possessions. Both pre-historic and historic peoples of many
races are found within its borders. The first settlers were evidently
the Hottentots, a people akin to the Bushmen. Who preceded the
Hottentots is too remote for any historic statement. The Hottentots
came from the north and under the pressure of succeeding invasions
have practically died out, altho a mixed people still called by that
name bear occasional traces of the Hottentot settlement. They were
sucdbeded by the strong virile Black races now inhabiting the land.
These people coming from the north swept down thru the coimtry
with fire and spear taking the weaker nations captive or putting them
to death. Many of the captives became slaves to the conquerors,
and the Kafir War of 1860-70 was waged by the British against the
Tembus to free the Fingoes from slavery. Altho broken into
various tribes and separated by wedges of white people all these
natives bear a likeness to one another and with one or two exceptions
derive their habits, customs, and languages from the same general
sources. They are known as Bantus and are related to the nations
of central and northern Africa, When the Arabs began their slave
raiding in Africa they called the inhabitants "Unbelievers," i.e.,
Kafirs, and Kafirs they are called to this day.
The next settlement is hbtorical and comparatively modern, and
began when the Dutch East India Company took possession of the
Cape in 1652. For a time this inunigration from the south met
v/!th little opposition. But soon the virile Dutchman came into
contact with the equally virile Kafir and then began that long series
of wars which culminated in the recent Boer War of 1899- 1902.
The main question at the bottom of this long series of conflicts was
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South Africa 187
the essential right of man of whatever color to live a free life un-
fettered by slavery to another. The Dutch settlers from Holland
were Protestants of the Presbyterian faith and to that faith they
have remained true. They have retained their love for literature,
art, and science and in spite of their comparatively isolated life they
have maintained their place in the progress of nations.
The eighteenth century witnessed the fierce persecution of the
Protestants in France. The storm-driven Huguenots fled from
France to America and South Africa. In the latter country they
received a warm welcome equal to the cordial welcome given to them
in America. Many of the Huguenots belonged to the best families
of France and they carried with them to their new home the culture
and industry of Old France. The vast vineyards of Constantia are
the direct result of the French settlement. From these two Euro-
pean peoples, representative of the best culture of their age, demo-
cratic, progressive and intensely religious, has sprung the modern
South African Boer, or as he prefers to be called and calls himself,
Afrikander. The intermingling of the French and the Hollanders
has produced some strange contrasts in physique. A well known
clergyman possesses the French name of Naude, and is Frendi in
size and gesture but has a characteristically heavy Dutch face.
The third settlement of white people took place in 1820 after
the British Government purchased the Cape Colony from the Dutch
for a sum exceeding twenty-nine million dollars. A band of picked
men and women of the middle classes well educated, intelligent and
of high moral caliber settled in eastern Cape Colony and are known
as the Albany Settlers. The majority of the people had been raised
within sight of the famous Canterbury Cathedral and they were
as strongly religious as the former settlers. Special ships were
chartered by the British Government to convey them to that far ofl
land and most of these ships were three months making the voyage
whidi today may be made in three weeks. From the Albany
Settlers has sprung the present race of British Colonials.
The last important settlement was that of the German Legion.
During the Crimean War of 1856 a German Legion under Com-
mandant von Linsingen fought on the side of the British and as a
reward for their services were offered grants of land in South Africa.
Practically the whole of the Legion accepted the offer and under
their Commandant were brought to England and stationed at Col-
chester to await transportation. While the Legion lay at Colchester
some of the men became acquainted with the English language and
people, at least sufficiently well for some of the soldiers to persuade
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1 88 The Quarterly Journal
English girls to marry them and to accompany them to Africa. These
men have proved fine citizens, progressive farmers, and enable
politidans.
By frequent intermarriages these Hollanders, French, British,
and Germans are being moulded into one people, especially in the
Old Colony, the Cape Province. English and Holland Dutch are
the official languages of the country, and English and Taal are the
media for business and private life. The Taal is a language in
the making and consists of words from the four European languages
represented in the various settlements, together with many words^
from the Hottentot, Malay, and Kafir. This language is easily
learnt by whites and blacks and is the common medium between the
white and the black. The Taal is sometimes called the Low Dutch
and owing to the predominance of Holland words in its composition
it is the most used of all the tongues in that country. In fact so
widely spread is its influence that it has recently been determined
to lay the foundations of South African literature in that tongue.
As will be easily understood the Taal makes no pretence to be gram-
matical or constructive; it is more useful than omamentaL But
it is the people's speech and so the leaders in educational affairs both
in the University and the Schools have taken the task in hand to
build up simple school books, to translate well known books from
the various languages represented in the country and thus to make
the Taal the medium of communication not only in the mart and
the home but also in the school, the Church, and the Legislature.
In the present pioneer state of the work it is almost heresy to speak
of the Taal as the future language of the people, but when the task
is accomplished it will be one of the greatest forces in the country
to unite the differing peoples both white and black into one common
national Existence.
I have heard the South African Whites described in very oppro-
brious terms. Their ways may not be our ways, their manner of
thinking even may differ from ours, but they are the strong virile
descendents of the most progressive nations this world has ever seen
and they retain their love for the literatures and arts of their Father-
lands. Cecil John Rhodes has laid the world under contribution
to his educational advantages; Jan Hofmeyer, educationalist and
politician; John X. Merriman who has been classed with the first
three of the world's greatest political financiers, Sir Percy Fitz-
patrick, Sir Abe Bailey, Sir George Farrar, millionaires and educa-
tionalists ; Sir Gordan Sprigg, W. P. Schreiner, General Louis Botha,
Prime Ministers and friends of the people, these and a host of others
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South Africa 189
are men of culture identified with the land of their adoption or birth
and seeking without intermission the hi^est welfare of the people.
Nor should we omit Lord dc Villicrs, the first Afrikander to be
raised to the British peerage after many years of service as the Lord
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
The Bantus or Kafirs are the most enlightened and the most
susceptible to civilizing influences of all the negro races in the
world today. Altho a heathen, perhaps it would be more correct to
say a savage, the Kafir is not without religious instincts and customs.
His religion is of course bound up with his tribal life, and failure
to observe the rites and obligations of his tribe will ostracize the
ofiEender and deprive him of the rights of citizenship in the tribe.
Only a few of the Kafirs at present possess the right to vote in
legislative elections owing to the fact that the vote demands both
educational and financial qualifications. Many of the natives have
the latter but not the former, but with the rapid strides in the present
educational policies deficiencies are being made up and the number
of Kafir citizens claiming full voting powers is increasing. Con-
formity to tribal custom will give the adult Kafir a vote in the
local district and tribal matters which are purely of native conse-
quence but for the vote in governmental and legislative elections he
must have the higher qualifications. No native has ever been elected
to the Legislature altho a few, but very few, might have qualified
for the honor.
In addition to the Whites and Blacks there is a further dass
without name or nation, without leaders or ideals. These people
are called the "Colored People" or "Bastaards." They are the
offspring of the slaves with an intermixture of black, white, Malay,
and Indian. A large number of them have settled in Griqualand
on the borders of Natal and the Orange Free State. They con-
stitute a problem within a problem. Descended primarily from
European fathers and Bushmen or Hottentot mothers, the further
admixture of Asiatic races has only intensified the problem. They
are despised by the Kafir and white man alike and the lowest type
of morality in the country is found in this class.
What is the problem? Briefly, it is this: How to make one
nation of this human variety, how to blend these peoples into one
harmonious body, how to lift the lowest to the place of the highest,
how to lift the highest still higher. That is the problem the Edu-
cationalist is facing and solving.
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Education
The first system of education was introduced into South Africa
in 1839 and was known as the "Hcrschcl Scheme of Public Schoob"
by means of which there were to be established in all the important
centers "First Class" or "Principal Schools" and in the smaller towns
or villages "Second Class Schools." Sir John Herschcl was a dis-
tinguished astronomer but only an amateur educationalist, as the
following syllabus will show. For the First Class Schools Ac
following were required : — Latin, Greek, French, algebra, plane and
solid geometry, the doctrine of conic sections, plane and spherical
trigonometry, mensuration, surveying, navigation and practical astro-
nomy, physical and mathematical geography, and the outlines of
geology. For the Second Class Schools the requirements of course
were simpler but included reading, writing, principles of abstract
and commercial arithmetic, a sound grammatical knowledge both o{
the English and Dutch languages, descriptive geography and outlines
of general history, linear drawing and perspective, the rudiments
of natural history, physical science, and religious instruction.
In order to give eflect to the proposed scheme the Government
at the Cape sought the services of Mr. James Rose-Innes M.A., a
Scottish educator of note who accepted the appointment and reached
Africa in the same year 1839. He>was followed by two contingents
of teachers from the Scottish Universities of St. Andrew's and
Edinburg. Mr. Rose-Innes was made the first Superintendent-
general of Education at the Cape, with very extensive powers of ad-
ministration subject only to the authority of the Government thru
the Colonial Secretary at the Cape who was then the Minister of
Education. Among the first things Mr. Innes did was to revise
the proposed scheme and practically to abandon it in favor of one
of his own which he termed, "The classification of pupib in the
Government schools and the arrangement of the subjects of the
course as it regards the different classes." We shall give the clas-
sification in condensed form. It was divided into two general
divisions, (i) Religious Instruction and (11) Secular Instruction.
The first of these, that of Religious Instruction, was very brief
and recommended that religious instruction form the first exerdse
of the morning school and that during die exercise the pupils be
thrown into three divisions: (i) those who could not read — ^thcy
were to memorize selected Scripture portions; (2) those who could
read with a monitor the parables and miracles of Christ; (3) those
who could read with ease and who were to form a Bible Class and
take a course of Scripture reading. Secular Instruction was divided
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South Africa 191
into two classes : ( i ) Junior Division Elementary Course with three
grades. The work of this section consisted of elementary reading,
writing, and arithmetic leading to a knowledge of the elements of
English composition, elementary rules of arithmetic analyzed and
illustrated, and a course of descriptive geography; (2) Senior Divi-
sion Elementary Q)urse. Here the work was divided into two
grades. The first grade was introduced to the sciences, the ele-
ments of English composition, exercises in what are called compound
rules and reduction of compound quantities, a full course of descrip-
tive geography, and a brief outline of the chief historical events in
the world's history, and other topics to be appreciated by the grow-
ing child. The second grade continued the work of the former
and recited the history of the British Empire, the second or third
books of natural philosophy, did exercises in English grammar and
found opportunity to review carefully certain of the poets. Arith-
metic was advanced to the point at which the pupil was trained
sufSdently to keep a set of books for a retail business. Jn all the
courses where Dutch formed a part time was given for constant
drill in the language and literature and especially in translations
to and from the English.
Five grades were thus arranged in this early S3rstem the work
of which might in exceptional cases be accomplished in five years
but upon an average calculation of the scholars in the whole coun-
try would take from six to seven years. As first outlined the
course was to be a complete education of an elementary sort and
was to supply all the needs in after life of the larger part of the
population. For twenty years this simple sjrstem was wrought
into the life of the people and then Mr. ftose-Innes retired.
Dr. Langham Dale was the second Superintendent-general at
the Cape and his administration began in the year 1859. For two
years he gave very careful study to the local conditions without mak-
ing any material change. He saw however that a change would
be necessary and in fact that it was being forced upon the attention
of educators and legislators alike. Under the Rose-Innes syllabus
practically no provision was made for black and colored peoples.
TTiru the energies of the missionaries on the various mission fields
and in the purely mission schools there was growing up a desire for
an education which would receive the credits given in the public
schools. For some time in a few of the schook natives had been
permitted to sit side by side with the whites. In the smaller
schools of the villages where co-education prevailed this was not
a wise plan. And there were to be found also in some of the larger
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192 The Quarterfy Journal
Mission Institutions such as Lovedale, white students with the
natives. To educate the white children and to refuse education to
the black and colored peoples would lead to catastrophe. Class dis-
tinction upon an educational basis where the min<mty is only one-
sixth of the whole population and where the whole country ts de-
pendent upon the industry of the remaining five-sixths would mean
a rank injustice to the majority if schools were refused to them, or
if their form of education differed in any material form from diat
of die others. Yet again to admit without proper precautions a
horde of heathen people still marked with savage instincts to the
educational level of the more civilized and better developed minority
would cause untold friction. Still the problem must be faced and
a plan for the future must be evolved. To hold back the general
progress of all the people would in time only accentuate the diffi-
culty. A way out must be found. It required a strong man widi
a progressive spirit to break the traditions of centuries an4 pracdcally
force the white minority to make ample provbion for the whole
nation. The problem was complicated in that the wealth of the
country was in the hands of the minority and some of that wealth
must be placed at the disposal of the Superintendent-general for his
purpose. The possibility of financial assistance from the black man
was very remote. His earnings were too small for heavy taxation
and in large sections of the country a yearly tax only was levied upon
him for ail purposes. This tax is still called "The Hut tax" and for
the sum of two and a half dollars annually the native must receive
free education, careful police and magisterial administration, a piece
of land for the support of his family and other equally important
considerations. By force of circumstances therefore the white man
is loco parentis to the black and colored man and as a father he must
watch over and train the national child.
Dr. Dale however was not to be intimidated by the magnitude
of the problem. The Legislative Assembly is the real voice of the
people and before the Assembly he laid his plans. At his suggestion
the Legislature appointed a School Commission in 1861 and two
years later upon the recommendation of that Commission the present
three-fold classification of schools was instituted and subjects for in-
struction in each school class were specified with some detail. A
brief summary of these classifications or courses gives us: I. Third
Class Schools (including Mission Schools or Schools for native and
Colored peoples) reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic II.
Second Class Schools with two courses of instruction, a primary or
elementary course, and a secondary or superior course. The primary
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South Africa 193
dsurse oomprised reading, writing, arithmetic, English Grammar, and
descriptive geography. The secondary course included the rudi-
ments of Latin, plane geometry, and elementary algebra. III. In
the First Class Schools the two courses Primary and Secondary were
included. The Primary Course was the same as in the Second Class
Schools but the Secondary Course embraced Greek, Latin, English
Literature, history, elementary mathematics, and the elements of
physical science. The evident purpose of this plan was the correlat-
ing of the different classes of schools so that the pupils might pass
easily from one class of school to another without any serious break
in the continuity of their work. The scheme of Mr. Innes had pro-
vided for five grades but Dr. Dale revised the syllabus and con-
tracted the five grades into four which he called standards. This
contraction enabled the student to complete the elementary course in
four or five years with time to spare for the higher courses in the
advanced schools. Even in that early day recommendations for
advance from one grade to a higher was not entirely left to the
individual teacher. A unified system of examination by recommen-
dations from the Educational Department would not produce ade-
quate results, both teachers and pupils being of mixed and differing
races. For the better supervision therefore of the work done in
the public schools two Inspectors were appointed in the year 1872.
Their reports revealed a very unsatisfactory state of affairs, and the
Educational Department was compelled to institute a searching ex-
amination by competent authority of every child with a view to
ascertaining whether "the indispensable elements of knowledge, i.e.,
reading, writing, and arithmetic were being efficiently taught."
Strenuous efforts were made to equalize the work in all the schook,
and a system of examination by public inspectors was extended which
holds to this day.
The plans adopted had worked so well that in 1885 it was
found possible to add a fifth grade to the elementary course and
two years later, in 1887, a sixth grade. The work of these grades
was tested when the pupil was presented for examination. It was
required that the pupil should satisfy the inspector in: — either or
both (i) reading and writing English correctly and handwriting,
(2) reading and writing Dutch correctly and handwriting, (3)
commercial arithmetic, bills of parcels, interest, discount, and mental
calculations, and he must further pass a satisfactory examination in
any two of the following subjects: bookkeeping by double entry,
elements of natural science, principles of agriculture, elements of
chemistry, geology, botany, animal physiology, domestic economy, and
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194 T'A^ Quarterly Journal
laws of health. These grades will be seen to have adapted them-
selves to the local conditions of an agricultural people where at
least 90% of the people are dependent upon agricultural pursuits.
Dr. Dale has been spoken of as one who laid the foundations
of an educational structure, a foundation upon which others may
build with confidence. He may with confidence be classed with
the pioneers of modern educational life. He was far-sighted, per-
sistent, diligent, and possest an unbounded confidence in the people
and the land of his adoption. To place agriculture, domestic
science, and animal physiology in the first six grades of school life
demanded more than ordinary foresight and courage. He had the
joy of seeing his scheme working for the growing benefit of the
people, and as a matter of fact some of the leading men in Soudi
Africa today owe their success primarily to the severe and satisfac-
tory course which school provided for them. The service of Dr.
Dale ceased in 1892 and with his retirement may be said to end the
preliminary stages in the country's educational life. The modern-
ization of the whole work is the task of his successor. The later
work will be discust in a succeeding article.
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Book Reviews
The Next Step In Democracy: R. W. Sellars, Assistant Pro-
fessor of Philosophy, University of Michigan. The Macmillan
Company, New York, 1916. V+275 pp. Price, $1.50.
This volume by Dr. Sellars is symptomatic of two tendencies
operating at present. One of these is occurring in socialism and is
the well-defined response of that movement to apply a sociological
interpretation to society, and consequently, sociological gages and
mesures to itself. This book, with the others. Socialism as the Socio-
logical Ideal, by Melvin, and Sociology, by Lewis, constitute speci-
fically scientific attempts in the literature produced by socialists,
either to merge socialism into sociology or to write sociology out-
right. The other tendency is seen in a rapidly growing literature to
give expositions of democracy a broad social background, making it
loosely agree with the concepts of social evolution and social pro-
gress as developt by sociologists.
In this treatise the author has furnished a lucid, analytical, and
valuable exposition of what both society and socialism are and must
become. His treatment might very well be called, sodalism, socio-
logically reformed, as the goal of social evolution. He rejects some
of the main tenets of Marxian socialism, namely, economic deter-
minism and economic interpretation of history, class struggle, and
reform of society by revolution. He holds that Marxian philosophy's
greatest achievement has been to imbue the mass of people with a
firm determination of emandpating themselves from a system of
artificial and unjust inequalities.
Mr. Sellars believes that the sodal mind passes thru three stages
in its evolution: status, individualism, and sodalism. The first two
steps have been taken; the third is now before us. Sodalism is to
be realized, not by revolution, but by a long and gradual education
of the sodal mind into a finer sense of justice, an ability to interpret
life in terms of organic interdependence, and the ability to mesure
values in terms of social constitution and function. He believes in
the elimination of the unfit by sdentific methods, of the reform of
current institutions so as to get rid of thdr faults and maladjust-
ments. These steps in advance will help to remove existing in-
equalities but they are insufficient to emandpate men completely from
the unjust distinctions which prevail here and elsewhere. Only a
thorogoing reconstruction of the sodal system can prevent the recur-
rence of deep-seated abuses. The economic system must be so re-
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196 The Quarterly Journal
formed that succeeding generations of individuals may be able to
realize their fullest destinies, unhindered by the intervention of
privilege.
Such is the gist of this volume. The author is not always a
systematic expositor, often pausing to interject the treatment of an
idea perhaps suggested by the context but which belongs elsewhere
logically. Neither is his exposition as clear as one oould desire,-
sometimes causing the reader to retrace his steps to catch the true
meaning. The style has considerable literary merit and altogether
the volume is absorbingly interesting. The work should assist in
freeing socialism from some of its one-stdedness and in the attain-
ment of a saner interpretation of life.
J. M. GiLLBTTE
Department of Sociology,
University of North Dakota
The Fraternity and the College: Thomas Arklb Clark,
Dean of Men, University of Illinois. George Banta Publish-
ing Co., Menasha, Wisconsin, 1915. 223 pages. Price $1.25.
To one at all familiar with student life at the University of
Illinois a book on fraternities by Thomas Arkle Clark at once at-
tracts attention, and because of Dean Clark's rare understanding of
and sympathy with the undergraduate student and of his rather
unique experience as Dean of men, one is assured of an eminently
sane and practical treatment of the subject.
The book consists of short chapters on the varied phases of
fraternity life, problems that are receiving the thoughtful considera-
tion of those interested in fraternities. The chapter titles are: The
Fraternity and the College, Fraternity Home Life, The Fraternity
and its Underclassmen, Horse Play and Rough House at Initiations,
Fraternity Finances, extra-Fraternity Organizations, Concerning the
Brothers in Town, College Activities, The Fraternity and Scholar-
ship, The Fraternity and its Alumni, College Spirit, The High
School Fraternity, and Fraternity Ideals.
Tho one rather hesitates to quote statements concerning so
controversial a subject as college fraternities without presenting the
arguments and evidence upon which they are based, yet a few quota-
tions will best illustrate the character of the book. In regard to
the fraternity system the Dean believes "that the college Greek-
letter fraternity is an institution that has come to stay, and that on
the whole it is a good one." **If the young man can afford it,
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Book Reviews 197
for like everything else worth while the fraternity costs something,
if such an organization appeals to him, if he can fall in with a
group of men who are congenial, and if he is willing to make the
sacrifice of time and the readjustment of his habits necessary to live
with such a group successfully, I usually advise him, if he is asked,
to join a fraternity." "My experience is that the faults and dissi-
pations attributed to fraternities exist in much smaller degree than
is generally supposed, and not proportionally in any materially
greater degree than would on investigation be discovered in the
general student body." "In fact the chief justification of fraterni-
ties is that they aim to furnish for their members a lodging place
which has many of the restrictions, and safeguards, and influences
of home."
But the reader should not think that the book is a defense
of fraternities, when in fact the greater portion of it is for the
benefit of the fraternity man, as a few quotations will show. In
regard to "rough house" initiation it is shown "how common and
vulgar the practice really is and how out of keeping with the real
purpose of the fraternity." In general, "organizations whose rituals
are probably pretty weak and inadequate are in favor of the practice,
while those most strongly against it have definite traditions and
dignified rituals." Concerning "The Brothers in Town" his opinion
will probably not meet the approval of many fond parents, but he
says, "I think on the whole that the average boy who lives at home
while going to college loses in independence and self-reliance and
initiative by so doing. I have no recollection of any young fellow
who was strengthened, or stimulated in college or saved from loafing,
or from other bad habits by having one or both his parents with him."
Concerning "College Activities": "At the University of Illinois
sixty-five per cent of all men in student activities come from Greek-
letter fraternities." ♦ ♦ ♦ simply because "the fraternity men
work harder for these places and are usually better prepared to fill
them," and concerning the effect on scholarship "it can easily be
shown tfiat the fraternity men who engage in the general activities
of college are only in exceptional cases the men who pull down the
fraternity average ; it is the loafer and the f usser who pulls it down."
We hope this book will find a prominent place on the librar>'
tables of the fraternities thruout the country, and, too, that the
members of college faculties who are interested in student life will
read it carefully, because "if colleges have difficulties (with disci-
pline) the trouble lies mainly with the faculty who have not kept
awake to student conditions." It may seem that the reviewer is
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198 The Quarterly Journal
not living up to his opportunities in offering no criticisms of this
book, but he is so heartily in accord with the whole of it that any
such criticism would be out of proportion.
£. B. Stephenson
Member of Committees on Sodal
Activities, and Student Organizations,
University of North Dakota
American Municipal Progress: Charles Zuebun. The Mac-
millan Company, New York, 191 6. XIV+522 pp. Second
edition. Price, $2.
It is impossible to write the usual book review of this volume
because it is rather in the nature of an encyclopedia than a text or
reference work. The purpose of the author is "to indicate to dvic
and social workers, public offidals, and intelligent citizens the vast
scope of municipal activity today. It can be made useful by com-
paring local conditions with the typical instances of excellence gath-
ered from all the cities," and it "can be used as a text-book by in-
structors who use laboratory methods." (p. xii.)
Instead of being a discussion of principles pertinent to the or-
ganization and improvement of municipal life American Municipal
Progress presents concrete descriptive material indicating tendencies
in urban advance during recent years. The twenty chapters furnish
a moving picture of what is being accomplished of an advanced
nature in our larger American cities in practically all essential lines
of urban activity. City entrance, transportation, streets, garbage
and sewage disposal, protection of health, property, and order, char-
ity and correction, indoor and outdoor education, libraries and
museums, social centers and public recreation, parks and boulevards,
city planning, municipal ownership, administration, and efficiency
are the main topics illustrated. Naturally, not all phases of city
life could be treated in a moderately-sized volume but one would
not expect to find the important subject of taxation omitted, or the
dismissal of such grave questions as housing, the regulation of the
sale of liquor, or the social evil, with a cursory page or two.
What the immature citizen and student need, relative to a
study of urban conditions, is a presentation of directive principles
along with a revelation of tendendes. With this volume alone before
them they would often be sorely tried to discover the right way.
However, the author doubtless supposes the presence of other books
and literature, or of mature students of city matters to act as guides.
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Book Reviews 199
Like the vast majority of treatises on municipal affairs this vol-
ume affords the students and thinking citizens of small centers slight
assistance relative to many problems tliey have to meet. What
cities of several hundred thousand or several million inhabitants are
able to do may not be at all applicable in small centers. Often the
methods employed by large cities are not ad]4>table to small places.
I find no mention of the excellent volume by President McVey,
The Making of a Town, which deals with methods of improvement
in the smaller centers.
While the above remarks are true they do not detract greatly
from the high excellence of Dr. Zueblin's work and its usefulness
for the residents of the greater municipalities. It probably is quite
impossible to attend to the needs of small and large places at the
same time. Thb volume must prove enlightening and heartening
to students of urban conditions generally. It is simply, sometimes
brilliantly, written, abounds in both descriptive and pictorial illus-
trations, and with a full index, an appendix giving additional matter
to each chapter, and extensive bibliography, it will prove a valuable
aid to municipal study.
J. M. GiLLBTTB
Department of Sociology,
University of North Dakota
Principles op Accounting: Stephen Oilman, Department of
Higher Accountancy, La Salle Extension University. La Salle
University, Chicago, Illinois, 1916. XII+415 pp.
Professor William Morse Cole of Harvard says, "Accounting
is nothing but sublimated common sense applied to finding and tell-
ing the truth about business." In his "Prindplcs of Accounting"
Mr. Gilman lasrs ^e foundation for applying the common sense
methods of telling the truth about business in clear and direct dis-
cussions of the principles. As stated in his preface, the author did
not intend to promulgate the specialized treatment of any particular
phase of the subject, but rather to present the basic principles of
the science of accounting in a graphic and comprehensive manner.
In a preliminary survey he symbolizes the various factors that enter
into balancing entries and explains their relation to each other by
graphic illustrations. Accounting, to best serve its purpose, must
present in a comprehensive manner the condition and trend of the
business in its most important phases and lend itself to a scientific
analysis of the component parts or factors that enter into its opera-
tion. Very often the ability to analyze and arrive at the cost of a
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20O The Quarterly Journal
simple operation will determine the failure or success of a business.
Where not long since the business man depended on a statement
of his afiFairs at the end of a year's operation to determine his profit
or loss, financial condition, and the trend of the business, today he
is not content to ''guess" at results for a long period of time but
insists on having concrete data from day to day by which he steers
and gauges his business. His insistance is revolutionizing account-
mg methods and has brought into being various forms of improved
accounting and so-called business efficiency. Accounting is diversi-
fied in its many phases and the author in his treatment of the subject,
as the title of his book suggests, treats only the basic principles.
The book was doubtless intended for classroom instruction to be
supplemented by more extended application of the principles. The
student of accounting, on mastering these principles, will have had
a practical knowledge of accounting and have laid the foundation
for specialized accounting in its many forms. The book presents
very little if anything new and covers tlie material already given
in a number of excellent books now on the market, the only differ-
ence being in the language and the manner of approach. The value
of the book lies in its directness and clearness and it should provide
an interesting study for the student of accounting.
J. W. WiLKERSON
Secretary and Accounting Officer,
University of North Dakota
The Dawn of Religion in the Mind of the Child: Edith
E. Read Mumford, Clothworker's Scholar, Girton College,
Cambridge, England. Longmans, Green & Co., London, New
York, 191 5. XII+iii pp.
Of late the subject of religious education is receiving renewed
attention from various angles. The most conspicuous movement in
this direction is the attempt on the part of some of our public sdMx>l
systems to correlate the influence of the churdi, the home, and the
school by incorporating in the school curriculum a course in Bible
study to be conducted, not by the regular school teachers, but by
representatives of the Churdi — usually tfie pastors. The whole
movement is due to the growing conviction that religion is a vital
and therefore necessary element in the complete life. This is the
judgment also of the author of the small but weighty volume men-
tioned above. In her own wods, "Complete development — of diar-
acter as well as of intelligence— can only be attained when mental
activity, habits of action, imagination and will are all dedicated to
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Book Reviews 20i
the highest ends: that is, when life is inspired by a religious imrpose."
Confessedly the movement to introduce religious instruction in
the schools is due, at least in part, to the failure of the home to
live up to its responsibility, or to appreciate fully its problem, and
it It to tbe solution of this problem that the author addresses her-
self. In her judgment the confusion that so often exists in the
child mind with respect to religion is not due to the mystical nature
of the subject, but to an erroneous presentation of it. Hence in
her treatment she does not enter into any controversy to justify the
fimdamental truths which she believes to lie at the foundation of
the child's religious life; her interest is rather the discovery of the
most efficacious method for the development of well-recognized re-
ligious ideas. She opposes the suggestion of Sully that because the
subject is a difficult one and many errors are made, it should be
postponed to the later years of childhood. She is convinced that the
child is capable of religious feeling long before religious thought
develops, and that even in an infant less than a year old, just as a
feeling of joy or distress is produced by the bath and food, reveren-
tial feelings may be aroused by the mother's voice, facial expression,
and bodily attitude in prayer. A clear distinction is drawn between
telling the diild about God and having him actually develop the
idea of God. Mere verbal repetition of prayers is deprecated on
the ground that it is formal and tends to stultify rather than to
foster religious development. There is no need to hurry the reb'gious
consciousness any more than the esthetic It comes to its best frui-
tion when it develops naturally.
The book is base^ on a sound psychology. The method ad-
vocated is the teadiing of the seen thru the unseen, the spiritual
thru the sensuous. The Creator must first reveal himself in his
visible works before he can be apprehended as the invisible ardiitect
of spirits. Fairy tales are not to be deprecated. The romances of
fairies and gnomes not only appeal to the instinct of wonder, but
reveal excellent spiritual truths which, if skilfully handled, are of
great value in religious development. The book advances no new
principle in education, but serves to stress the importance of a proper
correlation between subject matter and method on the one hand,
and the existing condition of the child's mental development on the
othef. It is replete with suggestions and practical examples, and
should prove invaluable to parents, elementary teachers, and all who
are concerned in the education of children.
John E. Winter
Department of Education,
Parsons College, Iowa
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202 The Quarterly Journal
The AvoroANCB of Firbs: Arland D. Weeks, Professor of Edu-
cation in the North Dakota Agricultural College. D. C. Heath
and Company, Chicago, 191 6. V-f-128 pp.
The piurpose of this book is to furnish practical information for
use in connection with the civics, language, and sdence work of the
elementary schools, as an aid in the movement for the conservation
of resources. Both the purpose of the work and the way in which
it b developed will iq)peal strongly to the modern educator. Some
of the more important topics discust are: What Fire Is, The IHnr
gers of Kerosene and Gasoline, Spontaneous Combustion, Chimneys
and Stoves, Fire Departments in Cities, The Causes of Fire, and
Agencies in Fire Prevention. The style is simple and clear, the pre-
sentation attractive and interesting, and the illustrations effective.
The book deserves a wide reading among adults as well as among
sdiool children.
In this new work Professor Weeks has put into concrete form
one of the suggestions made in his previous work on The Education
of Tomorrow. It is the duty of the school to put into circulation
useful information bearing upon individual and social problems. But
the teacher is unable to gather such material in organized form for
teaching except as it is presented in books prepared for the purpose.
^The Avoidance of Fires'' can be readily used as a supplementary
reader or civics. It will be sure to awaken the interest of the pupils,
and will do nmch to lessen die unnecessary waste by preventable
^res.
G. R. Davibs
Department of Sociology,
University of North Dakota
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University Notes
The EaroUment The enrollment at the University of North
Dakota has reached the highest point in its his-
tory. On December i the Registrar reported 918 students in resi-
dence. This number, together with those enrolled in the Summer
Session and those registered as correspondence students, will carry
the total enrollment for the year to more than 1600. It is interest-
ing to note that 46 of the counties in the state are represented and
19 states and eight foreign countries appear as the places of residenct
of students.
Some additional data was called for from those registering this
year, and one of the questions asked was, What is the occupation of
your father? It was found that the occupation most extendedly fol-
lowed was that of the farmer, of which there were 247 ; the next
was that of merchant^ 115; then banker, 44; real estate agent, 28;
physician, 25; clergyman, 24; railroad man 21; and other occupa-
tions were represented by from 20 to i. It appears that 556 of
the parents of these students own farm land, while 76 of the stu-
dents themselves own farm*. 207 students pay their own expenses
entirely, while 285 pay them in part These interesting statistics
show the rapid growth of the Univemty over the previous year,
ike increase being about 12 per eeiit.
Th« CiiMsiiiiiiioH of In October, 1916, the Board of Regents adopted
Am Uairertity articles of agreement for the government of the
University. These articles were practically Ae same as those pre-
pared by a committee of the University Council appointed last year
by the President of the University. The Coiineil continues to be
the legislative body of the Univermty, including additional members
consisting of assistant professors who have served the University
under that title for more than three years. There was created by
this instnmient a new body known as the Administrative Commit-
tee, whidi lakes over the work of the conunittees on Students' Work,
Curriculum, and Sdiedule. Another group was created known as
the President's Advisory Council, consisting of the deans of the col-
leges. Other provisions take up various regulations that have been
in effect at die University for nuuty years and make tliem more
definite and distinct than they have been in the past
This documoK will be printed and put in circulation among
the members of the faculty. It is regarded as a distinct step in
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204 The Quarterly Journal
advance and indicative of the satisfactory relationship that exists
between the Board of Regents and the members of the faculty of
the University.
Bdvoatioiud Surrmj It was the expectation that by the time of going
GommiMioii Report ^^ ^^^ ^j^^ Report of the Educational Survey
Commission would be in print, but it has not been possible to secure
a copy of it. However, the Board of Regents in their First Bien-
nial Report published the recommendations of the Survey Commis-
sion, and these recommendations are pretty much in line with ^e
different suggestions that have appeared in the press from time to
time. They may be summarized briefly as follows:
1. The preparation of teachers in agriculture, manual train-
ing, and domestic science at the Agricultural College.
2. Graduate work for the time being to be limited to the re-
quirements for the master's degree.
3. Advanced and professional instruction to be given at the
University.
4. Mining engineering and all courses in engineering above
the first two college years, except agricultural and indus-
trial engineering, to be given at the University.
5. Confinement of courses in liberal arts in the Agricultural
College to service courses.
6. The raising of standards of entrance to normal sdiools to
high school graduation.
7. The re-arrangement of basis for certification of teadiers in
the state.
8. The School of Science should function only as a school of
science, agriculture, mechanic arts, and household arts
of secondary degree.
9. The school at Bottineau should be an agricultural high
school.
10. The Agricultural High School at the Agricultural College
should be discontinued.
11. The school at Ellendale to function as a normal school and
continue instruction in industrial subjects.
The PreddoBt** President McVey has been absent from the Uni-
'^^ vcrsity during parts of the months of November
and December in attendance upon meetings in Washington and Chi-
cago. The gathering in Washington was the annual meeting of the
National Association of State Universities. The program this year
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University Notes 305
dealt largely with matters relating to the government of students
and conduct of curricula. The attendance of representatives from
the Universities was unusually large. President McVey was honored
by election to the position of Secretary-Treasurer of the Association.
This position is regarded as a permanent one and is filled by the
incimibent as long as he serves acceptably to the Association. Presi-
dent McVey presented a paper before the Assodadon and also addrest
the American Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment
Stations upon the various problems associated with the Newlands
Bill. Later he appeared before a committee of the National Re-
search Council, which met in New York, and presented the view-
point of the National Association of State Universities upon the mat-
ter of scientific research.
In December the Fourth Annual Meeting of the National Con-
ference on Marketing and Farm Credits was held in Chicago. Presi-
dent McVey has been the Chairman of this Conference for the past
three years and has presided over the meetings, and he continues
in that position for another year. The Conference was attended
by a very large number of delegates, more than 800, and the meet-
ings were large and enthusiastic. The discussion this year centered
about the Farm Loan Act, land colonization, immigration, the mar-
keting of livestock from the producer's point of view, and the mar-
keting of gr^n.
The place of meeting for the next Conference has not yet been
detennined.
Home-eomiii^ Dtkj The first official Home-coming Day in the his-
tory of the University of North Dakota was
October 28, 19 16. On that day was played the annual football game
\*ith the University of South Dakota, the final score being 20 to o
in favor of the University of North Dakota. On that day, too,
there was a mass meeting, a banquet, and other features of a Home-
coming program. The arrangements for the day were in charge
of a representative committee of students, faculty members, and
alumni. Of this committee. Dr. William Bck, head of the Depart-
ment of German, was chairman. The largest number of alumni ever
in attendance at any one University celebration were back to
strengthen the ties that bind them to their Alma Mater.
In addition to the game with South Dakota, which was the
central feature of the Home-coming event, the University mass
meeting and the University banquet are especially worthy of note.
At the mass meeting which was held in the morning at the Gym-
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2o6 The Quarterly Journal
nasium, President McVey presided. The alumni speakers who re-
called early incidents connected with the athletic life of the Uni-
versity and who made stirring appeals to the loyalty and enthu^asm
of the present student body were Mr. Skuli Skulason of the Class
of 1903, Mr. Victor Wardrope of the Class of 1905, Mr. O. B.
Burtncss of the Class of 1907, Mr. J. F. T. O'Connor of the Class
of 1908, and Mr. Howard Flint of the Class of 19 16. In every
address there was evidenced a fine spirit of co-operation and unity
and every speaker had the "forward look" for the University and
its activities. Indicative of the spirit manifested was the gift of an
athletic flag to the University by four members of the Robinstm
family, former students at the University. The flag was given by
Mrs. L. G. Larson, Mr. Wm. H. Robinson, Mrs. James Paupst,
and Mr. Harris Robinson.
At the banquet in the evening which was held at the Univerrity
Commons, Miss M. Beatrice Johnstone presided as toastmistrBss.
The same alimini spirit was evidenced thruout the program of toasts.
The speakers of the evening were Mrs. E. C. Hogenson of the Class
of 1894, ^f- Lynn Frazier of the Class of 1899, now Governor of
North Dakota, Mr. N. C. MacDonald of the class of 190a, recently
elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Dakota,
Mr. R. A. Nestoss and Mr. Fred Traynor of the Class of 1904, and
Miss Margaret Welch of the class of 19 18, Dean Vernon P. Squires
of the College of Liberal Arts, and President McVey. Special
music was furnished by the Sophomore Qass, and the singing of tte
Alma Mater closed the program.
I at EdnM- For the purpose of cooperating with various
tional M#Mir«iii«ate puMjc schools in the use and interpretation of
standard educational mesurements. Doctor John W. Todd of the
departments of psychology and education in the University of North
Dakota, has opened a Bureau of Educational Mesurements. From
the Bureau the various tests are to be sent out to the schoob that
enroll in the bureau, used in the different grades, and then returned
for tabulation. There are two purposes for this-— one, to enable
the sttp^ntendent to determine the abilities of his grade pupils in
the various school performances — arithmetic, reading, writing, spell-
ing, etc. — ^and the other, to determine the standard ability of North
Dakota school children in the different school performances. The
Bureau is being enthusiastically received. The well-known super-
intendent of one of North Dakota's leading sdiools writes: "I be-
lieve that this is about the biggest step forward that has been taken
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University Notes 20J
in years in the way of reaching the work of tlie pupils in the public
schools." Others are equally cordial in their welcome of the move-
ment
FMteniitiM of Che Among the book reviews this month will be
UahrmraitT f^^J^d ^ review of The Fraternities and the Col-
lege by Thomas Arkle Clark, Dean of Men at the University of
Illinois, a book which has received very favorable comment by those
interested in extra-curriculum student activities. A statement con-
cerning the fraternity situation at the University of North Dakota
may be interesting in connection with the points considered in that
book.
There are at the University five national social Greek-letter
fraternities — two men's, Sigma Chi and Phi Delta Theta, and three
women's, Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Delta Gamma — ^and
five local fraternities, three men's, Alpha Kappa Zeta, Synergoi,
and Alpha Lambda Rho, and two women's. Delta Kappa Tau and
Alpha Sigma Epsilon. In addition there are two professional law
fraternities, Phi Delta Phi and Phi Alpha Delta, an honorary ora-
torical and debating fraternity. Delta Sigma Rho, and the honorary
scholastic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa. It is reported that at least
two others are in the process of organization.
Six of the men's fraternities and three of the women's occupy
houses and furnish living quarters for approximately one hundred
and twenty-five. Unless the University can offer greatly increased
dormitory facilities in the near future the development of the chapter
house system seems the best solution of the housing problem.
During the past two years the scholarship rank of all the frater-
nities together has been above that of the University as a whole. For
example for the year 19 15-16 the average of both semesters for all
the fraternity members was 83.47, for non- fraternity students 83.31,
for the University as a whole 83.24, and for the freshmen 80.19.
Fraternities are permitted to pledge new members as soon as
they are matriculated in the University, but may not initiate them
until they have Sophomore standing — i.e., have established 24 credits.
Pan-hellenic, the women's interfraternity organization, has a ruling
that the initiate also must have made an average grade of 78 for the
two previous semesters and have no conditions or failures. Some of
the men's fraternities also require an average of 78 the previous
semester.
In the extra-curriculum activities the fraternity men and women
hold more than their numerical share of the offices partly because
they are chosen somewhat for that reason, and largely because they
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2o8 The Quarterly Journal
take more interest in college activities and have a better organiza-
tion. There is at present no particular evidence of any fraternity or
group of fraternities using unfair means to dominate any college
activity.
Socially the fraternities are limited to one informal and one
formal party each year, the parties being held on Saturday night and
closing not later than 11:30. Of course there are other parties
which the fraternity men and women may attend in comn:K>n with
other University students.
Uttiv^raity Athledos The football season just past has been the most
successful one in the last decade if not in the
history of that sport at the University. Not only in the number and
character of games won, but also in the interest and spirit displayed
by the team, by the students, by the alumni, and by the Grand Forb
peoi^e, has thb season been unique. To those who have followed
athletics at the University the past five years, this year represents
the first fruits of the consistent policy established by the Director of
Athletics and the Coach of the team, and we may reasonably expect
a further development along the same lines.
The team won all three of its home games. The Home-Coming
Day instituted for the first time this year brought in a large and
enthusiastic crowd of alumni and former students, and the victory
over South Dakota sent every one home with a firm resolution to
see a similar victory next year. The Agricultural College game on
the following Saturday was witnessed by the largest crowd ever
gathered on the University Athletic field. People undoubtedly like
to see the home team win, and thru the enthusiastic efforts of the
Grand Forks Boosters Club and the local papers, a great many en-
joyed that privilege.
One feature of the team's work deserved especial mention and
that is the scholastic record. In spite of increasingly stringent faculty
rules and standards, not a single member of the squad of twenty
men became deficient during the entire season, — z truly good record.
Schedule and Scores
Sept. 30 Fargo College o U. N. D. 49
Oct. 6 St. Thomas 7 16
Oct. 15 Minnesota 47 7
Oct. 21 Macalester o 7
Oct. 28 South Dakota University o 20
Nov. 4 Agricultural College o 10
Nov. 9 South Dakota State College 14 7
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The Quarterly Journal
Volume 7 APRIL, 1917 Number 3
The Physiology of Hunger
Charles E. Kiso,
Professor of Physiology, University of North Dakota
^ I '•WO words in our language used without dear discrimination
'• are hunger and appetite. Among the more hig^y developed
animals the "food urge'' is an universal experience, and there are
various observed phenomena indicating that even the lowest forms
of animal life react to a diminished food supply in such a manner
that the procuring of food is made easier. In ordinary usage the
words hunger and appetite are used to indicate the sensation com-
plex in the higher animals which leads to the taking and enjoying
of food.
We shall take the ground that the food urge is conmion to
all forms of animal life, — that the factor which urges the ameba
to pursue and engulf a neighbor protozooan is the same as that
which urges the starving wolf to chase and devour a rabbit, or a
man to go to the market and buy his daily bread. It is probably
far fetched to assert that a single celled animal like the ameba enjoys
engulfing a microscopic speck, or that a white blood corpuscle in
the human body gorges itself with dangerous bacteria because the
experience is pleasant. Here, no doubt, we are dealing with a re-
action as purely physico-chemical as any found in the scale of animal
life. With the appearance of a nervous system, becoming more com-
plex as we approach the higher animal types, the feeding urge also
becomes more complex. Consciousness enters in as an important
factor.
In the higher animals, especially man, the first phase of the
feeding urge is often unpleasant, followed by the pleasant phase
of eating, and ceasing when the experience again becomes or borders
on the unpleasant. The first unpleasant phase may be due to bodily
sensations or to the fact that we are in the habit of eating at certain
times. Hunger, in die sense in which I shall use it later, may be
absent but we may enjoy the eating, have appetite, and our ex-
perience border on or become unpleasant again, not because we are
over full, but because the demands of the habit have been satisfied.
Copfritht. 1917, U&lTtn!ty of Nortk Dakota.
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212 The Quarterly Journal
This latter seems to be one of the accomplishments of civilization.
Thus it appears that the problem of hunger and appetite becomes
as much one for the psychologist as for the physiologist. Without
ignoring the valuable and interesting contributions which psycholo-
gists have made to the solution of this problem, I want to turn
your attention mainly to the physiological side and state dearly the
view held by the majority of workers in this field, and to support
this view by summarizing the experimental evidence which has accu-
mulated within late years.
It is a matter of common knowledge that we refer hunger to
some part of the digestive tract. This fact has been largely instru-
mental in turning the attention of physiologists to the study of the
digestive tract in their attempts to solve this problem. Consequently,
about all we know about hunger has been gained from these studies.
The theories advanced to explain hunger may be classed under
three heads. The first may be called the theory of "Central Origin."
This assumes a hunger center in the brain which is not primarily
stimulated by food deficiency in the blood and tissues, although
Magendie, who first promulgated this theory, admitted that blood
depletion and nerve impulses from without might be contributing
factors. The second, which may be termed the "General Sensation"
theory, assumes the existence of a hunger center stimulated by blood
changes, and also by impulses originating in the tissues of the body
as the result of blood depletion. Bordier, Michael Foster, and
Johannes MiiUer were adherents of this theory. No clear distinc-
tion is made between hunger and appetite. This theory explains
the hunger activities of the stomach as being caused by nerve im-
pulses coming to the stomach by way of the vagi nerves. This has
been proved erroneous. On general principles the idea of blood
changes being the primary stimulus seems plaiisible but, as we shall
see later, the evidence is neither clearly for or against this hypo-
thesis. If we accept the idea of blood dQ>letion as the primary
stimulus, we have left the other alternative: viz., that it acts pri-
marily upon some peripheral mechanism, such as the stomach, and
all the accessory phenomena of hunger may be considered a secondary
reflex effect of stomach activities. This is the substance of the third
theory, — that of "Peripheral Origin," to which must be added the
possibility of other factors than blood changes as the possible stimuli.
The main theories of Peripheral origin are as follows:
I. Hunger is due to mechanical stimulation of sensory nerves
in the stomach mucosa, due to rubbing and pressure from contrac-
tion of the stomadi.
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Physiology of Hunger 213
2. Hunger is due to chemical stimulation of the sensory nerves
in the gastric mucosa — by the add of the gastric juice.
3. Hunger is due to a turgescence of the gastric glands.
4. Hunger is due to a stimulation of sensory nerves in the
stomach by chemical substances in the blood as a result of starvation.
5. Hunger is due to atony or absence of contractions of the
empty stomach.
6. Hunger is due to stimulation of sensory nerves in the wall
of the stomach by contraction of the empty or partly empty stomach.
We have not the time to give a complete statement of the foun-
dations upon which these theories are built. Suffice it to say tliat
in the main they have all been discarded except the last one, of
which you will soon hear more.
The view most generally accepted at present is that hunger
is the sensation complex resulting from the stimulation of sensory
nerves in the muscular portion of the stomach wall, brought about
by contractions of the empty or nearly empty stomach. Further-
more these contractions take place independent of motor impulses
from the brain and spinal cord. Hiuiger is thus distinguished from
sy;>petite which refers to the pleasure experienced in eating and which
is dependent upon taste, sight, smell and memory.
I shall attempt to state briefly the experimental evidence upon
which these views are built.
Most of the data has been obtained by studies upon the empty
stomach of man and the higher animals commonly used in biological
laboratories,— dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and birds. It may
also be worth while to remind ourselves that most of this work
has been done in America.
The first observations in this country were made in the early
thirties by Dr. Beaumont, working with a Canadian hunter, Alexis
St. Martin. St. Martin was shot in the abdomen, a considerable
portion of the left anterior abdominal wall being carried away, also
producing perforation of the stomach. It seems almost miraculous
that in the days before asepsis such a wound would heal, but it did.
However, a permanent opening or fistula remained thru the abdomi-
nal wall into the stomach. St. Martin came under the observation
of a young army surgeon, Dr. Beaumont, who saw the opportunity
of studying gastric digestion. St. Martin agreed to allow the
young ''backwoods physiologist" as Osier styles Beaumont, to make
observations, but the relations between the two soon grew stormy.
Those who think that strikes for higher wages are strictly a modem
luxury should read the accounts of the strikes of this scientific sub-
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214 The Quarterly Journal
ject Beaumont was persistent and made concession after concession
until he was finally supporting almost the whole St Martin clan.
Beaimiont took many a peep into St. Martin's stomach while it
was at work, and his curiosity gave the world much inside infor-
mation. He studied the rate of digestion of various foods, studied
the composition of the juice secreted by the stomach, how the juice
is secreted, noted the movements of the full stomach, and developed
a theory of hunger. He noted that when the stomach is empty the
mucosa swells. This swelling, he thought, stimulates nerves which
give rise to the sensation of hunger. Some of Beaumont's conclu-
sions have been proved erroneous, but in the main his observations
have stood the tests of later experiment.
Beaumont does not appear to have noted or at least taken
seriously any movements of the empty stomach. Scattering work
both in this country and abroad left this question in doubt. In 1905
Boldyreff, by placing a balloon into the empty stomach of the dog
and using a recording apparatus, demonstrated conclusively that the
empty or nearly empty stomach contracts rhythmically.
In 191 1 Cannon and Washburn demonstrated that the vigorous
periodic contractions of the empty stomach are synchronous with
hunger pangs. They used the balloon method on human subjects.
During 19 12-19 16 Carlson and his assistants confirmed the
work of Cannon and in addition, proved that the hunger sensation
arises from the stimulation of sensory nerves in the muscular portion
of the stomach wall and not from the mucosa.
It was the writer's privilege and pleasure to work in Professor
Carlson's laboratory during the early part of this work. Because of
this familiarity and also because of the fact that the method used
was the same in principle as that used by Boldyreff and Cannon,
and the ground covered much the same, we shall confine ourselves
largely to the results of Carlson and his assistants.
The Method
A soft rubber balloon is attached to one end of a rubber tube.
The other end is attached to a manometer filled with some fluid,
one arm carrying a float to which is attached a writing pmnt. A
smoked drum made to revolve by means of a special clock-work
receives the record. The balloon is swallowed or inserted into the
stomach, then slightly inflated. Contractions are then recorded. For
the purpose of recording strong contractions, the liquid used in the
manometer is mercury, but for smaller and weaker contractions,
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Physiology of Hunger 215
water or scmie liquid slightly heavier. In most of Professor Carlson's
work bromoform was used.
SUBJECTS
Human subjects, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons, and
frogs were used.
Professor Carlson was fortunate in securing the services of a
second "Alexis St. Martin," a young Bohemian, Mr. Vlcek. When
a boy but five years old, one day i^^e in his father's saloon, he
swallowed some caustic potash from a bottle, thinking it beer. This
resulted in a closure of the esophagus, rendering swallowing impos-
sible. In order to save the youngster's life it was necessary to make
an artificial opening into die stomach thru the abdominal wall. He
is now thirty-one years old, and has fed himself thru this opening
since the operation. While in the hospital he learned of plans to
perform a second operation to open his esophagus. He escaped thru
a window and never appeared again at the hospital. Later he came
to America, learned the barber's trade, and was making his own way
when discovered. He has developed into an average sized man and
appears healthy in every respect. He was made store-room man
for die department of physiology at the University of Chicago, which
position he still holds. His unfamiliarity with our language and
with the routine of a scientific laboratory at first earned for him the
sobriquet of "The Jinx" but he soon overcame his handicap.
He carries a rubber tube in the opening, the tube about one
inch in diameter and corked. At meal time he mixes his food, heats
it, puts it into a large rubber S3rringe, removes the cork from the
rubber tube, squirts the food into his stomach, puts in the cork, and
goes about his business without any disonnfort. Once a day he
enjoys the taste of his meal. He chews it first, then squirts it into
his 8t<Knach. Thru this opening it is possible to observe the inside
of die stomach or to insert the balloon and record the movements
of the stomach.
In the case of other human subjects, including infants one day
old, the balloon was swallowed.
With dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs, the problem is simple.
Hiese animals can be taught to swallow balloons, or artificial open-
ings can be made surgically.
In the case of human subjects, subjective experiences were also
recorded. Electric buttons. A, B, C, etc, were placed on the chair
or table occupied by the subject. Each button was connected with
a signal magnet writing on die drum below the manometer writing
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2i6 The Quarterly Journal
point When the subject felt weak hunger pangs, he was rnstnicted
to press A, when stronger ones, B, etc In order to prevent faking
on the part of human subjects, the recording apparatus was alwiQrs
screened from the view of the subject.
THB STOMACH IN HUNGER
With this brief review of methods and subjects in mind, we
shall pass to the stomach findings associated with hunger.
When the balloon is placed into the empty stomach, there are
at least four features visible on the record:
(i) Periods of powerful rhythmical contractions alternating
with periods of relative quiescence. These contractions give rise to
the hunger pangs.
(2) A tonus rhythm of great regularity occurring at twenty-
second intervals and called the "twenty-seconds rh5rthm." This
rhythm was discovered by Carlson. The reason why others did not
observe it was that their recording devices were not sensitive enough.
(3) A pulse rhythm.
(4) A re^iratory rhythm.
Such records have been obtained from adult men, infants nine
hours old, dogs, rabbits, goats, guinea pigs, bull frogs, birds, and
snapping turtles.
Some interesting facts in relation to these contractions have been
noted:
(a) The more vigorous the hunger contraction, the more in-
tense the hunger pang.
(b) The hunger contraction are more frequent and stronger
in the young than old.
(c) Infants frequently wake up when the contractions come
on, or when awake, cry.
(d) The hunger contractions are present in infants before any
food has been taken.
Various objections have been made to these contractions being
called contractions of the empty stomach, because of the presence
of the balloon. The following facts seem to me to answer such
objections:
(a) In the case of Mr. Vlcck, the contractions may be seen
by direct inspection.
(b) The presence of the balloon between contraction periods
does not induce them.
(c) The contractions produce the same effect on conscious-
ness, either in the presence or absence of the balloon.
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Physiology of Hunger 217
(d) In pigeons, the contractions of the empty crop can be
seen thru the skin, and the introduction of a balloon does not alter
their intensity or frequency.
The outstanding fact, so far noted, is that the empty stomach
of the animals studied exhibits periodic contractions, and that in
man, these contractions give rise to hunger pangs. The evidence
also supports the view that this is true in the animals below man.
But the hunger pains do not constitute the whole experience. Be-
sides die pains, there is an increased excitability, manifested by muscu-
lar alertness, muscular contraction, changes in the circulatory system,
and a whole complex of subjective experiences including a feeling
of emptiness, dizziness, headache, and nausea. The question at once
arises, are these phenomena reflex effects of the contractions of the
empty stomach, or are the contractions of the stomach to be put on
the same basb as the others, and the whole considered as a reaction
to some more fundamental factor, perhaps some chemical factor in
the blood, resulting from a lowering of the food supply in the body,
or the accumulation of some waste product? This is a diflScult
point to determine, for the reasons that all the above experiences
may occur under conditions other than those named. On the other
hand, it is to be noted that in healthy men, when these phenomena
occur in relation to the hunger experience, they are always associated
with stomach contractions.
The phenomenon of increased muscular irritability has been
studied by direct observation and by mesurement of the knee jerk.
It is needless to comment at length on the first, for it is a matter of
common experience that hungry animals are more restless than fed
ones. This has been borne out by laboratory experiments. It is
also a fact that this restlessness takes place independently of con-
sciousness. The decerebrated pigeon stands quietly until the hunger
contractions begin, then he begins to shift and persists in so doing
until fed, the hunger contractions ceasing as soon as the animal
begins to eat. Thb fact also is of interest because it indicates that
the hunger contractions cease before any chemical adjustment in the
blood due to food absorption is possible.
In the case of the knee jerk, it is well known that it depends
upon a certain degree of tonus and excitability of the extensor
muscles of the leg. In the case of Mr. Vlcek, it was shown that
the knee jerk response was always the strongest at the height of
the hunger contraction, indicating that other muscles in the body
besides those of the stomach are influenced by the underlying cause
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2l8 The Quarterly Journal
of the hunger urge, or the hunger contractions reflcxly affect other
muscles.
The heart rate is also affected. During the contractions, the
rate is increased, and in case of very vigorous contractions, the rate
of the heart may be increased as much as thirty beats per minute.
Blood pressure varies during the contractions, the variation not
being steady, but marked by great luisteadiness.
The saliva flow is increased with each contraction, the gushes
being exactly synchronous with the contractions.
The subjective symptoms accompanying the contractions are very
interesting, pain and a feeling of emptiness being die most universal
experiences, but in many people there may be a feeling of faintness,
dizziness, headache, and even nausea. These all disappear with the
cessation of the contractions of the stomach. Whence come the
stimuli which give rise to these experiences? There is general agree-
ment that they come from the stomach. But do they come from
the mucosa or the muscular portion ? The experiments carried out
to determine this point were of considerable variety, and finally
resolved into a study of the sensory response following stimulation
of the gastric mucosa.
(a) Does stimulation of gastric mucosa give rise to pain?
(b) Does the mucosa exhibit tactile sensibility?
(c) Is the mucosa sensitive to temperature?
(d) Will stimulation of mucosa lead to nausea?
It is a common notion diat injury to the lining membrane of
the stomach gives rise to painful sensations, but experiment does not
bear this out. In the case of Mr. Vlcek, it is possible to stimulate
the mucous membrane of the stomach mechanically, chemically and
with beat and cold. Such experiments were carried out. In no
case did he interpret the sensation as pain, altho rubbing, pinching,
introduction of irritating chemicals, hot and cold water were re-
sorted to. He was invariably able to tell when the membrane was
touched suggesting that there is a form of tactile sensibility, but this
was never so clear and distinct as the sense of touch in the skin.
He was invariably able clearly to distinguish between hot and cold
substances and described the sensations as those of heat and cold.
Professor Carlson carried out similar experiments on himself. He
swallowed a large rubber tube, thru which was pushed a small test
tube brush attached to a piano wire. He rubbed his gastric mucous
membrane vigorously but had no painful sensations. He also swal-
lowed a system of rubber tubes so constructed and arranged that
hot and cold water could be applied at different points without
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Physiology of Hunger 219
produdng a mixed sensation, and he was invariably able to distin-
guish between hot and cold when applied only to the stomach. No
amount of pressure applied gave a typical hunger pang, but all
mesures which produced contractions of the stomach muscles pro-
duced sensations which had many of the characteristics. It is also
well established that irritation of the gastric mucosa may produce
nausea.
From these experiments it is concluded that the hunger pangs
are not due to impulses coming from the gastric mucosa, but it ap-
pears possible that the experience as a whole may be influenced and
modified by such impulses.
With this in mind, let us briefly review the factors which do
or have been supposed to a£Fect hiuiger either favorably or unfavor-
ably. We shall consider the following:
(a) Reflexes from the mouth, nose, and eyes.
(b) Local effects in the stomach.
(c) Reflexes from the intestines.
(d) Emotional states.
(e) Isolation of stomach from central nervous system.
(f) Exercise.
(g) Sleep.
(h) Cold baths.
(i) Smoking.
(j) Tightening the belt.
(k) Starvation.
(1) Age.
Reflexes from mouth, nose and eyes. It is a matter of common
experience that the hunger pangs cease as soon as one begins to eat.
It is also common testimony that the sight and smell of palatable
food increases hunger. We might infer from this that tasting food
results in the inhibition of die hunger contractions, and that the
sight and smell of food increases them. Mr. Vlcek makes good
subject for the study of the first point. He has all the possibilities
of any other normal individual except that he cannot swallow his
food. On the introduction of various substances into his mouth
during die hunger contractions, including water, sugar, quinine, acid,
and palatable foods, invariably the contractions and pangs ceased.
The inhibition was more prolonged with acids and quinine. Rogers
and Patterson proved that this is not the case with the rabbit, guinea
pig, goat, and bull frog. With dogs, the evidence is not so conclu-
sive. Thus it appears that in man the higher cerebral processes have
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220 The Quarterly Journal
a large part to play in the control of the hunger contractions altho,
as we have already indicated, do not initiate them.
Seeing and smelling palatable foods have no eflect on the hun-
ger contractions, except to decrease them indirectly in all the animals
studied. We cannot deny the favorable effect of these experiences
upon the food urge but are forced to conclude that the phenomenon
belongs to the appetite phase. On diis point we shall quote Profes-
sor Carlson's own account of an experiment upon himself: "Before
beginning the five days' starvation period, our colleague, Dr. Luck-
hardt, was asked to bring in, unknown to the author, a tray of choice
food in the midst of a hunger period. The arrangements being made,
the matter was dismissed from the author's thought. At one o'clock
on the morning of the fourth starvation day, the subject was asleep
and the records showed him to be in the midst of a period of vigprous
and regular hunger contractions. He was awakened to behold Dr.
Luckhardt and the assistant enjoying a feast of porterhouse steak
with onions, fried potatoes, and a tomato salad. The tray of edibles
was placed not more than four inches from the subject's face, and
the delicious odor of the food filled his nostrils. He felt the hunger
pangs as unusually intense, and there was considerable salivation.
However, the hunger contractions were not increased either in rate
or intensity. In a few minutes, on the contrary, the hunger con-
tractions became weaker and the intervals between them greater, and
the period terminated by this gradual depression much sooner than
it probably would have done in the absence of the dinner scene.
This was unodubtedly due to local acid inhibition from the copious
secretion of the add gastric juice.
When the hungry individual sees or smells good foods, the gas-
tric hunger pangs are more intense, altho there is no change, or even
when there is some decrease in the strength of the gastric hunger
contractions. This is, therefore, a phenomenon of central reinforce-
ment"
Local effects in the stomach. For the purpose of determining
this point, various substances, including water, HCl, alkalies, phenol,
chloreton, orthoform, quinine-urea-hydrochloride, and alcoholic bev-
erages were introduced into the stomach during the hunger periods.
Water, either warm or cold, introduced during a hunger pang,
inhibits the contractions of the stomach, cold water being slightly
more effective than warm. The inhibition, however, lasts but a
short time.
Hydrochloric add inhibits the contractions of the stomach, the
degree of inhibition running parallel with the strength of the add.
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Physiology of Hunger 221
HCl is the acid normally secreted in the stomach. It appears as
soon as an animal begins to eat, even before food is swallowed, and
also when food is seen or smelled. This is probably the explanation
of the inhibition experienced by Professor Carlson in the experiment
quoted above, but does not account for the inhibition coming on by
stimulation of the taste nerves in the mouth, for this inhibition comes
on much more quickly and occurs when the vagi nerves are cut, in
which case there is no secretion of acid until food reaches the stomach.
In the case of the local anaesthetics, phenol, orthoform, chlore-
ton, quinine-urea-hydrochloride, the effect was inhibitory, but no
more marked than after water, and no specific anaesthetic effect could
be demonstrated.
The experiments with the alcoholic beverages, — beer, whisky,
brandy, and wines, — ^are interesting, because it is the popular belief
that these substances are appetizers. It is evident that if they affect
the hunger phase proper, they must initiate or increase the contrac-
tions of the empty stomach. They do neither, but on the contrary,
they have an inhibitory effect, which is spedfic and proportional to
the concentration of the alcohol. None of the subjects used were
total abstainers or habitual users. They all admitted a favorable
influence on the food urge. This being the case, we have here an
instance where the inhibition of the motor-sensory phase is accom-
panied by the psychic augmentation. How can we explain this?
The sensory experience resulting from hunger contraction is some-
what unpleasant, the effect of the alcohol is to eliminate this, but
if this were all, then all other substances which inhibit the hunger
contractions ought to produce the same psychic augmentation. The
alcohol produces various sensations resulting from a stimulation of
nerves in the mouth, throat, and esophagus. These no doubt affect
the cerebral states, and as a result of training or habit, result in a
favorable state. It appears certain that the individual's first taste
of alcoholic beverages does not focus his attention on food and eating.
Reflexes from the intestine. It is well known that in cases of
gall stones, enteritis, appendicitis, intestinal obstruction, and consti-
pation, hunger and appetite are frequently absent. It has been shown
conclusively that the introduction of gastric juice, chyme, acids, alka-
lies, water, milk and oil into the intestine results in the inhibition
of the hunger contractions of the stomach. The same is true of
rectal feeding. It has been shown that this inhibition is due partly
to chemical and partly to mechanical stimulation, the xrhemical giv-
ing the most lasting result. This is not to be taken as a proof that
die gastric hunger contractions give rise to the whole hunger-appetite
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222 The Quarterly Journal
experience, but rather is a statement of the mechanism of the aboli-
tion of the hunger-pang phase.
Emotional states. In the dog, fear, anger, joy, and eagerness
inhibit the gastric contractions, but only temporarily. In man, fear
and anxiety have the same effect, but reading, figuring, and arguing
have no demonstrable e£Fect. The results of Mr. Vlcek are illus-
trative of the first point. In one experiment, in which 200 cc of
a .5^ acetic add solution was being prepared to be put into the
stomach, he watdied the preparation, and was under the impression
that pure vinegar was to be used. At this point, the stomach con-
tractions became very feeble. He looked worried, and upon being
asked whether he did not feel well, he asked if it were the intention
to put all that vinegar into his stomadi. "It will surely hurt me,"
he said. The experimenter, to assure him, drank half of the add
himself, then asked Mr. Vlcek to take a mouthful. Then he laughed
and said, "Oh, I thought it was pure vinegar." In two minutes the
hunger contractions had returned to their normal rate and amplitude.
Isolation of the stomach from the central nervous system. It
must be apparent that in man and the higher animals the hunger
contractions have a marked influence upon the central nervous sys-
tem, and the central nervous system in turn upon the hunger con-
tractions. The stomach is connected with the central nervous sys-
tem thru two groups of nerves, the vagi and the splanchnics. The
vagi carry impulses concerned with the maintenance of gastric tonus,
with the secretion of appetite gastric juice, and carry the afferent
impulses residting in sensations from the stomach of which we have
spoken earlier. The splanchnics are inhibitory in their function ; it
is thru them mainly that gastric contractions are inhibited. What
happens when both of these sets of nerves are cut? Obviously, in
man this has not been done, and consequently the subjective results
are not known. The experiments have been done on dogs, with
results as one would expect. Before stating them, I wish to place
before you another fact of prime importance. The stomach has with-
in itself an intrinsic nervous mechanism, sometimes called a short
local reflex mechanism, the plexuses of Meissner and Auerbach.
When the vagi alone are cut, the inhibition of the gastric con-
tractions thru the central nervous system is more profound than
normally.
When the ^lanchnics alone are cut, central inhibition is slight.
When both are cut, central inhibition is eliminated.
With the stomach entirely isolated from the central nervous
system, the hunger contractions appear much as in the normal, are
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Physiology of Hunger 223
not inhibited by fear or anger or placing of substances in the mouth,
but inhibited readily by local application in the stomach of various
substances just as in the normal animal This means that the stom-
ach contractions are initiated by a local stimulation, and that the
extrinsic nerves are a part of a regulatory mechanism.
Effect of exercise. It is generally believed that exercise in-
creases hunger. There is no doubt that exercise does produce con-
ditions which result in food urge. The experiments on this point
may be divided into three classes: Those on dogs running in a tread-
mill, man running in situ, and after effects of six to twelve-mile walks
and moderate tennis. Exercise, when begun during a hunger period,
invariably inhibits the contractions. The after effects of exercise,
if not carried to the point of fatigue, are always in the direction of
increased contractions. From this, it seems dear that the hunger
pangs cannot be the urge which keeps an animal in the chase.
Hunger contractions during sleep. Sleep is characterized by
bodily relaxation. The blood pressure falls and bodily temperature
is slightly lower than during the period of wakefulness. Conse-
quently, one would expect a diminution in the contraction of the
empty stomach* Surprisingly, the results are just the opposite. The
stomach never sleeps. As soon as it is empty, the contractions come
on, and if anything with greater vigor than during the wakeful
hours. This has also been shown true for infants, and it is our
opinion that the infant awakes and cries for its feeding because of
the hunger pangs. The stcnnach empties itself of a milk diet in
from two to four hours, and the feeding interval of most infants
whidi are not "spoiled" usually is about three hours.
Effect of cold baths. The immediate effect of ice packs and
cold baths is inhibition of the hunger contractions, but they gradu-
ally reappear. The after effects of a prolonged cold bath are in
the direction of increased hunger contractions. It is worthy of note
that cold baths increase bodily muscular tonus. The subjects fre-
quently complained of a feeling of emptiness, even tho the gastric
contractions were in a state of inhibition. This suggests strongly
diat the feeling of emptiness which is often given as part of the
hunger-appetite complex does not result from the himger contrac-
tions of the stomach but rather from an increased tonus of the ab-
dominal muscles, certainly not from stomach relaxation for the
"empty" feeling should they be expected in other forms of inhibition.
Effect of smoking. Most of us who experience hunger pangs
and who enjoy the fumes of the weed have experienced a cessation
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224 The Quarterly Journal
of hunger pangs while smoking. This appears to be true in both
habitual and occasional smd^ers. The explanation is not so dear,
but owing to the fact that the degree of inhibition runs parallel
with the "strength" of the smoke, it is likely that the inhibition is
largely due to the stimulation of nerves in the mouth.
Effect of tightening the belt. We have heard it said that tight-
ening the belt diminishes the hunger pangs — ^the same for lying on
the stomach. Experimental results bear out this statement so far
at least as the contractions of the empty stomach play any part in
the hunger complex.
Effect of starvation. Our experience teaches us that the absti-
nence from food for a much longer period than usual is unpleasant.
If ordinary hunger pains coming on five or six hours after eating
are unpleasant, it takes but little imagination to picture the experi-
ences of a three or four-day fast as almost imbearable. Many such
word pictures have found their way into literature. The testimony
of professional fasters and the results of laboratory experiments in-
dicate that the greatest discomfort occurs during the first few days
of starvation, altho the hunger contractions may increase in intensity
and end in gastric tetanus. Professor Carlson and an assistant,
Mr. L., subjected themselves to five days' starvation. They at-
tended to their daily labors at the same time. The hunger contrac-
tions increased in intensity in both men, but not the subjective
experiences, which they ascribe to cerebral depression, for they found
that the maximum discomfort came just before the feeling of de-
pression began. In regard to appetite, their experiences differed.
Mr. L. developed an aversion for food after the second day, but
Professor Carlson says that food looked good to him all the time.
All feelings of discomfort disappeared as soon as they began to eat.
The after effects are worthy of note. Both men testify that they
felt better after the fast than before, could do better work, enjoyed
their meals more; in fact, one of them expresses himself as feeling
as if he had had a month in the mountains. This experience has
some bearing on the question of occasional fasting for health. While
it may be far fetched to advocate starvation as a panacea, it seems
reasonable to guess that a fast several times a year would add to the
length of life and joy of living.
Age and hunger. It has been shown in both man and dogs that
the hunger contractions are more vigorous in the young than the old.
Along with the sa3ring that a "man is as old as his arteries," we
might well place "A man is as old as his hunger contractions."
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Physiology of Hunger 225
At this point, it seems desirable even at the risk of repetition
to summarize the main facts and the conclusions which seem justi-
fiable.
1. The empty or nearly empty stomach of all the animals
studied exhibits periodically rhythmical contractions.
2. These contractions give rise to hunger pains.
3. The stimulus acts on nerve endings in the muscular por-
tion of the stomach wall.
4. These contractions reflexly a£Fect muscular activity in other
parts of the body.
5. The heart rate is increased.
6. The vaso-motor mechanism is made unstable.
7. Sensory disturbances, such as headaches, dizziness, and
nausea, are produced.
8. These hunger contractions occur independently of the ex-
trinsic nervous mechanism of the stomach.
9. The hunger contractions are affected by nervous impulses
coming thru the central nervous system, — taste of food and emotions
inhibit.
10. This gastric contraction increased reflex activity of skeletal
muscle— circulatory disturbance — sensory complex is considered as
the hunger phase of the food urge.
11. Impulses from the nose, eyes, mouth, associated with memo-
ries and habit, give rise, independently of any stomach contractions,
to another complex experience which we may call the appetite phase.
Gastric contractions may also play a part in the initiation of this
phase, but are not necessary.
12. The following hypotheses seem justifiable:
(a) All animals react to a diminished food supply in such
(a) All animals react to a diminished food supply in such
(b) In the lower forms, having a stomach, but a low grade
of intelligence, the hunger phase is perhaps the most
prominent.
(c) In the higher forms, appetitie comes into greater
prominence and is perhaps the main factor in regu-
lating the feeding process. «
But lye have not yet touched upon the fundamental question.
What is the underlying cause of the hunger-appetite complex? This
question remains unanswered. We exprest the opinion at the be-
ginning of this paper that at bottom the fundamental stimulus is of
the same kind thruout the whole animal scale. The end result is
dq>endent upon the organization of the animal. In the higher ani
mals the feeding urge has a mtich less direct relation to the actual
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226 The Quarterly Journal
need of food than among the lower. I believe that the explanation
will have to be sought in the field of cell metabolism, which is true
of the explanation of all biological processes. This makes the prob-
lem a physico-chemical one. It has been suggested that the primary
stimulus is a chemical substance whidi in the lower animals accu-
mulates in the cells, and in the higher, gets into the circulation, and
when brought into contact with the stomach cells and cells in the
central nervous system, acts as a stimulus. It has been shown that
the transfusion of blood from a starving dog into a normal well-fed
dog results in vigorous hunger contractions, and also that when
the sugar content of the tissues is lowered, the contractions are in-
creased, also when the H ion content of the blood and itssues is
increased. This always occurs in starvation. It appeals to me that
this cannot be the direct exdtant in the higher animals,' if so, then
the feeding urge would come on when the food supply of the body
is depleted, and furthermore in higher animals the hunger contrac-
tions frequently begin when absorption from the intestines is at the
highest, consequently, the food supply the richest, and the H ion
content the lowest. Furthermore, with reference to the hunger
contractions, if they are set up by a blood stimulus, we should expect
them to be continuous and increase in intensity until they pass into
tetanus. This latter is the case in starvation, but the tetanus is not
lasting, and the contraction periods come periodically and rather
regularly. We will venture the following h3rpotheses which do not
appear to be out of harmony with the known facts:
(i) The neuromuscular mechanism of the stomach is auto-
matic in the sense that it responds to stimuli arising within itself.
(2) These stimuli are the results of metabolic changes within
the cells of this mechanism.
(3) The mechanism b keyed up to the point where it dis-
charges when the supply of potential energy reaches a certain point
The periods between contractions represent the building up or storage
stage.
(4) The strength of stimuliis necessary to cause a discharge
of energy remains fairly constant when no nervous impulses come
in from the outside.
(5) The stimulus threshold is raised by the presence of foods
in the stomach and by impulses by way of the splandinic nerves, and
lowered by impulses coming by way of the vagi.
(6) With the absence of inhibitory stimuli, the contraction
periods come on regularly.
(7) The contraction periods have no direct relation to the
need for food, and are signals that the stomach is empty.
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Physiology of Hunger 227
The hunger appetite complex bears some relation to the diges-
tive process in the stomach. Food is digested by the gastric juice,
aided by movements of the stomach, whidi in man, at least, seem
to be controlled entirely differently from the hunger contractions
and have no direct relation to them. The gastric juice is secreted
when the hungry animal sees and smells food, tastes food, and when
the food reaches the stomach. It is an old idea that good cheer at
meal time is conducive to good digestion. This is sound physiology.
We have seen that seeing or smelling food has no immediate effect
on the hunger contractions of the empty stomach, but these ex-
periences lead to a copious flow of gastric juice before the food is
touched. This juice is called appetite juice. The same condition
which give rise to appetite, stimulate the gastric secretion, and the
conditions which decrease or abolish appetite, have the same e£Fect
on the gastric secretion.
In disease, we frequently find the whole hunger-appetite com-
plex lacking or exaggerated. Thiis, in gastritis, tonsilitis, grippe, and
severe colds, the hunger- appetite complex is diminished in intensity
or absent. In these cases, there are no hunger contractions. In
diabetes the complex is usually exaggerated.
In cancer the hunger contractions are frequently normal, even
when the patient can no longer take food by mouth.
In fevers up to about I02^F., there usually is not much change
in the gastric contractions, but the effect on consciousness is differ-
ent ; instead of typical himger pains, the patient nearly always com-
plains of headache, nausea, and epigastric distress. In fevers higher
than 102^ the whole complex is absent.
So-called neurasthenics form an interesting group. Numerous
cases have been observed where the patient imagined something dread-
ful was happening in his abdomen and sought medical aid, when
the only finding was a vigorous contraction of any empty stomach.
In one case reported by Dr. Luckhardt, the patient thought the
balloon was introduced for treatment, was greatly benefited by a
few sittings, and left the hospital very grateful for waht had been
done for him.
The effect of drugs upon hunger and appetite forms an inter-
esting study. So-called appetizers are numerous and some wonder-
ful cures have been attributed to them. Most of them are bitters.
Not a single one studied, and the list is large, has directly stimulated
the hunger phase. The favorable effects, if there are any, and most
observes believe there are, must be obtained throu^ augmentation of
the i^petite phase, probably through the stimulation of nerves in
the mouth and the esophagus.
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The Geological History of
North Dakota
Arthur Gray Leonard,
Professor of Geology, and Director of the State Geological Survey,
University of North Dakota
COMPARED with many of the states the geological history
of North Dakota is simple. The flat-lsdng formations have
undergone little deformation, they have not suffered metamorphism
and there have been no extrusions or intrusions of igneous material
The rocks of the state are mostly clays, shales and sandstones be-
longing to the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, these being covered
with glacial drift except in southwestern North Dakota.
The Paleozoic Era
Thruout a portion of this era the Paleozoic sea doubtless cov-
ered the state and in its waters were deposited the limestones,
shales, and sandstones of the Cambrian, Ordovidan, Silurian, and
Devonian, two or more of which systems outcrop not far to the
north in Manitoba, to the east in Minnesota, and to the south in
the Black Hills, but are however in North Dakota deeply buried
beneath more recent formations. The Grafton well passed thru,
beneath the drift and Lake Agassiz silt of the Red River Valley,
about 600 feet of strata which have been referred to the Cambrian
and Ordovidan periods. During the later Paleozoic the region docs
not appear to have been an area of deposition and probably re-
mained above the sea thruout a large part of the Mesozoic Era,
since rocks belonging to the Triassic, Jurassic and and Lower Cre-
taceous or Comandiian are wanting in the state.
The Cretaceous Period
The oldest Cretaceous formation in the district is the Dakota
sandstone, which does not i^pear at the surface in North Dakota
but is reached in many wells and is the source of artesian water in
the southeastern part of the state. This sandstone is non-marine
and was deposited dther in a large lake, or was spread by rivers
over tfadr broad plains. It imderlies the entire state except the
greater part of the Red River Valley, where it has probably been
eroded.
Marine conditions were now brought about thru die sulnner-
gence of a large part of North America. The Gulf of Mexico
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Geological History of North Dakota 229
invaded the continent and finally stretched north to the Arctic Ocean.
All of North Dakota was covered by the waters of this great inland
sea. In it were deposited the muds whidi today form the Benton
shale, the formation outcroppbg only in the valley of the Pembina
river. Later the sea became somewhat clearer and abounded with
countless numbers of Foraminifera, including Globigerina and Textu-
laria whose calcareous shells mingled with the fine sediments to
form the injure chalky limestone and highly calcareous shale of
the Niobrara. Then followed another long period during which a
great thickness of muds and days, with occasionally a little sand,
were laid down on the floor of the sea, these deposits forming the
blue gray shale of the Pierre formation. Conditions of deposition
again changed, the waters became more shallow and restricted, while
strong currents and waves near shore sorted the material, resulting
in the formation of the Fox Hills sandstone.
The Tertiary Period
After the sands of the Fox Hills formation had been deposited,
the sea withdrew hofOi the region so that the succeeding strata are
of continental origin. They constitute the lower portion of the
Lance formation which in places rests unconformably on the Fox
Hills sandstone, erosion channek in the latter marking the contact
of the Fox Hills and Lance formations. But marine conditions
again returned over a portion of southwestern North Dakota, for
the fossils indicate that the Cannonball member of the Lance forma-
tion was of marine origin.^ While this upper member was being
laid down in the waters of the sea, whidi probably invaded the
region h(xn the east, further west deposits of continental origin, the
Ludlow lignitic member, were forming. Thus the Lance formation
is in part of continental, in part of marine origin. Those portions
which are of continental origin were probably formed, in large part
at least, by rivers, as is suggested by the cross-bedding and the ir-
regularity of deposition, tho some of the beds may be lacustrine.
In places extensive swamps were formed and the trees and other
vegetation which grew in them accumulated to form the beds of
Ugnite which are characteristic of the upper non-marine portion of
the Lance formation.
During Lance time the most prominent group of animals was
the dinosaurs, among which the large and climisy Triceratops was
particularly characteristic of the epoch.
1. B. Russell Lloyd and C. J. Hares, The Oannonball Marine Member
of the Lance Formation of North and South Dakota and Its Bearing on
the Lanc9-Laramie Problem, Jour, of OeoL, Vol. 28, 1915, pp. 528-547.
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5VS-5ER-
GEOLOGICAL SECTION OF NORTH DAKOTA
P
FORMATION NAME
LAKE SILT
zorxTo
Unconfbrmity •
GLACIAL DRIFT
- Unconformity ■
WHITE RIVER
FORMATlONlJSiVi
Unconformity
C HARACTER OF ROCK S
KmeN tamincrfecf,
-no
igostiJde^
Boutder cloy, sancf.
•JffQ "^^^ gf'oy/of, oncf boufders
FORT
UNION
FORMATION
40td Coarse s and% fc ne ccntotn^
300 *^ po^^^^fCokareoiss c/ay, and
rresh-wcrtef Itmestone
1000
LANCE
FORMATION
Ye/lo^ and ash -gray
Shah, sandstone, ana
cloy , wfth nonterous
beds of / ignite
— Unconformity rLTTrTOll
FOX HILLS SANn^TOK^p ^^125
Connonbad rtYMMyt nTcmber
Dark sandy shale, and
shafy sandstone Yieflovif
iandrrone containing ir*ar$nt
ihe/h O-JOOfeet
1000 LudhMV lignltlc merr^er^ Jotk^
shah, calcareous sandstone,
and llqnlte. 0-350 feet
Oarkshah^yelkm saxistone,
ttm lignite beds. 400-SZ5ft
200
500
DAKOTA iHHIe
SANDSTONE ""'"""
sandstone cpnerefions,
marine shells.
Blue shale conto*r>ing
marine shells.
Chalky /Imestone and
calcareous shale.
Dark'Co/orea ir>ar/ne
shale
m £50
Sandstone containing
many pksnt remains
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^Geological History of North Dakota 231
The age of the Lance formation is still in doubt, tho it is
referred by the U. S. Geological Survey, with some question, to
the Tertiary. Following the deposition of the Cannonball member
of the formation, the sea withdrew from the region never to return
again.
The shales and sandstones of the overlying Fort Union forma-
tion, containing numerous, thick and persistent beds of lignite, accu-
mulated to a thickness of over 1000 feet in western North Dakota
and appear to be very largely of lacustrine origin. The channel
sandstones and the conglomerates which are present in places at
the base of the formation were perhaps deposited by rivers, but the
great bulk of the sediments was probably laid down in a lake of
large extent occupying parts of North Dakota, Montana, South
Dakota and Wyoming, and extending north into Canada.
Various features characteristic of fluviatile deposits, such as
local unconformities and filled channeb are, so far as known, not
found in the Fort Union except at the base of the formation, and
cross-bedding is of rare occurrence in the sandstones. Were the
shales and sandstones of the Fort Union formed chiefly thru deposi-
tion by rivers the above features should be present, and the fact
that except for a little cross-bedding they are not found above the
base suggests that the deposits are lacustrine for the most part.
The numerous lignite beds of the Fort Union are evidence
that the region was occupied again and again by swamps, many cov-
ering hundreds and even thousands of square miles. The coal-
forming vegetation growing in these swamps consisted, as determined
by Thiessen,* very largely of coniferous trees, including varieties
related to the Sequoia, cypress, juniper, and arbor-vitae, together
with some firs and unices. The woody material of these trees,
including trunks, stems, and brandies, comprises roughly 75 to 85
per cent of the whole mass of the lignite. Thiessen believes that
the conditions imder whidi these coal beds were formed were much
like those under which peat beds formed in certain wooded swamps
in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan. "In these swamps the growth
of trees consists chiefly of white cedars. Thuya occidentales, tamarack,
Larix laricina, and black spruce, Picea mariana, in which the white
cedar predominates. The growth is so dense that underneath them
nothing but a thin mat of mosses, lichens, and liverworts, with an
occasional herbaceous plant, is able to exist. The substratum, or
peat bed, consists of logs and branches fallen in every direction over
S. David White and Reinhardt Thledsen, The OHsrlii of Coal, Bureau
of Iflnee BuUetln No. 88, 1918, p. 282.
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232 The Quarterly Journal
one another, either in a semi-macerated condition or unmacerated» ^
tho much changed. The interstices of these are filled with a debris }
in which macerated parts of stems and branches, cone scales, leaves, \
thalli of mosses and liverworts, pollen grains, and so forrii, are |m|
plainly recognizable. Such a formation appears in all re^>ects analo- 1 J
gous to the lignite beds under discussion."'
That the vegetation accumulated in many of these swamps for
long periods of time is indicated by the fact that large numbers of
the lignite beds have diicknesses of 4 to 10 feet, several are 20 feet
thick and one is 35 feet. "It has been estimated that the product
of heavily timbered woodland, when compressed to the specific
gravity of coal, would only amount to about one-fourth of an inch
in thickness during a century. If this statement is even approxi-
mately correct, it is easy to calculate that a 4-foot bed of coal must
have required about 20,000 years for its accumulation,"^ and a 20-
foot coal bed would require 100,000 years. That the coal swamps
recurred repeatedly in many parts of the area is proved by the
presence in some vertical sections of 15 to 20 lignite beds, many,
it is true, of no great thickness.
As stated by Knowlton,^ from the abundant flora of this for-
mation, it is evident that during Fort Union time what is now
an almost treeless plain was then covered with splendid forests of
hardwoods, interspersed with scattered conifirs and ginkgos.
The deposition of the Fort Union sediments was followed by
an erosion interval of considerable length during which hundreds of
feet of strata were removed so that a well marked unconformity
separates the Fort Union from the Oligocene beds. The coarse
sandstone of the White River group, which in places contains peb-
bles up to 2 and 3 inches in diameter, is doubtless a fluviatile de-
posit, and the calcareous clays associated with it may have had the
same origin, but the thin-bedded limestone and marl of the Sentinel
Butte area probably represent lacustrine deposits.
We have seen that during early Ek>cene or Fort Union time
and during at least a portion of the Oligocene epoch western North
Dakota was an area of deposition, but thruout most of the Tertiary
Period the region was undergoing erosion. This resulted in the
removal of many hundreds of feet of strata over most of the state
and in places fully 1000 feet of shale and sandstone were carried
away by the streams. The outiier known as the Turtle Mountains,
8. Reinhardt Thiessen. op. clt. p. S22.
4. F. H. Knowlton. U. S. Qeol. Survey BuUeUn No. 611, 1915. p. 5S.
5. F. H. Knowlton. op. cit p. 5S.
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Geological History of North Dakota 233
the Fort Union beds of whidi were once continuous with those of
the Missouri plateau, was during this time separated from the pla-
teau by the denudation of the intervening area. The broad depres-
sion of the Red River Valley was cut to a depth of 800 to 900
feet in the Cretaceous and older rocks of eastern North Dakota
and western Minnesota. The topographic features of the region
west of the Missouri river, including the rolling uplands, the high
ridges and divides, the nimierous buttes, the escarpments, and the
stream valleys were all formed in large mesure by erosion during
the Tertiary Period, continued of course in the Pleistocene.
Since the Cretaceous and Tertiary strata were deposited they
have undergone but little deformation, tho the region has several
times been elevated, in the aggregate to the extent of some 2000 to
3CXX) feet. Only locally has there been warping or folding of the
strata, as in the Cedar Creek anticline, which extends from near
Glendive, Montana, southeast into southwestern North Dakota.^
This anticline was probably formed about the close of Fort Union
time and prior to the deposition of the White River beds.
Quaternary Period
At the dose of the Tertiary period the warmth of a temperate
climate gave way to the rigors of an arctic cold. North Dakota
was twice invaded by an ice sheet and many of the surface features
of the state as we find them today are the result of these ice in-
vasions, particularly the last one. The ice of the earlier invasion
extended from 40 to 60 miles west of the Missouri River and cov-
ered all of North Dakota except the southwestern corner. The
deposits of this older glacier, which are perhaps to be referred to
the Kansan, are in most places thin and have undergone great
erosion. This drift perhaps never had any considerable thickness
west of the Missouri, except locally where it forms moraines, and
much of the glacial material which was formerly present has been
swept away by streams. The drift thruout mudi of the area is thus
represented by boulders and gravel, the coarser materials left behind
when the finer debris, such as clay and sand, was carried off. There
are extensive tracts where little or no glacial material is present,
and where only an occasional boulder or a patch of gravel indicates
that the ice sheet ever covered this region.
This ioe invasion produced important changes in the pregladal
drainage of the region. The Missouri valley and the lower valleys
6. A. O. Leonard, U. 8. G^eol. Sunrey BuUetlnd No«. S85, 1906. p.
817; 316. 1907. pp. 195. 208. W. R. Calvert, U. S. OeoL Survey Bulletin
No. 471. ins. p. 201.
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234 ^^^ Quarterly Journal
of the Yellowstone and Little Missouri rivers were blocked with
ice, so that all these streams were forced to seek new channels.
Lakes were formed in the valleys of the Yellowstone and Little
Missouri rivers, the water rising until it overflowed the divide
between the latter and the Knife river at its lowest point The
combined waters of the three rivers flowed east and southeast to
the mouth of the Cannonball river where they entered die Missouri
river valley. The valley thus formed crosses the divide between
the Knife and Heart rivers, and also that between the Heart and
CannonbalL The length of this Pleistocene valley from the head
of the Knife to the mouth of the Cannonball is 155 miles. Upon
the withdrawal of the ice sheet the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers
returned to their former valle3rs, but the lower valley of the Little
Missouri was permanently abandoned and that river took an easterly
course from the point where its pregladal course was blocked by
the front of the ice sheet.
After the first invasion the climate grew warmer and the glacier
retreated northward, so that conditions were probably favorable for
the return of animal and plant life. Upon the recurrence of the
cold climate the ice sheet again advanced over the region, coming
from the center west of Hudson Bay but stopping far short of the
limits reached by the first invasion! The Wisconsin ice sheet of this
later advance covered eastern and northern North Dakota and its
farthest extent is marked by the Altamont moraine. This remark-
ably well developed moraine forms a very rough belt of massive hills
and ridges which extends without interruption for hundreds of
miles, in places no less than 20 miles wide and thruout much of its
extent in North Dakota its width probably averages half of this.
While forming it the ice front doubtless fluctuated back and forth
across the belt for a long period.
During its recession the ice sheet halted again and again and
thus built a series of moraines. Some of these halts were brief and
the resulting moraines poorly defined; others were of much longer
duration as shown by the great amount of material deposited and
the large size of the hills and ridges.
The early history of Lake Agassiz, according to Upham, was
intimately connected with the recession of the ice front, since when
the glacier had retreated across the divide between the Minnesota
and Red rivers the lake was formed by the ponding of the water
at the south end of the Red River Valley. According to this view.
Lake Agassiz began as a small body of water and expanded north-
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Geological History of North Dakota 235
ward as the ke melted until its maximum size was attained, its area
at that time being about 110,000 square miles.^
Recently W. A. Johnson of the Canadian Geological Survey
has attributed a difFerent life history to Lake Agassiz.^ He believes
with Tyrrill that after the retreat of the Keewatin glacier north-
ward into Manitoba there was comparatively free drainage in that
direction, so that an earlier glacial marginal lake associated with a
lobe of the Keewatin glacier was largely or wholly drained. Lake
Agassi? proper did not come into existence until a later advance of
the ice from the northeast was met by a slight advance of the Kee-
watin glacier, which resulted in the ponding of the northward
drainage and the initial stage of the lake. The waters gradually
rose and extended southward, filling the Red River Valley and
overflowing to the south.
It will be seen that these two views difFer radically, one hold-
ing diat the lake began at the upper (south) end of the valley and
expanded northward with the retreat of the ice margin; the other,
that the lake originated well to the north in Manitoba after much
of die Red River Valley was already free of ice, and had first a
rising stage as it increased in size and extended southward over the
valley floor. In either case. Lake Agassiz owed its existence to
the presence of the ice barrier on the north and northeast, higher
land holding in its waters on all other sides.
So geologically recent is it since the latest ice sheet withdrew
from North Dakota, and since Lake Agassiz was drained, that the
drift surface and lake bed have been but slightly afFected by erosion,
and they are still much as they were at the close of the Glacial
Period.
7. Warren Upham, Glacial Lake Agassiz, U. & Oeol. Survey Mono.
No. 26.
8. W. A. Johnson, The Genesis of Lake Agassis, Jour, of Geol., Vol.
24. 1916, pp. 626-638.
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The Three Ingredients of the
World's Medicine
Harlby Ellsworth FkBNCH,
Professor of Anatomy, and Dean of the School of Medicine,
University of North Dakota
EVERYTHING of interest in the history of medicine, so far
as it is known, is to be found in the lives of men : Hippocrates,
Galen, Harvey, Pasteur. Everything is to be found in the history
of the various diseases and injuries: tuberculosis, epilepsy, wounds,
fractures. Hiere are, or might be, histories of folk medicine, im-
posture medicine, empiricism, medical education, and of the various
so-called schools, also of anatomy, physiology, and the other medical
sciences. A book or a discussion that presumes to give a complete
history of medicine will be found to recognize the great periods of
history; it will discuss the medicines of the various countries, and
it will deal with men, discoveries, philosophies, movements or schools,
and the development of the related sciences. It is not the purpose
of this paper to attempt to give a complete outline of the history
of medicine, but to trace briefly three great factors running thru
the medicine of every age: Superstition, Philosophy, Science.
Medicine, from the point of view of history, may be thought
of as all of the efforts of man to explain, to prevent, and to cure
disease. In this sense, the first man, rather than the first priest,
as has been said, was the first physician. From the day of diat first
man to our own, medicine has been closely related to every step in
the development of human thought. It has touched at almost every
point religion, philosophy, and the whole realm of natural sciences,
as well as most of man's social, economic, and political relations.
Since, for our purpose, I have defined medicine, permit me to
say a few words about the other terms. Superstition scarcely needs
consideration. By superstition, I mean belief in the direct agency
of superior powers in everything that is not at once easily under-
stood. Philosophy, to use a secondary definition, may be taken to
mean speculation, the inclination of man to explain what he cannot
understand, the inclination to make theories and hypotheses, par-
ticularly in the absence of sufficient data, and the inclination not to
distinguish between theories and matters of certain knowledge. By
science, without looking into a dictionary, I mean the search for
truth. Science involves both accurate observation and careful experi-
mentation. It means more than a knowledge of isolated facts; it
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Ingredients of the World's Medicine 237
means the rational grouping of facts to establish classifications, and
to discover principles or laws. It makes use of hypotheses as work-
ing bases and as suggestions or guides for further investigation.
True science is never so committed to an hypothesis that it will not
gladly discard it when better knowledge is obtained.
Before taking up any of the elements, let it also be said that
superstition, philosophy, and science have all been important in the
medicine of every age. Each has been intimately related to all of
the others. In many matters of practise, it is difficult to determine
just what parts are represented by this or that factor. Superstition,
philosophy, and science are all present in much of folk medicine.
All arc present in empiricism. All have been invoked most sincerely
by the laity in every age, and all have given more or less comfort,
or assurance, if nothing else. All have been used in varying pro-
portions by impostors, from the medicine man to the advertising
"spedalist." It would not be far wrong to say that all have been
used in varying proportions by the wisest and most conscientious
of medical practitioners in every age but our own. And, thinking
of medicine as it was defined above, the sum total of man's efforts
to explain, to prevent, and to cure disease, it is surely correct to
say that all are employed today.
As a physician might study a prescription, thinking of the
origin, preparation, history, chemical and ph3rsical properties, and
possible uses of each ingredient, so I wish to call attention in turn
to each of the factors named above.
Superstition: I discuss this factor first because, while it has
been present in the medidne of every age, it was at least relatively
most conspicuous in the earliest times. Medicine was born in
superstition. It is well known that the primitive man thought all
nature supernatural. He worshipped sun, moon, stars, trees, and
rivers. The fierce heat of the sun, the raging storm, the thunder
and the lightning were the manifestations of offended gods or demons.
Disease most naturally fell into the same scheme of things, and was
thought of as a demon, or as the work of supernatural agencies of
some kind. It was not something to be treated as we now think
of treatment but, like other gods and demons, it was to be placated
by offerings and sacrifice. An additional conception arising as man
had more experience, perhaps the result of dreams and the seeing of
missshapen individuals, was that disease was the work of the spirits
of the dead, or of spirits controlled by persons with supernatural
powers. The men who were thus supposed to be able to control the
spirits were medicine men, among the forerunners, not only of the
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238 The Quarterly Journal
modern physician, but of the minister and the teacher, the military
hero, the statesman, and the judge. With the medicine man there
were added to the attempts at placation, efforts to cajole, outwit, and
frighten the evil spirits. Practise both to prevent and to cure disease
consisted of hideous disguises, shoutings, ravings, dancing, and the
doing of any of a hundred fantastic things, all of which were thought
of as "making medicine."
The part of folk lore that might be called folk medicine, also
developed at a very early time. In this were elements of philos(H>hy
and of science, as I shall show later, but a con^icuous element always
has been superstition. Told and retold, and passing and growing
from generation to generation, folk medicine came to contain a
lore of thousands of substances and thousands of things to do in
addition to the tricks and the magic of the medicine man. To the
primitive man, however, the value of treatment of any kind depended
largely upon ceremony, for example, where the drug grew or was
foimd, the time and the circumstances of its gathering, by whom
and how prepared and administered. Shakespeare's phrase, "night
gathering of enchanted herbs," well expresses the point of view.
By the dawn of history, the magic of the medicine man had
developed into priestcraft in perhaps every race. It is of this period
that it has been said "the first priest was the first physician." With
certain points of difference, it was the same in every land : Babylonia,
Egypt, India, China, Greece. In ancient Israel and Judea, accord-
ing to the Old Testament, the priests were clearly those who directed
all matters regarding health, tho, in a narrow sense, they did not
act as physicians. Disease was due to the inunediate wrath of God
and cure was to be attained by prayer and sacrifice. "But it shall
come to pass, if thou wilt not barken unto the voice of Jehovah,
thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes
which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon
thee and overtake thee. ♦ ♦ ♦ Jehovah will smite thee with
consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery
heat, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew."^
Miracles were frequently performed. A striking example of both
the result of Gt>d's wrath and the effect of prayer in producing a
cure is presented in the case of Hezekiah.^
In ancient Greece, with its multidplicity of gods, there were
many tutelary divinities of medicine: Apollo, Artemis, Demeter.
Aescuh4)ius, son of ApoUo, in particular, was the god of the healing
1. Deut. 28: 16-22. ~"
2. n. Klnffs 20: 1-7.
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Ingredients of the World's Medicine 239
art. His cult of physician-priests maintained a series of temples at
Cos, Epidaurus^ Cnidus, Pergamus, and other places. Hiese temple-
sanatoria, full of works of art, on wooded hill or by mineral spring,
were popular health resorts, not unlike, in some respects, many an
institution of modern times. When the patient presented himsdf,
the ceremony was b^un with prayer and sacrifice; after probable
bath, anointment, and massage, he was introduced into the ^>ecial
rite of the temple sleep. Upon his waking, further treatment was
instituted according to the priest's interpretation of a supposed dream
of the patient, a revelation of the god of the temple, in reality a
visitation of the priest or of some other attendant in disguise. If
he was benefited, the patient left for the archives a model of the
part that had been diseased and that was now restored.
Thruout the greater part of the Christian Era, particularly the
Medieval Period, altho speculation flourished and there was a modi-
cum of scientific knowledge of medicine, superstition held high sway
thruout all the western world. Superstitious folk medicine existed
everywhere; erysipelas was due to fairy malice; a child bom on
Easter Eve was able to cure the ague. Witches were very real.
Earth, sky, and sea were peopled with demons, angels, and the
spirits of the dead. There was no "grotto or cave thicket in which
angels and genii had not been seen." ''If a spring discharged its
waters with a periodical gushing of carbonic add gas, it was agi-
tated by an angel; if an unfortunate descended into a pit and yns
suffocated by mephitic air, it was by some demon that was secreted
there."^ Disease was due to the wrath of God, or the devil or
lesser demons. Martin Luther is quoted as saying that ''pestilence,
fever and other severe diseases are naught but the deviFs work";
and Cotton Mather defined sickness as the "flagellation of God for
the sins of the world." Cures were to be obtained, along with
other means, by prayer, pilgrimages to shrines and other holy places,
and the wearing of amulets.
So much for a hasty glance at superstition in the past. What
of it today? I think it would be no exaggeration to say that in
the minds of the majority of people, present-day ideas of medicine
are still warped by superstition. We need only mention the savage
and the half civilized peoples of the world, also the ignorant negro
of the South; we need only recall the men and women, very real,
tho rare, who still believe in witches, amulets and the most super-
stitious folk lore; also the lingering faith in shrines, like Our Lady
3. Draper, quoted by Gorton* XlfltoKj of Wtdloiao, Vol. 1, p. 1S9.
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240 The Quarterly Journal
of Lourdes.^ In addition to such considerations, there is surely a
sense of magic about medicine and the doctor in the minds of a
very great many. Every physician in practise has experienced
many times the demand for the magical, if not in words, at least in
deeds. It seems difficult to realize that modem medicine means only
wdl-trained common sense, as it attempts to make its diagnosis, and
to bring about its cure. Hiere are thousands of pet^Ie who reject
scientific medicine as a delusion, if not worse, and who trust for
relief to prayers and rites performed by themselves or by their heal-
ers. There are many thousands of people who, while willing to
accept the services of modem medicine, still attribute illness and
death, no matter \diat the cause or how preventable, to a special
or immediate act of Providence, and who direct their prayers to a
God who, in their estimation, is likely to be turned aside from the
great world plan, to interfere with the operations of his laws. How
mudi more rational it would be to pray for ability to find out and
to obey God's laws.
Philosophy: TTie second factor, philosophy, or speculation,
appears very early in the history of medidne. It is not always easy
to draw the line between philosophy and superstition, on the one
hand, and philosophy and science on the other. It is doubtful
whether such a m3rth as that of the Python slain by the arrows of
Apollo should be thought of as superstition. The Python represents
the cause of disease, probably malaria in its literal sense; the arrow
of Apollo, the heat and light of the sun, altogether a poetical ex-
pression of a theory.
Folk medicine must be mentioned again. While the use of
many of the thousands of drugs and other means of treatment known
to the ancients depended upon superstition, and of some few, upon
correct observation, the use of by far the greater part depended upon
faulty observation or the merest speculation. The use of a plant
as a medicine was often suggested by some fancied resemblance in
shape or color of root, stem, leaf, or fruit to some part of the body.
The use of a stone was brought about by some characteristic that
tppcaltd to the imagination. Hie peculiar value of certain meats
and the uses of remedies prepared from animals, birds, and insects
were dictated by the most striking attributes of the creature in
Question.
4. The fame of Lourdee, a small city In France, dates from so
recent a date as 1868, when the Virgin Mary is supposed to have ap-
peared to a younsT flrirl of thirteen. The waters of a spring are believed
to have miraculous power, and it is said that 600,000 tourists visit the
shrine annually. For an interestinsr word picture of the conditions see
▲ Omim Im Sarlsir BW — i, Chapter XVII.
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Ingredients of the fV or Id's Medicine 241
An interesting folk-lore theory that has existed more or less
widely in all races and at all times is die belief in the transference
of disease. If the disease which has an entity of its own could be
transferred to another, the original sufferer would get well. Glimpses
of this belief along with miraculous cures are to be found in the
BiUe: Naaman's leprosy transferred to Gehazi, as told in Kings,^
and the passing of the demons from two probably insane men to
the herd of swine as told in the Gospels.^
In addition to faulty observation, the ancients indulged in pure
q^eculadon. According to the Talmud the Jews variously estimated
the number of bones as from 248 to 252. Of these, one bone, Luz,
somewhere between the skull and the coccyx, was regarded as in-
destructible, a nucleus from which the body would be raised from
the dead at the resurrection.^ The ancient Hindus gave as the num-
ber of bones, 360; of ligaments, 800; of muscles, 500; of veins, 300.
The early Chinese spoke of 365 bones; according to them, the cra-
nium was sometimes given as one bone, sometimes as eight in the
male and six in the female. Hie larynx <^ened into the heart; the
spinal cord into the testicle. Hie lung consisted of eight lobes ; the
liver, of seven. Hie spleen and the heart were organs of reason.
The Chinese recognized 10,000 varieties of fever.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, of whose scientific opinions
I shall speak later, accepted such theories as: Disease is cured by
an c^posite acting drug or principle ; what cannot be cured by iron
can be cured by fire, and the so-called humoral theory of disease.
The first will be thought of as contrary to one of the tenets of
homeopathy and, like the doctrine of similia is repudiated by scien-
tific medicine ; the last, the humoral theory, dominated medicine for
more than two thousand years.
As the universe consists of four elements, fire, air, earth, and
water, so man consists of four elements: blood rq[>resenting the
heat; mucus, the cold; yellow bile, the dryness; and black bile, the
moisture. Health consists in a harmonious mixture of the elements,
disease, of an improper mixture. The terms, sanguine temperament,
phlegmatic, bilious, and melancholic temperaments are echoes of this
old dieory. As if this were not speculation enough, many other
theories arose in the centuries following. Newburgcr says: "TTie
sons and grandsons of Hippocrates, as well as his immediate disciples,
* * * were at the head of that series of phsrsidans who laid
5. IL Kiii«8 6: 27.
6. Matt. »: 28-84.
7. Qarrlaon, XlfltoKj of Wtdlolao, p. 48.
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242 The Quarterly Journal
emphasis upon theoretical conjecture and gave to medicine in the
fourth century B. C. its speculative coloring." Other theories that
rose to prominence in Greece and Rome, and that divided the pro-
fession, were Methodism, or Solidism, which explained disease as
changes in the solids of the body, and whose catch word was strictum
et laxum; Dogmatism, which emphasized general principles; Empiri-
cism, which depended upon practise and experience ; Eclecticism, which
attempted to choose from all the others and to gather up the free
lances ; and Pneumatism, which substituted such terms as vital spirits
and animal spirits for the humors of the Hippocratic school. None
of these theories, as such, added anything worth while to medicine,
but all bulked large in the best writings, not only during the cen-
turies immediately preceding and following the birth of Qirist, but
until comparatively recent times.
In addition to what has just been said, about the continuation
of ancient theories, it would seem to be enough to say that super-
stitious folk medicine, and speculation characterized the medicine of
the western world until the Renaissance, and with few but very
important exceptions until the nineteenth century. The long
medieval period has been well called the age of Imposture Medicine;
the eighteenth century, the age of Theories and System. Speculation
was so dominant and so varied in form that one scarcely knows
what examples to choose. A striking illustration is furnished by the
edict of the Council of Tours "Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine."
(1163 A. D.) A theory of the medieval period and later, to be
thought of in connection with the names of Paracelsus, Hahnemann,
and others, was that of "signatures." According to this theory in
its simplest terms, every plant bore some mark that indicated its
medicinal use, thus, white plants were believed to be sedatives, yel-
low plants, to be good for jaundice, and red ones, for fevers. Two
famous schools of the Renaissance were the latromathematical or
latrophysical, and the latrocheraical, speculating upon pathology and
treatment in terms of the newly developed and still very imperfect
sdences of physics and chemistry. John Brown, of Edinburgh, in
the eighteenth century, gave his name to a theory by dividing diseases
into two groups, sthenic and asthenic, or diseases characterized by
violent symptoms and diseases characterized by weakness, simply a
revival of the Greek Solidism with its doctrine of strictum et laxum.
Brown's treatment consisted of depression in the one group of cases,
of stimulation in the other. His favorite drugs were morphine and
alcdiol. It has been said that his theory has been responsible for
more deaths than the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars
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Ingredients of the World's Medicine 243
comi>ined.^ Anodier system, and one that still remains as an or-
ganized school, with at least a part of its eighteenth century theories,
is Homeopathy.
Tanking of substances and means used in practise in all this
dark period, it would probably be easier to list the things that were
not so used. Mummy, human bones, the excrement of man and of
animals were all employed; in fact, it would seem that the more
revolting the cure, the better. A dispensatory written by one Jean
Raynaud, about 1600, gives as treatments of the times along with
many others of the same kind: "A Swallow eaten, for to quicken
the eyesight"; "Old Scorpions against their bitings"; "Hair's brain
against toothach in children"; "Fox lungs against consumption of
the lungs." It gives a formula for a preparation containing sixty-
five different ingredients ; the remedy was apparently a panacea, "for
it is most expertly alexiterial against all evils."^
What of ^>eculation in medicine today? Folk medicine still
exists. All will, no doubt, recall examples of it. A few instances
I have observed in men and women who live with us in the twen-
tieth century, and that I think were veritably believed, arc: that
rheumatism can be cured by carrying a small potato in one's pocket;
that warts can be removed by conjuration; that oil tried out of
earthworms will make one supple ; that the red color of a cloth about
a child's neck is good for colds and sore throat ; that a black ribbon
or string of black beads in the same way will keep off certain dis-
eases; that who(H>ing cough will disappear only upon the coming
or the going of the leaves of the trees; that holding the flexed and
adducted thumb inside of the fingers will ward off the bite of a
mad dog; that a poultice of cow's dung is the best treatment for
blood poison ; that the eating of tomatoes will cause cancer ; that a
bisected freshly killed fowl will cure snake bite, (also that whiskey
will do the same)^®; and of herb lore, the use of home-made decoc-
tions of various wild plants, because it was medicine "good for the
blood." I have also seen belief in the transference of disease.
That there still exists, in addition to the less commonfolk medi-
dne, a great deal of mere speculation, untried, false, even exploded
theories, is evident by the fact that there are schools of practise,
allopathy, homeopathy, osteopathy, mechanotherapy, and the like.
Otherwise, sincere men would not go into such schools, the laity
would not support such practises, and the laws would not recognize
8. Baas, quoted by Garrison. Ibid. p. 244.
9. Sollmann, Old dotbsfl, address* 1912.
10. A ^ood example of empiricism.
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244 ^^^ Quarterly Journal
diem. Otherwise, the sincere man, wishing a part in the relief of
suffering, would not put blinders on his eyes before he began his
study, but would approadi the subject with as open a mind as we
approach chemistry or botany. Otherwise, society, in determining
who should practise any form of the healing art, would apply the
same standard to see that all were thoroly trained in at least a
knowledge of the elementary sciences, the causes of disease, and diag-
nosis. It seems, however, that in ^ite of the obvious triumphs of
scientific medicine, there has been a reaction of disappointment in
the human mind as the methods of science have been relentlessly
applied to the various questions of medicine. It has been difficult
to give up speculation and empiricism. Fifty 3rears ago, many men
in the profession felt that medicine was being undermined, and there
began to be criticism of the "Medical agnostics" ; students of medi-
cine often tell me of a feeling of disillusionment; and the layman,
no matter how well trained in other lines, often prefers the assurance
of the theorist or the quack to the less cheerful advice of the scientific
physician.
Since it is my thesis to distinguish three elements, you will
scarcely ask if scientific medicine contains any irrational speculation.
You mi^t ask whether the men that represent scientific medicine
are free from unwarranted theories, and I should answer that they
are not^^ Without dting instances, permit me to remind you that
the physician is very human. He shares with all of us the impulses
to make hasty judgments; he is called upon every day to act in die
absence of perfect knowledge; he may be influenced in his practise
by self interest, and the theories of his patients or others. It is not
surprising that doctors should difFer in judgment or that even the
wisest should make mistakes. Let me, however, ask a quesdon: Who
of all men can be expected to have rational opinions if not the
picked men that modem medicine is coming to include, men trained
in the laboratory sciences, taught to experiment, to observe, to record,
to quesdon every theory, to prove or disprove every conclusion?^*
Scibncb: The last of the factors I wish to consider will be
thought of as belonging to modem times, and particularly, to the
last century or even less. In the light of its achievements in die
last hundred years, ocxapaied with all of its accomplishments in all
11. Scientific men will be interested in a discusBlon of the ethics of
scientific controversy in the introduction to Sir Almroth Wright's reply
to Sir Watson Cheyne in their controversy over the treatment of Infected
war-wounds. London laaaost, Sept. 16, 1916, p. SOt.
12. The modern medical student is taug-ht, in the language of Holmes,
not to accept authority when he can have the facts; not to guess when
he can know; not to think that a man must take medicine in the narrow
sense because he is sick. Morse's Xdfe of Wolw— , Vol. 1, p. 109.
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Ingredients of the Worlds Medicine 245
of the centuries preceding, this conception is correct, and yet the
flickering light of science can be seen at the earliest dawn of history
and coming out of the preceding ages.
Folk medicine, discust under both superstition and philosophy,
often represents very correct observation. Many powerful drugs,
useful or not, and many useful procedures were known to very
primitive peoples. Alcohol, opium, ha^ish, cinchona, sarsq)arilla, and
acacia are drugs that have so come down to us. "Hie Indian knew
the importance of keeping the skin, bowels, and kidneys open, and
to this end the geyser, the warm spring, and the sweat-oven were his
natural substitutes for a Turkish bath." "Massage was long known
and practised by the Indians, Japanese, Malays, and East Indians."^'
An interesting example of a correct observation, no doubt veri-
fied many times and finally passing into folk medicine, later to be
discredited and lauded out of court by our scientific age until the
matter was approached in a really scientific spirit of experiment and
investigation, was pointed out by Abel of Johns Hopkins University
a few years ago.^^ Many races have long made use of the skin of
the toad for medicinal purposes. In Europe it was used for dropsy
and in the American colonies, for rheumatism, as well, until about
150 years ago when digitalis was introduced. The Chinese still use
it for dropsy. The rationale of the treatment was found by Abel to
rest in the fact that the skin of the toad contains a powerful poison
or drug, bufagin or bufotalin, to which the beneficial efFects in dropsy
are due. The skin of certain species of toads also contains the now
well-known drug, epinephrin. In the same way, in an age of less
investigation and of more speculation, the use of cinchona, from
which quinine is made, was long opposed by the profession. The
opposition to cinchona may have arisen in part because it represented
a Peruvian folk medicine; it surely arose because the drug was ex-
ploited by mountebanks and quacks, and because it was sanctioned
by the church. Hie reasons are humanly appreciable, but clearly
unscientific The incidents illustrate that there may be truth in
conditions that are unpromising, and that we have no ri^t to a
do^natic opinion upon any question until it has been carefully in-
vestigated.
We scarcely expect to find anything scientific in the Ancient
World prior to Greece, and yet, early Egypt so imprest Diodorus
with its sanitary provisions for cities, acqueducts, drainage, and the
13. OarrlBon, Mistorj of I tedlc i a o , p. 22.
14. Discussion in Current Comment, Joor. Am. Msd. Assoo., Sept. 11.
1916» p. 96 1» with reference to Abel in gel ea oe and Joor. VbanaaooL aad
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246 The Quarterly Journal
disposal of the dead that he was lead to say, "The whole manner
of life was so evenly ordered that it would appear as though it had
been arranged by a learned ph3rsician, rather than by a lawgiver."
Herodotus, speaking of the same time, pronounced Egypt the health-
iest of countries. Tho the conditions evidently changed at a later
time, there is probably little doubt as to the accuracy of the com-
ments. Excavations of eastern drains indicate that the Babylonians
also understood some of the principles of hygiene, and knew how
to dispose of sewage properly. The ancient Jews in the same way,
in the absence of almost any other scientific medical knowledge as
di^layed by the Bible, present a remarkable picture in their efforts
at hygiene and sanitation. Their practises may be summed up under
about three heads: i. Cleanliness, the avoidance of touching any
unclean thing; 2. The segregation of infection, and the stamping
out of the means of infection even to the burning of clothes and of
houses; 3. Pure food, or food inspection. The Talmud reveals
the fact that the examination of the carcasses of slaughtered animals
gave them a knowledge of congestions, tumors, degenerations,
abscesses, and other pathological conditions of the viscera that the
Greeks probably never possest.
Ancient India did some remarkable work in surgery. Writings
of the fifth century A. D. describe about 120 surgical instruments.
"These were properly handled and jointed, the blade instruments
sharp enough to cut a hair, and kept clean by wrapping in flannel
in a box." The Hindus seem to have known every operative pro-
cedure except the use of ligatures, instead of using this they stopped
hemorrhage by cauterization, boiling oil or pressure. They treated
fractures and dislocations with a splint that was later taken over
into the British Army as the "Patent rattan cane splint."^^
It is in Ancient Greece, however, that one must look for the
most striking examples of medical science. Saying nothing of
Homeric surgery, or of the undoubted gradual growth of medical
knowledge in the priesthoods, I pass at once to the great father of
medicine, Hippocrates, 460 to 370 B. C, a contemporary of Pericles,
in the hei^t of Athenian development. Hippocrates was not an
experimenter, but he was a keen observer, and a clear and logical
thinker. As Matthew Arnold says, he had the "tendency to observe
facts with a critical spirit, to search for their law, not to wander
among them at random, to judge by rule of reason, not by the im-
pulse of prejudice and caprice."
It is well known to the profession that he described malaria,
16. Garrison. KUrtovj of XedloliM, p. 61.
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Ingredients of the Worlds Medicine 247
tuberculosis, puerperal convulsions, epilepsy, mumps, and other dis-
eases so well that but few additions or corrections need to be made
today. He left many case histories. In his surgical writings, his
discussions of fractures, dislocations and wounds are strikingly
modern. He knew many of the common bone and joint injuries,
and was correct in his explanations of them and in his methods of
treatment. He said that if wounds were to be irrigated at all it
should be with pure water (very pure or boiled) or wine, and noted
that in the handling of wounds the hands of the operator should be
dean. He described suppuration, and healing by first and second
intention. He also spoke of trephining and of draining the serous
cavities.
In forming his judgments he instituted a careful, systematic, and
thoro-going examination of the patient's physical condition, his facial
expression, pulse, temperature, excreta, sputum, localized pain and
movements of the body, tho it is sometimes said that he did not
make use of the pulse. Succussion sounds, or as the physician says,
''Hippocratic succussion," sounds of splashing coming from an abscess
cavity partly filled with fluid, and elicited by shaking the patient
while the examiner's ear is applied to the patient s chest, were first
described by him. He also noticed and described picking at bed
clothes, a sjmptom often seen in severe fevers, and he described the
"dying face" so well — the sharp nose, hollow eyes, collapsed temples,
etc — that the term "fades hippocratica" is known to every student
of medicine. In therapeutics he recognized the healing power of
nature, and conceived the function of the physician to be that of an
assistant. While he knew many drugs, he seems to have depended
chiefly upon simple methods, diet, purgations, fresh air, change of
dimate, massage, and hydrotherapy.
His discourse on the "Sacred Disease," epilepsy, shows his per-
fect adherence to rational ideas and his freedom from superstition.
In an age when anatomy and physiology did not exist, nor even
chemisty and physics, when therapeutics was on anything but a
sdentific basis, when both superstition and philosophy were rife, it
is remarkable how well he held to a rational interpretation.
After Hippocrates, let it simply be said that Aristotle added
much to the sdentific knowledge of zoology, comparative anatomy,
and embryology; that Herophilus and Erasistratus, at the remark-
able university at Alexandria, just before the Christian Era, made
many discoveries in anatomy, and that Galen, next to Hippocrates
the greatest figure in andent medidne, added experimentation to
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248 The Quarterly Journal
the methods of science, and made several important physiological
discoveries.
From Galen, 130 to 200 A. D., to Vesaliu8» 1514-64, scientific
medicine did little more than incubate as a seed or a q)ore in the
writings of men who simfdy retold and speculated upon the philoso-
phies and the knowledge of a former age. Aside from the use of
chemical drugs, as distinguished from plant preparations, coming in
from the Arabs, with a new maze of superstition and speculation
as alchemy, nothing was added to medicine. In fact, scientific medi-
cine lost in every particular, methods of study, diagnosis, therapeu-
tics, surgery. If any proof of this were desired, let it be remembered
that the civilized world was scourged with pestilences or plagues,
smallp(»c, diphtheria, bubonic plague, syphilis, such as have never
been seen before or since. Not a few times, but many times, in
every country of Europe, were cities and armies well nigh extin-
guished. The average length of hiunan life for diis period is esti-
mated at 20 years. The medieval explanation of all this involved
comets and stars, the sinking of mountains, the poisoning of wells
by Jews, and many other absurd causes. The true explanation is
to be found in lack of hygiene and sanitation, in over-crowding,
ignorance, and superstition. And yet, just as our century puts on
airs over all that have gone before. Adelard of Bath in the twelfth
century, disdnguidied between ''the writings of men of old" and
"the science of the modems," and Peter of Spain, who later became
Pope John XXI, in a medical treatise states the source of his infor-
mation to be the "andcnt philosophers" and "modem experimenters."^*
Witb the Renaissance, scientific medicine began slowly and widi
much conflict to advance. The methods of critical observation of
Hippocrates and of experimentation first employed by Galen were
revived, dogma began to lose its hold. What we now call the
foundational or ancillary sciences, chemistry, physics, biology, anato-
my, and physiology, all springing from the medicine of the time,
began slowly to cast off the bonds of superstition and scholasticism,
and to advance in the search for truth. A Paracelsus, in spite of
his own superstition and ridiculous theories, gave us hydrogen, and
was one of the first to point the way toward modern chemistry. A
clear headed Vesalius, not only taught us anatomy but did not hesi-
tate to point out mistakes that had been accepted without question
for fifteen hundred years. A Harvey discovered the circulation of
the blood. For the man with seeing eyes, the idols were pretty
16. Thorndlke, Natural Science in the Middle Affes, Fop. Sol. MOBllily,
Sept. 1915. p. 277.
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Ingredients of the WorUts Medicine 249
well overthrown. And yet, progress was slow. It is less than one
hundred shears ago that the first independent laboratory in any of
the medical sciences was established.
It would take a voliune, not an article, to name the eminent
men in scientific medicine since the days of Harvey, and to discuss
their work even briefly. For our purpose, moreover, it is not neces-
sary to do so. It is well known today that modern medicine is on
a scientific basis and that all of the medical sciences compare favor-
ably from any point of view with such sciences as physics, chemistry
and biology ; one of the medical sciences, bacteriology, has been called
one of the wonders of the modern world. The triiunphs of both
surgery and so-called internal medicine, are well understiood.
Modem surgery, in the saving of life and limb, is as efficient as die
combined sciences in making modem warfare destructive. Modem
internal medicine has made the Panama Canal possible, and the
tropics habitable. It has shown us how to avoid the plagues of
earlier times, and how to handle great armies without typhoid fever,
a disease that until the present century killed far more soldiers than
injuries of battle ever did. It has lengthened the average human
life from less than 24 years, as it was in Europe a few hundred years
ago, and as it is still in India, to forty, fifty and more years in the
most enlightened countries. It has shown us how the average human
life might be lengthened ten to fifteen years more if ignorance, in-
difference, and self interest could be cleared away.
Permit me to illustrate the progress of scientific medicine with
one disease. Tuberculosis was well described clinically by Hippocrates,
who also had a theory as to its causation, "the flux of mucus from
the head into the air passages." The ancient Greeks knew some-
thing of its contagion, and advised life in die open air for its treat-
ment. Galen, a little clearer, considered the condition an ulceration.
Absolutely nothing further was added to the woiid's knowledge of
the disease until modem times, and not much until less than one
hundred years ago ; on the contrary, much was lost thmout the great-
er part of that long period. Many symptoms diat are now well
known to be important were overlooked by the profession, or con-
sidered as having no bearing, as late as fifty years ago. Its infectious-
ness had been affirmed and denied many times and was not fully
accepted as late as 1865. It waited for Laennec, 1819, to call at-
tention to sounds coming from the chest, to interpret them in the
light of s3anptoms and post mortem findings, and so to increase our
knowledge of pathology and of diagnosis. It waited for Villmin,
1865, to prove conclusively by experimentation, that tuberculosis b
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250 The Quarterly Journal
a specific disease due to an inoculable agent. It waited for Koch,
1882, to discover die tubercle badllus. It waited for Edward Tru-
deau, and others of the generation just passing, to prove the efScacy
of sanitarium treatment, and the value of rest, good food, and fresh
air. It still waits the discoverer of a possible specific, as we have
in smallpox, diphtheria, and malaria. Without the benefit of a
specific, however, and in spite of ignorance, indifference, and self-
interest, the result of modem knowledge has been that in the last
thirty years the death rate from tuberculosis has fallen approximately
50% in England, Germany, Canada, and the United States. In the
registration area of the United States the death rate per 100,000
of population dropt from over 200 in 1900 to less than 150 in 191 4.
Tuberculosis, the Great White Plague, is no longer the greatest of
the men of death. With a wider spreading of knowledge regarding
the cause, prevention, and cure of this disease, and writh a more
general practise of seeking scientific advice early, its power of destruc-
tion can be still further greatly reduced.
In the history of the world's medicine, there have been three
elements. Superstition and philosophy have held large sway since
rfie earliest times; they still exercise a powerful grip upon the minds
of men. Sdence, with faint glimmerings down the ages, has but
recently come into its own. Its triumphs are apparent, yet the wise
man know^ that the work has just begun. Ten years from now
should see us far wiser and more capable than we are today. Pre-
ventive medicine is only in its infancy. The socialization of medicine
that has such splendid promise has scarcely started. If, however,
scientific medicine is to continue to bless mankind at all according to
its possibilities, we must soon be able to define medidne as something
very different from the concept that comes out of history. All must
realize, the layman as well as the physidan, that modem medidne
means the application of scientific discoveries to the prevention and
cure of disease. Nothing else is entitled to any place in the medicine
of today and of the future.
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Gasoline Supply and Its Relation
to Specifications
WiLUAM John Leenhouts,
Petroleum Chemist, University of North Dakota
OQME four years ago the question of an adequate supply of
^ gasoline direatened to become acute. According to the Geo-
logical Survey we have probably reached the summit of our crude
oil production. Our future supply of petroleum is only sufficient
to last us thirty more years at our Resent rate of consumption.
Reliable statistics of the production and consumption of gasoline
in this country are not available. The production of crude oil is
taken by some as an index of available gasoline production. During
the period prior to the introduction of methods of cracking and the
change in the quality and grade of gasoline the amount of crude
oil might be an approximate index but under present conditions of
refining and change in grading of gasoline we cannot even consider
the crude as an index. An approximate index of the consumption
of gasoline in this country would be the number of automobiles in
use during each year. Graph I shows the approximate number of
automobiles in use in this country from 1904 to 1917.^ The reason
we take the number of automobiles in use in this country as an
index of gasoline consumption is because over two-thirds of the
gasoline is used for that purpose and that used for other purposes,
such as, gasoline engines, tractors, motor boats, and aeroplanes, has
increased at about the same rate.
On January i, 191 6, there were 2,250,000 automobiles in use
in the United States. On January i, 191 7, there were 3,250,000,
and it is estimated by automobile manufacturers that there will be
in excess of 4,500,000 by January i, 1918. It is considered that
the average amount of gasoline consumed per car in a year is 400
gallons. This would bring the consumption of gasoline by auto-
mobiles for 191 6 to 1,300,000,000 gallons. The exports for 191 6
were 350,000,000, and if we figure the approximate amount used
for other purposes, such as tractors, gasoline engines, motor boats,
aeroplanes, cleaning purposes, solvents, etc., as 350,000,000 gallons
the total consumption would be 2,000,000,000 gallons. This, gives
us an idea of the enormous consumption of gasoline.
X, Deductions made from a graph in XnAnstrlal Journal, March, 1916.
Figures for last two or three years taken from statistics given by Direc-
tor Manning of Bureau of Mines in article in Fttvolttmn Vsws, Nov. 18,
1916.
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252
The Quarterly Journal
fin^/il
' #i'W '/y *Jf V/ v ! t '/s 'if
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Gasoline Supply
253
'nrr4«./ic«'^i^
'H9€Vlt4k.JC
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254 The Quarterly Journal
Graph II shows the approximate number of gallons of gasoline
used by automobiles in the United States year by year from 1905
to 1 91 6. Graph III shows the increase of consumption of gas(dine
in England, a non-produdng country.^ Graph IV shows the out-
put of American crude oil year by year from 1902 to 19 16.' If
we now compare the increase in production of American crude widi
that of the consumption of gasoline we will see a striking contrast:
Percentage increase of Percentage increase of Percentage increase
gasoline consumption gasoline consumption in production of
by automobiles in U. S. in England American crude
1915 over 1914—37% 25% 6%
i9i6overi9i5 43% 13% 7%
1916 over 1910—924% 200% 44%
These figures and graphs show conclusively that the increase in pro-
duction of crude is remaining approximately constant while the
consumption of gasoline is rapidly on the increase, in fact, so rapidly
that it is necessary that there be a halt soon.
The tremendous increase in the consumption of gasoline has
undoubtedly been a big factor in the general increase in prices paid
for gasoline. This is shown by the fact that oils richest in gasoline
showed the greatest increase in prices. Crude oil from the Penn-
sylvania fields which run high in gasoline content sells at three
times the price of California oils which run very low in gasoline
content.
There arc other factors which tend to make prices high. The
consumption of fuel oil in this country for steaming purposes has
more than tripled since 1906. This of course has a tendency to
decrease the amount of available oil for making gasoline, and as a
result raises the price of crude. If we look at the enormous increase
of gasoline consumption we are more than surprised that prices are
as low as they are.
There are several factors which have tended to keep the price
of gasoline normal regardless of the increased consumption. We
will discuss a few of these factors. During the past few years a
most wonderful revolution has taken place in oil refining. New
systems have been perfected foremost among which is the Burton
process, which alone, it is claimed, more than doubles the output
of gasoline. Then there is the Rittman system which makes great
claims in the direction of largely increasing the gasoline yield
2. Taken from a chart in Journal of Xad. and Bnir* Chtoi^ March.
1915.
3. Taken from data in Amorioan P«trol«mn Zndustry by Bacon and
Hamor, pag-e 256.
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Gasoline Supply 255
and is already a success commercially. The Burton and Rittman
processes are two of the most successful "cracking" processes.
The process of "cracking'' has been known for several years
but it is only recently that it has been worked eflSdently. The
cracking of heavy hydrocarbons by heat is to be regarded as simply
an instance of die general rule that organic compoimds decompose
with heat. The heavier hydrocarbons of higher molecular weight
are less stable at high temperatures than those of lower molecular
weight. Hence, we find that, if the higher hydrocarbons of higher
boiling range and higher molecular weight are heated to relatively
hig^ temperatures under pressure, they have a tendency to deccnn-
pose and form more stable hydrocarbons of lower molecular weight
and lower boiling range. Thus, we find that it is possible by a
cracking process to change a lubricating oil, a fuel oil, or a kerosene
into a gasoline product. The Burton process is used by the Stand-
ard Oil Company, and they claim that they can change 62% of the
crude quantitatively into gasoline. By straight distillation the aver-
age percentage of gasoline from crude would be less than 10%. So
here we see an important reason why it has been possible greatly
to increase the production of gasoline without increasing die pro-
duction of crude.
Again, the production of "casing head" gasoline is rapidly in-
creasing. Statistics just completed by the U. S. Geological survey
showed that the year 191 5 was one of decided expansion. The quan-
tity of gasoline extracted from natural gas for the past three years is
as follows:
1913 — 23,982,ocx) gallons
1914 — 42,648,000 " gain of 77%
191 5 — 65,360,000 " gain of 53%
Blending this "casing head" gasoline with "straight refinery"
gasoline and naphtha or the lighter portion of the kerosene range
gives us a gasoline which is equal in gravity and probably in quality
to "straight run" gasoline. The "casing head blend" gasoline is
diflFerent from a "straight refinery" gasoline in that it has a longer
boiling range. It has a greater percentage of ligjit volatile pro-
duct and to compensate this a slightly higher percentage of kerosene
Graphs V and VI show this fact.
The great demand for gasoline has greatly changed the quality.
The gasoline now on the market averages ten degrees Baume lower
than the product of about ten years ago. Chart I shows the ten-
dency during the past four years. It gives the average Baume
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256
The Quarterly Journal
gravity, distillate at 158^ F., and the residue at 284^ F., of all
low grade gasolines received at diis laboratory from year to year
from 1913 to 1916. There is a drop of 4.1^ Baume in four years*
The same tendenqr will be seen in Charts II, III, IV, and V., which
show the average of all gasoline received from the di£Ferent jobbers
in die State.
Chart I. Average of all low grade gasoline anal3rzed
Year
Gravity
Distillate
Residue
at 158 F.
at 284 F.
1913
62.1
1-7
17.0
1914
60.6
2.5
24.0
1915
59.3
3.6
31.2
1916
58.0
3.4
37.6
t II.
Average of all low grade gasolines analyzec
from Gmipany A
Year
Gravity
Distillate
Residue
Baume
at 158 F.
at 284 F.
1913
62.8
2.6
16.7
1914
6o.a
2.2
23.0
1915
59.5
2.0
28.0
1916
57.9
2.0
36.1
irtlll.
Average of all low grade gasolines
itota Company B
analyzed
Year
Gravity
Distillate
Residue
Baume
at 158 F.
at 284 F.
1913
62.5
0.7
»3.7
1914
61.8
3X)
13.0
1915
61.5
4.4
17.7
1916
59.8
3.0
27.3
rt IV.
Average of all low grade gasolines
from Con^any C
analyzed
Year
Gravity
Distillate
Residue
Baume
at 158 F.
at 284 F.
1913
tlJO
2-5
25.0
1914
No Sample
ES
1915
59.4
4.0
29.8
1916
57^
1.0
39.0
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Gasoline Supply 257
Chart V. Average of all low grade gasolines analyzed
from Company D
Year Gravity Distillate Residue
Baume
at 158 F.
at 284 F.
I9I3
60.1
1.0
17.0
I9I4
59-4
2-5
243
1915
58.9
3.5
32.0
I9I6
58.3
3.4
38.1
We notice diat the residue is increased frcmi year to year and
this means that a larger portion of kerosene is added from year
to year. A mixture of kerosene with a gasoline does not necessarily
give a poor motor fuel. It depends on the amount and the portion
of the kerosene range which is used in die mixing. Users of auto-
mobiles have found that in most cases the heavier grades of gasoline
are perfectly satisfactory. For continuous running, with engine hot,
gasolines of lower gravity show excellent results and an improve-
ment in power over the high test gasoline, if complete combustion
takes place.
The claims made by many refiners for the superior power pro-
ducing qualities of their gasdines are largely without foundation.
It was experimentally determined by the Bureau of Mines that out
of 52 samples of gasoline tested the average difference on either
side of the mean value was 2.1 per cent making at most a variance
of 4.2 per cent in power production. It was also found when gaso-
line is mesured by volume, that the lower test Baume gasolines
give a slightly higher power value. We therefore conclude that the
dement of superiority in "hig^ test" gasoline lies only in the fact
that it gives a maximum efficiency over a wider range of engine
conditions. Therefore those automobile owners who have cars of
suitable construction and necessary adjustments can get as good re-
sults out of dieap gasoline as out of an expensive "high test" product.
Several of our auto trucks are now running on straight kerosene and
already diere are automobiles built to start and run on straight
kerosene. It is now recognized that only slig^ dianges are needed
in the carburetor to make the use of kerosene common. Hiis is
substantiated by the fact that we have motor fuel on the market
at the present time equal in gravity to "higji test" kerosene. Neces-
sity has brought this about and it is one way of meeting the demand.
In view of the facts that refineries are putting on the mar-
ket gasolines which run as high as 30 to 40% in die kero-
sene boiling range, but also that our production is not keeping up
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258 The Quarterly Journal
with the demand, shall we legislate and make gasoline spedficatioDS?
For the buyer who is willing to pay higher prices for the sake of a
better product it would probably be alright to legislate. But the
question arises, is there more objection raised to the present grade of
gasoline or to the present prices? If we make rigid ^ecifications,
gasoline will necessarily rise in price and its supply will last a
shorter period of time.
What do we mean by ^edfications and is it an ea^ matter
to make specifications which will meet all conditions? We will
discuss some possible specifications. The gravity test has been dis-
carded by Director Manning of the Bureau of Mines. It is his
belief that the gravity test may give a high rating to a poor gasoline
and a low rating to a good one. Our investigations show this to
be true. We have in our laboratory two gasolines whose boiling
range is nearly parallel and similar whose gravities are 49^ and
55.5® respectively. We might further compare a gasoline of 49® B.
gravity with a kerosene of the same gravity and we find a di£Ference
of over icx>^ in dieir initial boiling point and a difference of 200^
in their end points. A comparison of these two gasolines and kero-
sene is made in Graph VII. For a given distillation range an
Oklahoma gasoline is about 2.5^ to 3.5^ B. heavier dian an eastern
gasoline and a California product is from 4? to 8® B. heavier than
rfiose from rfie Pennsylvania field. Because of this difference in
gravity for gasolines of a given volatility gravity has been discarded
as a criterion for rating a gasoline.
The basic property which determines a gasoline is volatility or
the range of its boiling points. It is desirable to have a certain
percentage of fairly low-boiling constituents so diat engines may
start more readily, but a large proportion would make it undesirable
because of a loss thru evaporation and accidental ignition or explo-
sion. A reasonable amount would probably be about 3.5% at 158^
F. or 70® C. At the University laboratory the average percentage
distillate at 158^ F of all low grade gasolines analyzed was 3.4%
for the year 1916 and 3.6% for the year 1915. Chart I shows the
average percentage distillate in all low grade gasolines analjrzed
from 1913 to 1916 inclusive. Charts II, III, IV, and V show the
same for jobbers in the state. Again, a reasonable low endpoint is
desirable in order to insure complete vaporization but it makes an
expensive gasoline. The average endpoint of low grade gasoline is
approximately 375® F. and a residue of 37.5% at 284® F. or 150** C.
The average endpoint for 1916 of all low grade gasolines analjrzed
at the University laboratory was 377® F. and the percentage residue
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Gasoline Supply 259
at 284^ F. was 37.6%. Chart I shows the percentage from year to
year from 1913 to 1916. Charts 11, III, IV, and V show the same
for dififerent com|>anies selling oil in the state. The initial boiling
point, the distillate at 158^ F., and also the endpoint and residue at
284^ F. are factors which should be varied with the season of the
year, climatic condtions and types of cars. The winter season of
North Dakota would demand a slightly higher percentage of vola-
tile distillate at 158^ F. than the warmer climate of southern states.
A reasonably low end point is desirable in order to ensure complete
vaporization in cold climates or in winter time, while this end point
might be raised considerably in summer and in warmer climates.
The grade of a gasoline is a variable factor when it comes to
types of cars and the age of a car. Cars built three or four years
ago were built for gasoline sold at that time, while the more modem
car has a carburetor which can work efficiently widi rather low
grade gasolines as they are put on the market today.
With this situation before us we find it rather difficult to make
specifications. If specifications are made they must be broad and
should not exclude any type of gasoline from being sold. Specifica-
tions mig^t be made within which all products named gasolines
should come. Those not coming within these specifications could
be sold as motor fuel. This would not exclude any type of motor
fuel from being sold, only it would not be possible to sell kerosene
for gasoline. Such ^;>ecification would not in any way curtail the
manufacture of low grade motor oils.
Another method of procedure might be to provide that any
motor fuel be placed on the market, but that it be labeled as to
its 20% and 90% distillation temperature, so that the purchaser
would know the degree of volatility of the motor fuel he was
buying. For example, a gasoline labeled "210-360" would mean
that at least 20 per cent boiled over at 210^ F. and 90 per cent at
360® F. Or, we might demand that it be labeled as to its 10%,
50%, and 90% distillation temperature. In this case a "170-270-
370" gasoline would mean that 10% boiled over at 170® F., 50%
at 270® F., and 90% at 370® F. Just what would be fair specifica-
tions is a matter of some debate. If specifications are made they
should not be rigid and reduce the quantity of gasoline produced
from a gallon of crude, nor should they in any way work against
conservation of natural petroleum resources, and against the devel-
opment of the petroleum industry.
In summarizing, the desirable properties of a gasoline may be
stated as follows,
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26o The Quarterly Journal
1. Gasoline should not give a disagreeable odor before or on
combustion. This is objectionable to users of automobiles and shows
poor refining.
2. It should be free from matter not hydrocarbon, sudi as
water, sediment, add, and sulphur. Add and sulphur have a ten-
dency to act upon the metal parts of an engine.
3. It should not contain excessive percentages of unsaturated
hydrocarbon because rfiey have a greater tendency to carbonize.
4. It should not contain too large a percentage of volatile
products because of loss thru evaporation and danger of acddental
ignition and explosion.
5. It should not contain a high percentage of heavy products
which will not volatilize.
These are the requirements for a good gasoline. It still re-
mains to fix the limits to these requirements.
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The Habits of the Thirteen-Lined
Ground Squirel
(CITELLUS TRIDECEMLINEATUS), WITH ESPECIAL
REFERENCE TO THE BURROWS
George E. Johnson,
Instructor in Biology, University of North Dakota
OUTUNB
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION .c 261
II. METHODS 261
III. GENERAL FACTS CONCERNING CITELLUS
TRIDECEMLINEATUS - 262
1. Description 262
2. General Distribution 262
3. Local Habitat — 263
IV. HABITS OF CITELLUS TRIDECEMLINEATUS 263
1. Food 263
2. Burrows 264
a. Description of Burrows
b. Habits of Making and Closing Burrows
3. Nests — - - 266
a. Relation to Burrows, and their Uses
b. Description
c. Nests of Especial Interest
4. Time of Hibernation 268
5. Reproduction 269
6. Relation to Other Animals 270
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 270
I. lNTR(M>UCnON
^T^HE following paper is a brief preliminary report concerning
^ the general habits of the thirteen-lined ground squirrel. The
hibernation of diis species will be discust in a later paper. The
work will be continued with the view of working out the complete
physiological life history of the species in question.
II. Methods
The habits of the ground squirrels have been observed both in
the field and in the laboratory. The burrows and nests have been
studied in the field and the animals have been subjected to experi-
ments in die laboratory. The facts already publisht have been
brought togedier, and a questionnaire was sent to various universities
or agricultural colleges of the states within and immediately adjacent
to the region of the reported distribution of the species. The replies
from these institutions afforded valuable data.
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262
The Quarterly Journal
MAP SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OP CITEL.L.US
TRIDECBMLINEATUS IN THE UNITED STATES
Distribution in 1893 according to Bailey (1893) is shown by the
heavy line.
Extension of distribution since 1893, as erathered thru correspondence,
is indicated in parallel lines.
Varieties of the species Ci tell us tridecemlineatus are separated by
dotted lines, and are numbered as follows:
1. Citellus tridecemlineatus Uhe typical variety).
2. Citellus tridecemlineatus pallidus.
8. Citellus tridecemlineatus parvus.
4. Citellus tridecemlineatus texensii.
5. Citellus tridecemlineatus hollisterl.
6. Citellus tridecemlineatus alleni.
III. General Facts Concerning Citellus tridecemunbatus
I. description
Citellus tridecemlineatus receives its specific name from the
characteristic number of lines (thirteen) on its back. Six narrow,
yellowish-gray to brownish-gray stripes alternate with seven broad,
reddish-brown ones. Each of the latter contains a row of dots of
the same color and width as the six narrow stripes. The under
parts are light gray to yellowish gray.
The animal may be easily recognized by its shrill, rapidly-
repeated whistle, when once the sound is associated with the spedes.
(For voice, see Bailey, 1893.)
2. GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
The distribution of the species as worked out by Bailey in 1893
included the following states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa,
Nebraska, Kansas ; parts of Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Mich-
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Habits of the Ground Squirrel 263
igan, Ohio, Indiana (northwest part), Illinois (northern part), Mis-
souri, Texas, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana. He
gives the northern limit as the 52nd degree of north latitude in
Saskatchewan. Replies to the questionnaire sent to state institutions
show that the species has extended its limits to some extent since
Bailey's map of distribution was compiled. The accompanying map
shows Bailey's distribution in outline and the additional territory in
parallel lines.
Eight varieties of the original species have been described, ac-
cording to a letter from Mr. D. £. Lantz of the U. S. Bureau of
Biological Survey. Only six of these varieties are shown on rfie
map, because the range and scientific standing of the odier two have
not been worked out (Lantz, 1. c). The typical tridecemlineatus
is the variety imder consideration in the present paper.
3. LOCAL HABITAT
Relatively high prairies and knolls are the favorite habitat of
the ground squirrel. Low and wet ground is generally avoided, but
well-drained parts of creek and river valleys make a suitable habitat.
Black or clay soil is preferred to any other, but the animals are
sometimes found in sand. Replies to the questionnaire referred to
above show that in at least two states diey are sometimes found in
thin woods or shrubbery.
IV. Habits of Citbllus tridecemlineatus
I. FOOD
Grains and insects ^pear to be the chief foods of the ground
squirrels. They also eat weed seeds, fruits, some roots, some bark,
small animals, and various nuts (Bailey, 1887, 1893 ; Burnett, 1914)-
The animals observed in captivity ate almost anything. In the field
they store quantities of grain in their nests in early autumn. Their
ravages in fields of sprouting corn in the springtime, and their habit
of cutting down the grain in the fall before the ovules are formed,
thus destroying a great deal more than they eat (Bailey, 1 887), has
often resulted in efforts to destroy them by means of poisoned grain
and by fumigating the burrows. Bounties have been oStrcd in some
states. (See Bailey, 1893; Burnett, 1914; Bell and Piper, I9i5-)
That the ground squirrel is beneficial to some extent is shown by
the fact that the stomachs examined by Gillette (1889), Aldrich,
(1892), Bailey (1893), and Burnett (1914) showed nearly fifty
per cent of animal matter. This animal matter consisted largely of
remains of injurious insects (grasshoppers, cutworms, wireworms, and
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264 The Quarterly Journal
others), but also some beneficial ones (Carabid and Harpaiilus beetles
and others) were eaten. The animals in the laboratory were found
to kill and eat mice, and one female even ate her young. Burnett
(1914) reports their eating young chickens. A male killed a female
and chewed away the upper part of the neck, when the two were
placed in the same cage in the autumn.
It has been a question whether ground squirrels ever drink
water, or depend upon succulent foods for the water they need. Two
ground squirrels kept under close observation were found to go to a
tumbler of water in their cage, place the fore feet upon the edge of
the glass and drink. As they did so they moved the lower jaw up and
down, producing a sound somewhat similar to that of a cat lapping
milk. They repeated this behavior several times. Captive animals '
always ate water-containing foods, such as grass, apples, baked pota-
toes, and stewed prunes, with great relish. It appears that the ani-
mals will drink water when they have access to it, but that when
they are great distances from water, they must depend upon vege-
tation and insects for it. Some water may be secured on vegetation
after rains and dews. The ground squirrel also excretes compara-
tively little water, this making its water requirement lower than it
otherwise would be.
2. BURROWS
More than a hundred burrows were dug out. Ground squirrek
were found only in those burrows which they were seen to enter.
Approximately fifteen of these burrows were in the sandy regions of
South Chicago (Nov. 11) and were of one type, about two feet in
length and eight to fourteen inches in depth, and showing no evidence
of recent occupancy. Mesurements were not recorded of these bur-
rows.
The remaining burrows were in sod (humus) with clay subsoil
These ranged from four inches to twenty feet in length and from
four to forty-six inches in depth. Of the seventy-eig^t burrows
mesured, thirty-seven per cent were two feet or less in length and
nine inches or less in depth; while sixty-seven per cent were four
feet or less in length and thirteen inches or less in depth; and only
fourteen per cent were longer than six feet or deeper than seventeen
inches. Along a lane between an oat field and a pasture a large
number of very short, shallow burrows were found, of which no
mesurements were recorded. Apparently the latter were refuge
burrows used in journeys between a source food and the permanent
burrow within the pasture. A few short ones were found within
this pasture itself (near New Lenox, 111.), but generally longer.
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Habits of the Ground Squirrel
265
deeper burrows prevailed here. No burrows were straight for any
great distance, but the direction of any given four or five inches
deviated more or less from the direction of the adjacent parts. One
burrow went down for eight inches in a perfect spiral. Usually
the burrows went nearly straight down for two or three inches, then
turning obliquely as illustrated in Fig. i. Some burrows were par-
tially filled with grass and soil for sh(Ht distances.
The observations reported here differ from those of Kennicott
(quoted by Cory, 1912), who states that the summer burrows often
have two openings and that the winter burrows often have two or
more openings. Only six of the burrows described here had two
openings, and only one of these had been recently occupied, whereas
i
y
y
i
j:
•
>.c=
m
4^
"-S^^^;^
^
-Ma,' -
- ^ ,
.l-^.-Hif-'
Fc^Jh.
Tig. 1 a. Map of one of the longer, deeper burrows found.
Vig, 1 b. Dlasram showing- depths of different parts of same.
A. E#ntranoe to burrow.
F. DescendinsT branch.
N 1. Nest No. 1, Diameter 8 In. Filled with oaU.
N 2. Nest No. 2, Diameter 7 in. Partially filled with oats.
Distances: A to B, 22 inches; B to C, 10 feet; C to D. 2 feet; C to EX
2 feet; B to O, S feet
Depths given in inches on dotted vertical lines..
X — T is the level of the top of the ground.
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266 The Quarterly Journal
many of the burrows with but one opening bore evidence of recent
occupanqr. It is possible that proximity to buildings may cause the
animals to dig more than one entrance to their burrows. Attempts
to catch groimd squirrels near buildings (Grand Forks, N. Dak.)>
proved that two or three of the burrows there had more than one
entrance. In the open field, however, I found the single-entrance
burrow without branches decidedly predominant. Only six burrows
were found which were branched.
Observations in the laboratory furnished interesting data con-
cerning the manner of digging and of closing ^e burrows. In dig-
ging, the ground squirrel makes a few very quick, alternating strokes
with its fore legs throwing the soil about its hind l^;s. This is
followed by a straightening of the body and quick alternate strokes
by the hind legs which throw the soil back with great force, at the
same time scattering it. It used the same method in levelling the
soil in front of the hole, starting some distance away and simultane-
ously scratching and moving towards the hole. Probably soil is
scattered in this way in the field, as usually none is found at die
entrance to the burrow. The closing of the hole was observed in
a ground squirrel which had made a burrow in soil in a large cage.
Upon seeing anyone approach it would dart into the burrow and,
dose the entrance. The soil appeared to be loosened and partly
dioved into the <q>ening with the fore feet, then the soil was forced
along die burrow by a rapid shove of the head, and following this
it was packed by quickly repeated and forceful "thuds'* of the head.
The packing of the soil in the mouth of the burrow with a head
well-shaped for the work is very important to the animal, for this
obliterates the entrance to the hole, diereby keeping out not only
enemies, but also the cold in winter and the water in early spring.
That it is the habit of the animal to close its burrow in the winter
is shown by the behavior of three ground squirrels which were
placed in outdoor cages extending four feet into the soil. Each dug
a burrow and in chilly weather closed the entrance, leaving it closed
to a depth of a few indies thru the winter while they were in hiber-
nadon. The extent to which the burrows are packed full in die
field needs further investigation. Inability to dig out ground squir-
rels in die field after hibernation has begun suggests diat the
holes may be packed exceedingly hard for great distances.
3. NBSTS
a. Relation to Burrows, and their Uses, I>oubdess the most
important portion of the permanent burrow is the nest, for it is in
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Habits of the Ground Squirrel 267
tbese that the animab live. This is made certain by their behavior
in the laboratory. When the depth of soil permitted they dug bur-
rows and built nests. When the soil was too shallow for this, they
dug into one comer and built a nest there, gathering with feet and
mouth ^e available materials and arranging these t^ pulling them
about themselves and going thru the mass at different points. In
these ball-shaped nests they would curl up and sleq> when curiosit}'
and hunger did not keep them out The nest is also the portion of
the burrow in which the animal hibernates. The three animals
referred to above as hibernating, when dug out of the soil in early
spring were foimd in nests of grass. It b in the nest also that food
is stored as was proved by the presence of grain in the nests of the
three ground squirrels referred to, and in practically every nest
examined in the field. Oats, wheat, corn, and weed seeds have been
frequently found between the excavated space in the ground and the
grassy nest which filled it. In the recently occupied burrows this
food varied from considerable in the late summer to a small amount
in die late autunm. The nests were usually found in the longer
and deeper burrows. Of the seventy-eig^t burrows recorded twenty-
two had nests connected with them. Two of these had two nests.
b. Description. Some of the nests were foimd to one side of
the burrows, others at the ends of the burrows and still others in
the direct course or at an angle of the burrow. The nests were
often somewhat higher than adjacent parts of the burrow. The
diameters of the excavated places occupied by the nests ranged from
four to ten inches. Eighty-three per cent were between five and
eight inches in diameter. In depth, or distance between the surface
of the ground and the top of the nest, they varied irom three inches
to twenty-nine inches. Twenty-seven per cent ranged between the
depths of three to seven inches inclusive, forty-six per cent ranged
between depths of eight to fourteen inches inclusive, and twenty-
seven between fifteen and twenty-nine inches inclusive. The nest
in each case was almost a perfect sphere and was built chiefly of
dry grass well woven together. In some nests a hollow place was
found in the middle, in others the materials formed a more or less
decayed mass. In one case a definite opening into the cavity of the
nest was found in one side. The presence of seeds or hulls of seeds
indicated that most of the nests had been occupied during the pre-
vious summer.
f. Nests of Especial Interest. Two interesting nests were
found in the longest burrow. The burrow occurred in a pasture
near Canistota, S. Dak., fifteen rods from an oatfield. The first
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268 The Quarterly Journal
nest (N I, Fig. i) was about two feet from the outside opening,
the entrance running back under the first part of the burrow. This
nest was filled entirely full with unshelled oat kernels and a little
dry grass. The estimated number of seeds by counting one-sixteenth
of them was 23,000 to 24,000. This nest was only seven inches
below the surface of the ground, and may have been an emergency
storehouse. The second nest (N 2, Fig. i), was about sixteen feet
from the first, mesuring along the burrow, and was twelve inches
belou' the surface of the ground. It was seven inches in diameter,
one less than the first nest. It contained a handful of dry grass
and about 4,000 oat kernels unshelled. The nest may probably
have afforded room for one ground squirrel. Figure i shows the
essential features of the burrow which contained these two nests.
It is to be noted that the second nest is protected against any "drown-
ing out" methods by being higher than the part of the burrow leading
to it and also by the descending branch near it. The depth of this
was not ascertained because of lack of time. However, two deep
holes found at New Lenox, 111., and one at Riverdale, 111., were
dug out to the end and were found to end blindly, appearing to
serve no definite purpose excq)t possibly that of a drain. Two of
these were of the type of the one mentioned above, which probably
ended blindly also. A nest dug out near Grand Forks, N. Dak.,
near a wheat field contained probably about two or three thousand
wheat kernels (Oct. 191 6). As the stored grain is ripe it probably
does not represent a loss to the farmer, for the ground squirrel had
probably taken it from the easily secured heads lying loose on the
ground.
4. TIME OF HIBERNATION
The hibernation of the thirteen-lined ground squirrel will be
discust in a later paper, so only some general considerations can
be touched upon here, chief of which is the duration of this period
of "winter sleep." This species is one of the so-called warm
blooded animals that hibernate. In this connection my observations
show that the animal does not have a fixed "normal" temperature.
Records of over seventy temperature observations taken on about
ten different individuals show readings ranging from 33^ C. to 40.7^
C, being well divided between the temperatures of 36®, 37**, 38**,
and 39^. Variations in one animal in one day were found as great
as 4^ C. Connection between this condition and the phenomenon
of hibernation has been suggested by workers on other animab (Cf.
Rasmussen, 1916, p. 614). In the normal animal great activity
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Habits of the Ground Squirrel 269
proved to be an important factor in raising the temperature, and
on the other hand the animals were much more active in a warm
than in a cold room. In hibernation the warm-blooded (homoio-
thermal) animal becomes for the time being practically cold-blooded
(poikilothermal), and is able to take a temperature very near to
that of its surroundings; the metabolism of the body decreasing with
the lowering of temperature.
The time of hibernation of Citellus tridecemlineatus varies
with the weather conditions. A cold wave may cause them to retire
for the winter as early as Oct. 10 in South Dakota (Hahn, 1914)
and they have been seen as late as Nov. 9 in Colorado (Burnett,
1914). In 1914 my last ground squirrel was taken on Oct. 17 at
Canistota, S. Dak., and in 191 5 my last three were caught on Oct.
30 at New Lenox, 111., none being seen on Nov. 25. In 19 16 no
ground squirrels were seen at Grand Forks, N. Dak., on Sept. 30
or later. In the spring they are reported as having been seen early
in March in South Dakota (Hahn, 1914), March 23 in Colorado
(Burnett, 1914) and March 27 (1910) and March 28 (1911) in
Illinois, the weather having been warm before the last two dates
(Cory, 1912). On April i (1916) I saw no ground squirrels at
Riverdale, 111., altho the afternoon was spent in digging out burrows
and otherwise looking for them. On May 6 six or seven were seen
at New Lenox, 111., their timidity at this season making them less
con^icuous than in the later summer.
5. REPRODUCTION
The breeding season comes shortly after the adult animals ap-
pear in the spring, probably usually in April. The young are usually
born somewhat earlier than June ist. Mr. A. R. Cahn, of ^e
University of Wisconsin, writes that he found newly born young
on May 24. A female caught early in May 19 16 (New Lenox,
111.) gave birth to six young on May 27 or 28. Lee, (1902) gives
the period of gestation as about one month. The number of young
in one hundred twenty-nine pregnant females were found by Lee
(1. c) to average eight and one-half, ranging from five to thirteen.
He found only four non-pregnant females during the one week in
the middle of May in which he collected these animals.
The young are bom in an embryonic condition. They have no
hair till they are twenty days old and their eyes are closed till they
are thirty days old (Bailey, 1893). Half grown young were
numerous near Grand Forks, N. Dak., early in July, 191 6. A
young animal was caught June 22, 191 5, near Canistota, S. Dak.,
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270 The Quarterly Journal
and placed in a cage with an adult female caught at the same place
and time. It secured milk from the female, and became very play-
fuly running back and iorth in the cage, playing with, leaping at and
per^tently tormenting the older one.
Observations in the laboratory discredit the idea that a male
and a female occupy one burrow in the field. In the autumn a
male and a female in adjacent cages appeared hostile to each other,
and of a pair placed in a large cage outside the female was killed
and the neck badly mutilated. In March, however, a male and a
female occupied one cage agreeably for about a weeL In July the
same male and two females were in one cage for a few days. In
the first case quarreling ensued and in the second case fighting took
place, so the animab were placed in separate cages. The two females
also fought when in one cage. In the field the nests appear to be
too small to accommodate more than one animal. When the bur-
row shown in Figure i was dug out one groimd squirrel came to the
burrow and showed by its actions that the burrow belonged to it.
This one was caught and no other appeared during the afternoon.
Evidently this burrow belonged to only one animal. Many half
grown animals are often seen at one burrow, however. It appears
probable that each adult ground squirrel lives apart from other
adults except possibly for a short time during the breeding season.
6. RELATIONS TO OTHER ANIMALS
The natural enemies of the ground squirrel as given by Bailey
(1893) are hawks, burrowing owls, badgers, foxes, coyotes, wild
cats, skunks, weasels, and snakes. The destruction of these enemies
has resulted in an increase in the number of ground squirrels, ac-
cording to Burnett (1914). Three garter snakes and a weasel were
found in as many ground squirrel burrows.
Two parasites of the ground squirrel were found — small
arachnids in some of their nests and on some of the animals, and
three living round worms in the intestine of a hibernating animal
and two in the stomach of one caught in the spring.
The burrows are often a refuge for animals that are not neces-
sarily enemies or prey. Grasshoppers, crickets, and spiders are fre-
quently found near mouths of burrows. In a sandy region two
salamanders, and in a pasture (New Lenox, 111.) two nests of young
mice were found in different burrows.
V. Acknowledgements and Bibuography
To Dr. A. S. Pearse, for suggesting these studies; and to Dr.
M. M. Wells, for his assistance in the pursuance of the work ,* and
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Habits of the Ground Squirrel 271
to those who kindly replied to my questionnaire, I wish to express
my sincere thanks.
Aldrich, J. M. "Food Habits of the Striped Gopher." S. DaL
1892 Agi. CoL & Exp. Sta. Bull. 30.
Bailey, Vernon. Article on Spermophilus tridecemlineatus. An.
1887 Rep. U. S. Dept. of Agi., pp. 437-438.
Bell, Wm. B. & Piper, Stanley E. "Extermination of Groimd
1 91 5 Squirrels, Gophers and Prairie Dogs in North Dako-
kota." N. Dak. Agi. Sta. Circ 4.
Burnett, W. L. "The Striped Ground Squirrels of Colorado."
1 91 4 Office of State Entomologist, Fort Collins, Colo, Circ
14.
Cory, Chas. E. "Citellus tridecemlineatus." Field Museum of Nat.
19 1 2 Hist. Pub., Zool. Ser. 11, 19 12. The Mammak of
Illinois and Wisconsin.
Gillette, C. P. "Food Habits of the Striped Prairie Squirrel." la.
1889 Agi. Exp. Sta. Bull. No. 6.
Hafan, W. L. "The Hibernation of Certain Animab." Pop. Sci.
1914 Mo., Feb. 1914.
Hoy, P. R. Article on Hibernation of S. tridecemlineatus. Proc
1875 Am. Assn. Adv. Sd., Aug. 1875, pp. 148-150.
Lee, T. G. "On the Early Development of S. tridecemlineatus, a
1902a new type of Mammalian Placentation." Science, N.
Ser., Vol. 15, No. 379, p. 525.
1902b "Implantation of the Oviun in S. tridecemlineatus."
Mark Anniversary Volume, p. 417 fiE.
Seton, E. T. "Citellus tridecemlineatus." Life Histories of Nor-
thern Animals, Vol. i, p. 394.
Wood, Frank E. Mammals of Champaign County, 111. Bull. 111.
1910 St. Lab. Nat. Hist, May, 1910, pp. 524-6.
Rasmussen, A. T. "Theories of Hibernation." Am. Nat., Oct.
191 6 191 6, pp. 609-625.
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KELF
Interlaced flora, maze and tangle of growth!
The same I saw last night and yester-year,
The same God saw in yester-aeon :
Wonderful to us both !
Whether in North afar its peace or here,
Or fusing dream with waters Caribbean,
To keep identity of selfhood so.
To thrive on menace, unperturbed to grow
Despite the impact of the tidal seas.
Merits a little heed in days like these.
Assaulted constantly t^ burly breakers.
Yet ne'er repa)ang blow for blow;
Peacefuller than Quakers,
Albeit Ocean bugles in its ear
To legionary onset and a host
Makes thunderous bombardment of the coast;
Ne'er giving way to fear,
Keq>ing in strength and spirit equipoise,
De^ite confusion, turmoil, noise;
Surf-bu£Eeted, storm-howled-at, ocean-hissed,
Yet still — pacificist;
Gigantic, yet with Sabbath mood alway,
June or December, night and day:
Verily here I find
In stringy kelp of homely brown
What I have seardied the world for up and down,
Nor hoped mig^t ever be,
Whether in world of matter or of mind I
Of sudi as Kelp the Kingdom verily I
Changeless, and yet — all changed!
For where is aught the same in world so wracked
And anguished as to-day's!
Almost I walk estranged
With sea, with mom, impotent to react
To the bloom, die glow, wherewith they meet my gaze. —
* E^xplanatory note. Summerinfir on the Pacific coast in 1916, the
author of the above poem lived within el^ht and hearing of barges that
ceaselessly were harvesting kelp. By recent discovery kelp had been
made a source of potassium salts, used in the manufacture of certain
explosives. Out of these circumstances came the theme of the poem.
It has already appeared, slightly abbreviated, in the March number of
the Vonon, and Is herewith reprinted with the omitted part restored.
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Kelp 273
I said: "Poor thrift, this sleeplessness abed!
ril up and hie me where the Sea halloos
His tides. Ill up and share the morning red
Widi ocean kelp. Mayhap a blend of hues
Rarer and richer now is on the ooze
Than I have thrilled to yet,
Trysting with sea at rise of sun or set."
Surmise was not amiss :
Ne'er bed of kelp more multi-hued than this!
A spirit of beauty is abroad this hour
In rarity like a flower.
What infinite rq)ertory Nature hath
Of joy: winged sun from ocean's dirysalis,
And cataract of stars out of her gloom !
But man perverting her to ill,
Making her serve his wrath,
Making her sting, and stab, and kill —
Therein and thence is doom.
And can it be
Yon amplitudes of kelp are being made
Means of the world's war madness, too, and aid!
That yonder girdle of the sea,
Oozy ocean cincture of continents,
Held a hidden sword, a shining blade.
Whereby the world's Berserker wrath augments
Slaughter, this time of fate!
Flown o'er by pelicans widi oaring wing$.
Neighbor to ocean lands throughout which sings
The meadow lark all seasons of the year,
Winter's no less than spring's.
How all aloof this scene from hate!
How unconcerned with aught of fear!
Of the all-engulfing war.
With nation slitting nation's jugular.
And Teuton plunge for world h^emony.
What recked the kelp-tranced sea!
Yet lo, in the distance, barges,
Harvesting night and day with triple shift
Of toil the kelp from whence my soul's uplift.
Rapture and spirit largess!
For Science, keen-eyed, hath espied
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274 3^^^ Quarterly Journal
Swathed high explosives in yon langorousness,
Useless, forsooth, till now in wind and tide.
Such the tentacles war hath,
Such the suction of its wrath,
All-commandeering war, without redress,
AU-spoliating for its own increase.
Even this morning dream and veq>er peace
Is wrought into its Cl)^emnestra net,
And flung around mankind for butchery!
Great God, how long shall yet
Such nations' Ate be!
O the Nemesis in things,
That thus out of discovery only springs
More poison-fanged a world and keen of daw
To lacerate and rend !
While steadfast Science labors to the end.
Translating matter into terms of Law,
Of bringing things beneath the sway of man,
Man 'neath the sway of things bemeans himself
As never hitherto since time began.
Anathema! ''Retro me Satana"
To Science, if indeed her siunming up
Be ill for human kind I Ay, dash it down.
If for ^e race be poison in the cup!
At least the days of Ghibelline and Guelph,
Howso they splashed their blood-feuds o'er the town.
Could not coerce sweet Nature to their ends
Of vengeance and a£Fright;
At least when Greek fought fellow Greek, their might
Of mutual destruction foimd not help
And furtherance in clinging beds of kelp.
Awakened out of oozy sleep in bends
And windings of the Grecian shore.
Ah, never, never more.
These waters should be named Pacific 1
Surely all forfeit is the name they bore,
Being put to use so martial, so terrific!
Here in high Dream's employ,
And tense Hebraic mood.
Purged of all individual alloy.
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Kelp 275
These leagues of migfa^ ocean I surveyed
As symbol of like vast pan-racial good.
Then suddenly the soul in me
Rose g^ser-like in wild apostrophe:
America, my country, art thou weighed
In ^e balance and foimd wanting? O tbou Land
Of promise unfulfilled, and high desires
Blasted like waves iqxm an iron strandl
Wi^ thy dread failure thou dost make afraid
Who trusted thee, hoped for thee, and lit fires
For beacons on thy mountains. Thou dost red
With wine, art fat with feasting, and thy lips
Are the abode of wantonness and mirth;
Thou pe(H>lest the great deep with ships,
And on the 'uttermost earth
As conqueror hast trod and set thy heeL
Yet thou hast made of weal
A fetish god, and worshipest thy gold
As calf-delirious Israel of old.
It was not for the dancing of such rite
Thy feet have forded seas
With pillar of cloud by day and fire by night;
Nor passed they through those dire calamities
Of other nearer da3rs, whereof the woe
Still lives, to stiunble now and go amiss.
O lifted up by that vast earthquake throe
To be the world's enskyed Acropolis,
Thinkcst thou to be hid!
Forgive my lips, forgive me that I chid,
White Wonder of indomitable will!
But I would see thee as I once did see,
With prairies, mountains, wave-anointed strands.
The Virgin-born of lands,
. Fulfillment of thy singers' prophecy,
And of all nations the Messiah still!
The sea itself upheaves
To pace the world with tides, and scattered leaves
Its kelp to etch the pathway of its march.
The roar summons me back from otherwhere —
The himian welter of energy,
With brinier kelp from waters more resbtless.
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276 The Quarterly Journal
Almost I would the vastness seething there,
The waves with feet that prance, with necks that arch,
All the super-beauty of the sea,
Mig^t drug me to forget, with heart grown lisdess.
The pitifulness and pathos of man's life.
The pitifulness and tragedy of hb strife.
Just when democracy was nascent; just
When man was climbing upward out of dust
With something of momentum, and a new
Zest of achievement thrilled him through and through;
Just when he thought to lay more bastions low
Of privilege and error, and make way
Widi ancient exploitations, and to grow
Into the stature of Himself indeed —
Then this Nay
To his dreams, to his hopes, to Godl
Then Belgium trodden into llie sod —
Ploughed under by the Teuton human plough,
Before whidi freedom is a noxious weed,
That, flowering, menaces with thorn and spike ;
Then in that racial crisis, we
Battening on blood-lucre, Judas-like;
Nor even protesting, save for our own rights —
Studious of our own ease and how
To prosper, whereso victory or defeat!
But wherefore, wherefore repeat
Here within ear-shot of the moaning sea
The story of man's plunge adown the heights!
I'll discipline myself to be resigned.
Withdrawal still is possible and sweet.
Withdrawal still is home —
Pillow and cup and bread to soul and mind,
Wearied and sick of things as they of yore.
Civilization is a little foam,
Riding a little kelp, and cast ashore.
And canceled by a little noon forevermore.
GOTTFRIBD EmANUBL HuLT,
Professor of Classical
Languages and Literatures,
University of North Dakota
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Book Reviews
Light and Shade and Their Appucations M. Luckiesh,
Physicist, Nela Research Laboratory, National Lamp Works of
General Electric Company. D. Van Nostrand Company, New
York, 1916. XII+266 pp., 135 illustrations and 10 tables.
Price $2.50.
It is an interesting fact that altho as a branch of physics the
scientific side of light has received an enormous amount of attention
and probably has been carried farther than any other branch, and
altho the arts of representation by means of color and light and
shade began with the earliest history, yet the scientific foundation
for the amplications of light and shade and color in many of the arts
is so little known that the author of this book may say "I am unaware
of the existence of any treatise in which a general analytical discus-
sion of light and shade has been presented.''
Lig^t and Shade and Their Applications is a treatment of the
science of the subject and the art is discust largely for the purpose
of illustrating the usefulness to the artist of a knowledge of the
fundamental principles. It is recognized that "art cannot be manu-
factured by scientific formulae" but it is rightly contended that every
artist in any field should have a knowledge of the scientific prin-
ciples underlying his art.
The first six chapters are devoted to a definition of terms and
a discussion of the main principles — light intensity, brightness, re-
flection and reflection coefiicients, the shadow, the cast diadow, a
scale of values, and color. Then there is a chapter each on lig^t and
shade in nature, in sculpture, in architecture, in painting, in stage-
craft, in photography, in vision, and in lighting. The need for some
scientific ba^ in each field is shown and the general principles estab-
lisht. Eadi chapter is abundantly illustrated as well as the limitations
of photographic and printing processes will allow, and there are 135
illustrations in all.
As an illustration, quite inadequate of course, of the method
and subject matter of the book we may take the discussion of the
range of contrast which ^e eye will tolerate. If we assume a white,
diffusely reflecting sphere to be resting upon black pi^>er in an ordi-
nary room lighted by daylight, the brightest point on the sphere
is shown to be about 400 times brighter than the shadow cast upon
the blad^ paper, yet both are distinctly visible at the same time. If
the sphere is lighted by a frosted tungsten lamp the ratio of the
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278 The Quarterly Journal
brightness of the lamp to the bri^tness of the brightest point on the
sphere is about 1500 but the ratio of the brightness of the source
to the brightness of the shadow is some 6,000,000. This gives some
conception of the possibilities of the strain and fatigue of the eye
when using our modern illuminants widi their high intrinsic bril-
liancy. By comparison with the eye a photographic plate that shows
a range of gradation of 250 to i represents practically the greatest
range that can be realized. In pigments and printing inks the black-
est black still reflects about 10 per cent of the lig^t and the whitest
white only about 90 per cent, so that standard value scale has a
range of nine values from black to white each differing by about 10
per cent. This shows the limitation of any process in attempting
to represent true conditions found in nature.
The typography of the book is good, the printing large and clear,
the illustrations well chosen, and the language not too technical
for the general reader. We heartily commend the book to anyone
interested in the subject discust.
E. B. Stephenson
Department of Physics,
University of North Dakota
An Introduction to Histcmwcal Geology: William J. Miller,
Professor of Geology, Smith 0)llegc. D. Van Nostrand Com-
pany, New York, 1916. XVI+399 pp., 238 figures. Price,
$2.00.
This is perhaps the first text-book to deal with historical
geology alone instead of combining it with dynamical and structural
geology as is usually done. Each period of the earth's history from
the Cambrian to the Quaternary is discust and the important changes
in the evolution of land masses and organisms are pointed out.
The first two chapters contain a discussion of the general prin-
ciples of historical geology, including the significance of fossils and
the methods of correlation of rock formations. As a basis for die
discussion of the life forms of the various periods the classification
of animals and plants is given, with simple descriptions of the main
groups. This is a valuable feature of the book for students who
have not had botany or zoology.
One chapter is devoted to each geological period, in M^ich is
given the origin of the name of the period, its subdivisions, the
distribution and character of the rocks, the physical history or changes
in land and sea areas, foreign occurrences, climate, economic pro-
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Book Reviews 279
ducts, and life. In this way the development of the North Ameri-
can continent is traced and the evolution of animal and plant life
from the Cambrian period to the present is presented. After de-
scribing the various periods of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic excellent
summaries of these eras are given in which the chief events are
briefly sketched. Another valuable feature of the book is the tabular
sunmiaries of Paleozoic and Mesozois organisms, so that one may
see at a glance the principal groups of plants and animals which
characterize each period.
The illustrations are many and good, and include numerous
paleographic maps showing North America as it was during various
geological periods. This volume might well serve as a text-book
''dealing with the historical portion of a one-year course in general
geology" as stated by the author in the preface. An elementary
knowledge of dynamical and structural geology is, however, pre-
supposed. This treatment of the historical portion separately is an
interesting departure and may well meet the needs of those who
wish to present that phase of the subject.
A. G. Leonard
Department of Geology,
University of North Dakota
A Laboratory and Class-Room Guide to Quautative Chemi-
cal Analysis: George F. White, Assistant Professor of
Chemistry in Clark College, Instructor in Clark University.
V-I-I7I pp. D. Van Nostrand Co., N. Y., 1916. Price, $1.25.
This little volume is "offered as a working manual which pre-
sents the essentials of both theory and practice but which also
suggests the possibilities for more extended study and experimenta-
tion."
The most striking feature of the book is the surprising amount
of theory condensed into the first 23 pages. Under the heading,
'Theories of Aqueous Solutions" are to be found: — ^the Gas Laws,
Avogadro's Hypothesis, Density and Molecular Weight, Osmotic
Pressure, Ac Ionization Theory, Valence, Reaction Velocity, the
Law of Mass Action, Conunon Ion Effect, Solubility-Product Prin-
dple, Hydrolysis, and even the Electron Theory. The statements
are dear and exact, but in the opinion of the reviewer such a book
would require to be used with great care by teachers generally ; for
even more advanced students of Physical Qiemistry do not readily
comprehend and apply these principles. Where so much theory is
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28o The Quarterly Journal
presented so concisely the tendency to substitute mere memory for
rational understanding would seem to present a real difficulty.
The manual proper contains the brief statements of the typical
reactions of the common elements and ions. The directions are
clear and the procedures described are practical and modem. In the
use of Physical Chemistry the author is consistent thruout the book,
reactions usually appearing in both the molecular and the ionic forms,
while oxidation and reduction are properly treated as electronic
changes.
Mechanically, the book is attractive and surprisingly well made.
The English is also usually excellent, but minor defects appear such
as the occasional mixing of indicative and imperative moods in some
of the directions.
The manual will please those teachers who want a small book
fiill of physico-chemical theory together with the usual reactions
and procedures of Qualitative Anal)rsis, and it will doubtless find
extended use.
G. A. Abbott
Department of Chemistry,
University of North Dakota
The Science of Musical Sounds: D. C. Miller^ Professor of
Ph)rsics, Case School of Applied Science. The Macmillan Co.,
1916. VIII+286 pp. Price, $2.50.
The book presents, substantially as delivered, a course of eight
experimental lectures delivered by Professor Miller at the Lowell
Institute during January and February, 191 4. The lectures were
intended for a general audience consequently there is considerable
elementary matter introduced consistent with a clear development of
the subject and leading logically up to the most recent developments
under discussion. Professor Miller has happily met the difficulty
of presenting in book form a series of experimental lectures by a
generous use of drawings, diagrams, and excellent photographs of
apparatus, sound records, instruments, etc.
The first two lectures are devoted to a development of the
ideas of wave motion, vibrations, sounds, and tones. The third lec-
ture reviews many of the various methods of recording and photo-
graphing sound waves. A large part of the chapter is devoted
with much justification to the author's own device, the phonodeik,
an instrument for recording the vibrations of sounds. The principle
involved in the construction of the phonodeik is not new but in the
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Book Reviews 281
hands of Professor Miller it has been used to develop an instrument
which surpasses all others of a similar character. The phonodeik
consists essentially of a glass disc for receiving sound from a horn.
A small staff with a small mirror attached to it, fixt in jeweled
bearings, is attached by means of a silk fiber to the thin glass disc
in such a manner that when the disc is caused to vibrate to a sound
wave a beam of light reflected from the mirror follows the ampli-
tude of vibration of the sound wave. By the use of a rotating
mirror the vibrations may be cast upon a screen giving a visual
demonstration of the vibrations in the sound waves.
The fourth lecture is devoted to an analysis and synthesis of
harmonic curves and the. fifth to the influence of diaphrams and
horns on sound waves and the interpretation of sound analyses. The
chapter is an important as well as interesting one. Many of the
results are directly applicable to the scientific construction of the
modem phonograph, especially those dealing with the influence of
vibrations of diaphrams and horns. The sixth chapter deals with
tone qualities of musical instruments and is full of interesting mate-
rial. The subject matter of the seventh and eighth chapters is
concerned with characteristics of vowels and with synthetic vowels
and words respectively. These are highly important subjects and
Professor Miller's contributions in these fields are by no means small.
The work is concluded with a valuable bibliography of a hundred
or more valuable references.
The book is a valuable contribution to the study of sound and
is especially valuable in its relation to the physical foundations of
music It is stimulating to the investigator in this field because it
contains the latest developments in the subject and must prove to
be fascinating to the general scientific reader.
B. J. Spence
Department of Physics,
University of North Dakota
SOCIAUSM AS THE SOCIOLOGICAL IdEAL: FlOYD J. MbLVIN.
Sturgis and Walton Company, New York, 1915. V-t-209 pp.
Price, $1.25.
Like the volumes by Lewis, Seliars, and Kelly, not to mention
other recent publications by socialists, diis work is an index of a
rapidly widening trend in socialistic philosophy toward making
socialism dosely coterminous with the ideals iwr society of scientific
sociology. The author regards socialism as economic only in placing
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282 The Quarterly Journal
emphasis on the necessity of controlling the "material" as the basb
or means of reducing it to its place of subserviency in a properly
constituted society where the larg^ life for all is for the first time
made possible.
In the first three chapters Dr. Melvin considers die nature of
socialism and seeks to define it. "Sociologically considered socialism
is that form of social organization which tends to extend the field
of social control to all matters directly affecting society as a whole."
Cp. 7.) It is "the social system which seeks by means of the social
control of heredity and environment to direct the furdier progress
of civilization in accordance with the ideals arising thru social self-
consciousness." (p. 40.) Such a system demands as its characteris-
tics (i) an "adequate organization," (2) "clearly perceived social
purposes or ideals," (3) "means commensurate with its purposes"
whidi would enable it to replace die present method of industrial
competition by "intelligent decision," and (4) complete democracy,
or government by the people, (pp. 48-51.)
Chapters 4 and 5 consist of an exposition of the "spiritual"
and "material" forces producing socialism. The first are regard for
justice, elimination of chance, and ethical and esthetic ideals. Broad-
ly speaking, these produce humanitarianism, appUed Christianity,
or full social-self-consciousness, all synonyms with socialism. (Chap.
4.) The moral forces producing socialism are embraced within the
meaning of cooperation in its common sense. The capitalistic sys-
tem intrinsically works toward a co-operative stage because its char-
acteristic method, competition, is too destructive. This is seen in
the appearance of trusts and labor unions. The interests of all
demand that society as a universal cooperating organization shall
control thru its government rather than be controlled by eidier of
them.
Chapters 6 and 7 are especially interesting and often illumi-
nating, dealing as they do with the "means" (Chap. 6) and "mediod"
(Chap. 7) of social control. Socialism is defined anew as the
"apotheosis of public education." Education is one of the greatest
agencies of rendering the masses intelligent so that they may effec-
tively decide upon plans for die regulation of puUic matters. The
scientist, philosopher, and sdiolar would, if the proper ideal of
socialism were realized, be placed among die real leaders because
ideas rather than dollars would have the deciding power. Evolu-
tion is the other and the most important method. By this the author
includes both positive and negative eugenics. Alone under socialism
could a compulsory motive for race improvement be guaranteed,
mating individuals.
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The last two chapters add little to the content of the volume.
In general the author sustains his undertaking in this work. The
book is written in a clear, vigorous style, and the dioug^t is com-
pact and impressive. At times the organization is not clear, com-
pelling the reader to search for connections. There is an error in
the seeming position that the state is broader than society (p. 4).
Also the audior probably underrates the force of competition be-
tween individuals in society outside the economic aspect. The power
of popular rule alone to unify society is overrated (pp. 41-2). The
author devotes less attention to the need of educating the social mind
than is demanded.
Dr. Melvin's volume deserves study because it o&rs a better
approximation to the logical implications of socialism than has hith-
erto appeared.
J. M. GiLLBTTE
Department of Sociology,
University of North Dakota
The Nature of Matter and ELECTRicrry ; An outline of modern
views: Daniel F. Comstock, Engineer and Associate Profes-
sor of Theoretical Physics in Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, and Leonard T. Troland, Instructor in Harvard
University. D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, 191 7.
XXII+203 pp. Price $2.00 net.
This book on The Nature of Matter and Elcctridty should
be received with enthusiasm by all those interested in general physi-
cal science, who probably have not had the time or opportunity
carefully to follow the developments along the many lines of work
which the book covers, and even the pure physicist may welcome
it as a popular and elementary, but no less authoritative, treatment
of the subject as a whole. The arrangement of the book is some-
what unique. It consists of two parts "the first giving a rapid
survey of the entire subject, outlining the fundamental conceptions
and emphasizing their most significant applications only, while the
second retraces the same general field in a slower and less connected
way, in order to give detaib omitted in the more cursory treatment."
Part I occupies one fourth of the book and is the work of the
senior author. The titles of the eleven chapters indicate the scope,
namely: Introduction, The Ultimate Realities, Atoms and their Be-
havior, The Nature of Heat and Allied Phenomena, The Electron
and Its Behavior, Electrons, Chemical Action and Light, Electrons
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284 The Quarterly Journal
and Magnetism, Radio-activity, The Structure of the Atom, Recent
Discoveries Concerning Atomic Structure and Radiation, and Atoms
and Life. These points in Part I that are more fully developed
in Part II are indicated by full cross references to a "section" in
Part IL Each section has in conclusion a number of specific refer-
ences to original sources where the subject is still further elaborated.
A good many of these references are to Nernst's "Theoretical Chem-
istry," Campbell's "Modem Electrical Theory," and Rutherford's
"Radio-active Substances and Their Radiations."
The general style of the book is explanatory, and mathematical
proofs are entirely absent but the statements are not dogmatic, are
frequently much qualified, and in case of doubt both sides of the
theories are given. There are a number of Plates and Figures,
some interesting ones being hypothetical molecular or atomic struc-
ture as seen thru an imaginary microscope of enormous power-
E. B. Stephenson
Department of Physics,
University of North Dakota
Physical Laboratory Experiments for Engineering Stu-
dents: Samuel Sheldon, Professor of Physics and Electri-
cal Engineering, and Erich Hausmann, Associate Professor
of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of
Brooklyn. Part I., Mechanics, Sound, Heat, and Light. D.
Van Nostrand Co., New York, 191 7. VI+I34 PP. Price,
$1.25.
This book is designed for sophomore engineers who have had
good high-school training in Physics and are familiar with the calcu-
lus. The explanations of the experiments and the description of the
apparatus is good both in what is said and in what is unsaid. Each
experiment is designed for a three-hour period but it would seem to
the reviewer that there was considerable variation in the length of
time required, especially in calculating the results. For the class
of students for whom the book is designed the reviewer is heartily
in accord with the principle of "using apparatus of engineering
design ... so that the student may rely upon getting the same
results under the same conditions . . . and gain confidence in
the apparatus, confidence in the theory, and confidence in himself.'*
In elementary courses it is probably better for pedagogical reasons
to have simple apparatus where the essential principle is not obscured
by the refinements necessary to accuracy, but for more mature and
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Book Reviews 285
better trained students, especially in engineering, the point of view
should be that each assignment is an investigation in which the
student expects to get reliable data for later practical use, and this
requires refined, somewhat complicated, and usually expensive ap-
paratus.
There arc thirty experiments in the book, 12 on mesurements
and mechanics, 8 in heat, i in sound, and 9 in light. It is rather
hard to judge the proper content of a particular course unless one
knows the whole course of training which the student is to receive,
so we merely suggest that an experiment or two involving very
accurate weighing might be desirable.
The general outline of Object, Theory, Apparatus, Procedure,
and Conclusions is followed for each experiment and this is good.
We think that with engineers a little more specific attention to
percentage accuracy might be required.
The typographical work is attractive, and the illustrations are
a judicial combination of diagrams, drawings, and photographs.
E. B. Stephenson
Department of Hiysics,
University of North Dakota
A Critique of the Theory of Evolution: Thomas Hunt
Morgan^ Professor of Experimental Zoology in Columbia
University. Princeton University Press, Princeton, October,
1 9 16. X+197 pp. Illustrated with 95 figures and plates.
Price, $1.50 net.
A theory of evolution based upon the mere success of lining
up or ordering a series of structures from the simple to the complex,
as for example in comparative anatomy, embryology, or paleontology,
Professor Morgan calls "circumstantial evidence for organic cvolu-
tion,'' from whidi nothing can be known about the order or manner
in which the individual members appeared.
In five years of experimentation. Professor Morgan produced
over a hundred and twenty-five new types of the wild fruit fly
Drosophila that breed true. The mutations involve body size, length
of wing, body pigmentation, eye color, etc., each mutation affording
a basis for a definite ordering of types. The significant thing. Pro-
fessor Morgan points out, is diat the types arose suddenly and in-
dependently. These results have led him to reinterpret the mean-
ing of the word evolution as the occurrence of variations and their
transmission, and to dispute the evidence on whidi the older theory
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286 The Quarterly Journal
of evolution was based. He believes the adequate theory must cover
the natural causes of variation, the kinds of variation that are heredi-
tary, and how they are transmitted.
Professor Morgan gives ample experimental data to ^ow that
evolution is not a ferocious struggle between the individuals of a
species resulting in the survival of the fittest and annihilation of the
less fit; that it is not a process in which the individual is the unit,
but a quiet process of sorting out factors in the germ plasm. Ad-
vantageous characters survive by incorporating themselves into the
germ plasm of the race. Mendel's law accounts for the origin of
the characters, the kinds of variations, and the modes of inheritance
of these variations.
Professor Morgan gives the various evidences lowing that the
mechanism of heredity is the chromosome, proving diis fact speci-
fically in his study of the Drosophila. By means of this medianispi
those characters or mutations that are beneficial are incorporated
into the race so that such characters or mutations preponderate in
the individuals of the race. This is the true meaning of natural
selection and is superior to Darwin's, because we are better informed
than he was concerning the medianism of heredity.
John W. Todd
Department of Psychology,
University of North Dakota
First Lbssons in American History: S. E.* Form an, Author of
A History of the United States, Advanced American History,
Advanced Civics, etc. The Century Company, New York City,
1916. More than 250 illustrations. 343 pp. Price, $ .65.
A review of an elementary book on American history may seem
to be out of place in such a publication as the Quarterly Journal,
but the little volume before me so well illustrates many improve-
ments in educational thought and practise of recent times that 1 3deld
to the impulse to give it space.
The very mechanical make-up of the book is one of its sugg^
tive features and ofiFers a striking contrast to the books placed in
the hands of children only a short generation ago. It is attractively
and strongly bound, the paper is of good quality, and die t3rpe large
and clear. It is profusely illustrated with maps, portraits, battle
scenes, and pictures of industrial and historic scenes of various kinds,
thus attracting the eye and adding one more natural appeal for
attention on the part of the learner. How delighted the old
Moravian pioneer in education, Comenius, would have been could
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Book Reviews 287
such a book have been put into his hands back there in the seven-
teenth century I In textbook making it is beyond the wildest flight
of even his heretical imagination.
And the content is equally suited to the young learner. Could
Herbart have lived to see such a successful e£Eort for arousing the
interest of the child in one of his favorite subjects, methinks he
would have died happy. And could Pestalozzi and Froebel have
looked forward to such an evidence of knowledge of cfaUd nature
as here presented, and to such an intelligent application of the same
to the work of the school, they would have realized more fully than
they did that they had not lived in vain.
The book as a whole — content, arrangement, form, illustrations,
method — ^brings fordby to one's mind the fact that Rousseau's fun-
damental contention that education should be based on the diild's
instincts and capacities is being realized in every-day school prac-
tise, at least in the text-books we put into his hands. It but remains
for the teadiers to do their work as well. And what is said here
of this little text in history for the young child can be said in
greater or less degree of all of ova text-books all along the line
from the elementary school to and including the college and the
university. Some of them, as this, are excellent in every sense of
the word and many others leave little to be desired.
A. J. Ladd
Department of Education
University of North Dakota.
The Ambrican Crrv: Hbnry C. Wright, First Deputy Com-
missioner, Department of Public Charities, New York City.
A. C. McClurg & Company, Chicago, 19 16. National Social
Science Series — Frank L. McVey, Editor. VIII-|-i75 pp.
Price, 50c.
Before a book can be fairly reviewed it is essential that the
author's purpose in writing the book be kept clearly in view. Some-
times this purpose is not stated with precision and is ascertainable
only from a perusal of his work. In this instance, however. Dr.
Wright, in a brief preface, states the object of his labor to be to
present ''a bird's-eye view of the dty, a broad outline of the func-
tions performed by people grouped together into a dty; the things
diey find it necessary to do that are not done by a like number of
people scattered through a country district."
Dr. Wright is First Dq>uty Commissioner of the Department
of Public Charities of New York City. From his official position
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288 The Quarterly Journal
the casual observer would infer that the point of view taken is not
wholly that of the doctrinaire. Upon reading the volume, this
impression is fully confirmed. The book is singularly free from
theorizing, and there is little effort made to offer solutions for the
numerous problems that have arisen in connection with the rapid
growlli and the complex social conditions of the American city.
In the first chapter the author briefly discusses early cities and
the causes and conditions responsible for the formation and the loca-
tion of urban communities. Fourteen of the one hundred seventy-five
pages are devoted to this historical explanation. The audior then
hastens to the real purpose before him, namely, to lay before his
readers a concise description of an American city as a living, grow-
ing, active governmental organism, followed by a statement of some
of the grave problems, social and economic, that have arisen within
our dries.
The chapter describing the various forms of dty government
is espedally valuable to die reader who wishes to be informed of
the general outlines of the forms of munidpal government, with
illustradons of each type. Espedally interesting is the discussion
of the practical operation of the form of dty government most
directly under the control of the state legislature and its comparison
with dties governed under the so called "Home Rule Charter."
Speaking to this point the author states, as his condusion, that the
dty of Boston, "under greater legislative control than any other
American City," has not suffered because of this fact "for it is today
one of the best governed dties in the country."
The author condudes that, "where the commission form has
been in force marked improvement has been shown in the dties'
financial affairs; administration of the departments has been more
effident; a better class of men has been attracted to the munidpal
service ; and the moral tone has greatly improved." For the student
who wishes a concise description of the different forms of dty gov-
ernment, it is difficult to suggest any other source within the same
compass that would more fully meet such a need.
In oonduding the chapter on the form of dty government the
audior says, "no form will relieve the dtizens of responsibility. The
success of any form is primarily dependent upon the active interest
of the dtizens — ^widi constant watdifulness on the part of the dti-
zen almost any form can be made successful." The truth of these
observations has long been acknowledged by publicists, but to impress
successfully the duty of vigilance upon the voter and the dtizen
has been difficult in the extreme. It is unquestionaUy true that
while the form of government, eq)edally if complex, may multiply
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Book Reviews 289
the opportunities for corruption, yet no form can be devised under
our theory of government in which constant watchfulness on the
part of the citizenship of the city is not essential to its continued
purity. This is forcefully txprest by Dr. Wright.
In the chapter on the finances of cities, pursuant to the purpose
exprest in his preface, the author explains the methods of raising
revenues to meet municipal expenditures, stating in explanatory detail
the different sources of income. He shows by statistics from the
Federal Census that the per capita cost of government tends to
increase with the growth of the population. In the larger cities
the per capita cost for all general departmental expenditures is said
to be $21.24, while in the smaller it is but $11.09. The department
which seems to require the most rapid increase in expenditure with
die growth of the population is the judiciary and the police. The
author concludes that the statistics presented confirm the current
belief that the "massing of people together creates artificial conditions
which are expensive to overcome."
The chapter on property, life, and health, explains in considerable
detail the methods adopted in different cities to protect citizens in
their enjoyment of these things. In comparing die efficiency of
American methods of fire protection with those of foreign countries,
we are reminded of the startling fact that the average fire loss in
American cities is about two dollars fifty-five cents per capita of
population, while in German cities it is only twenty cents per capita.
The audior then points out the means adopted to reduce the fire
hazard, such as signal systems, fire companies, building regulations
and the like.
The chapter on education and instruction is largely descriptive
of the difiFerent methods adopted by difiFerent cities, with a discussion
of the educational value of young men's and young women's Chris-
dan Assodadons, libraries, art galleries and museums, and public
lectures.
Tlie chapter on municipal undertakings is in fact tho not in
form largely stadsdcal. We are referred to specific undertakings
by individual cides, and figures are given tending to show the rela-
tive cost to the citizens of the service when rendered by private
enterprise and by the dty. I think it may be fairly stated that the
instances given tend to show that municipal undertakings within
recent years have been on the whole rather successfiil. An interest-
ing table of municipal electric lighting plants is included, being
compiled from die annual reports of seventeen ddes, ranging in
population from five hundred to over diree hundred diousand.
The last chapter in this litde volume is suggesdvely endtled
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290 The Quarterly Journal
"The Effect of the City Upon die Citizen." Here the author
departs somewhat from the method that has characterized the other
portions of his book and undertakes to express some conclusions to
which his studies have led him. We find such striking statements
as the following, '*The dty seems to be, in a large degree, a con-
sumer rather than a producer of initiative and fertility of thought —
the city furnishes great opportunities to the adult who comes to it
with a live imagination and initiative; the child mind it tends to
stifle and dwarf — ^this freeing of the child is one of the most press-
ing problems of the modem dty." Speaking of the necessity of play
grounds and parks, the author says that "people confined to brick
walls and pavements must have an occasion of relief afforded by
open spaces." The book is well written, its facts are logically
grouped, and its condusions are conservative.
Unfortunately the author has omitted all mention of the work
of municipal reference bureaus, like those of Baltimore and Mil-
waukee, supported by the public, or of munidpal researdi sodedes
in part, at least, supported by the public, which have for thdr object
the furnishing of information and assistance to munidpal officers.
These agencies for better government deserve attention in a book
on the American dty, as they tend to supply diat ladi of expert,
sdentific knowledge, which has been one of the contributing causes
of ineffidency in munidpal government.
SvBiNBjoRN Johnson
College of Law,
University of North Dakota
Old Testament History: Ismar J. Peritz. Abingdon Press,
1 916. Second edition. Price, $1.50.
The fact that Professor Peritz's "Old Testament History" has
reached a second impression in one year attests its acceptability. The
author combines scholarly knowledge with power to adapt his mate-
rial to the student's needs. The name of the author is warrant of
painstaking and accuracy. A few detaik as to treatment compel
attention.
Hie student is introduced to the subject in an admirable way.
After discussing reasons for the study, Peritz divides the field into
three grand divisions: the Formative Period — ^to the establishing of
the Kingdom; the Prophetic Period — ^die national period under the
guidance and influence of the great preachers and reformers; the
Priestly Period — when Ecdesiastidsm was dominant. At last the
lay student has the historic divisions of the Old Testament bodes:
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Book Reviews 291
Law, Prophets, and the "Writings" (Hagiographa). There is his-
tory in the books, but it is a historical archipelago: the books are
not intended primarily as histories. This idea when once fully
understood relieves us of a world of embarrassment as self-appointed
apologetes. The correct view is of a series of great prophetic docu-
ments whose chief aim is religious instruction. "They were written
for a moral and religious purpose, to show how Jehovah had guided
and helped the nation, and by the use of the past to warn die
people of sin and to teach them die right way.'' Equally good is
the analysis of the historic sources, and their treatment as an
orderly attempt to secure for the Old Testament a trustworthy
historic basis — so-called discrepancies find light in a most helpful,
satisfsdng way.
The study proper begins with a study of the geography of the
land. One by one the cardinal features of that wonderful land
are taken up and after thoro discussion are finally blended together
in "the general character of Palestine."
Tlie interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis is illumi-
nating, and one sees Hebrew life carried on by the sweep of history.
The evolution of the Hebrew legal code is so formulated as to make
these portions alive, and they reflect the growing, developing life
of the people. The discussion of the Solomonic period is a masterly
summary. As we enter the later periods we are helped by chrono-
logical tables of the kings, whidi statements serve as sheet-andiors
for the text which in each case follows. The prophets, too, who
stand out as flaming evangels, are treated in a manner that reminds
one of Comill in his little classic on the Prophets, and the analyses
of their books are just what the student needs to start him in tiieir
intelligent reading. A notable instance of these literary digressions
is the summary of the book of Job. We can add here only a mention
of the fine summary of Judaism, Scribism, S3magogue, parties, ethical
standards, and die Messianic hope. The treatment of each period
is followed by a group of questions which sum up and afiFord even
the lone reader a means for profitable study. The maps are numer-
ous,^ tho one could wish that colored maps, and some such orographic
map as the collotype map of die Palestine Exploration Fund might
have been used to emphasize the geography thruout the volume.
The book is one of the very finest texts before the college public
and is well worthy of a place in the curriculum.
W. N. Stbarns
Department of History
and Religious Education,
Fargo G>llege
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University Notes
Tkm IJm i wn i tj tad North Dakota has adopted the budget system
tk« TrTfitlfltwr* qJ appropriations, and under the plan provided
for by the session of 191 5 the Budget Q>mmission began its work.
This Commission made an examination of the requests of the dif-
ferent institutions in the state and visited each of them before making
recommendations. The recommendations for the University as pre-
sented by the Board of Regents were practically adopted by the
Budget Commission in so far as they related to maintenance items.
The Commission raised the request for the Chemistry Building to
$90,000 and for equipment of that building to $20,000. At the
time of adjournment of the legislature both of these items were left
in die bill, But under the necessity of redudng die amount of the
appropriations, the Governor struck out the amount for equipment
and also for the completion of the third story of Macnie Hall.
This left the appropriations for the general purposes of the Univer-
sity as follows:
For maintenance $81,000.
Main unit of Chemistry Building 90,000.
General Library 6,000.
Grounds maintenance 2,000.
General building repairs 5,000.
Extension work 8,000.
Residence Hall furnishings 5,000.
Completion of lighting S3^tem 2,500.
Engineering equipment 7,000.
University Museum 1,000.
Summer Session 4,000.
Replacing tunnels 6,500.
Trusses for Power House roof 2,500.
Purchase of Books 5,000.
The result of these appropriations is to give die University ad-
ditional income much needed, and will allow for a few additions
to the faculty and some increases in salary.
Th« Unirsraity •nd The modem university comes into close contact
Ntftn AMooiadons ^^j^ many interests and many movements.
These relations grow out of the work which it is doing. Thus die
difFerent departments and colleges come in touch with work and
men in various special fields in the United States. These are or-
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University Notes 293
ganized into associations national in character, and the university
soon finds it necessary to have representation at their meetings. Fur-
ther than this, the university as one of the socializing factors of
the nation comes in contact with various interests all the way from
educational questions to questions of national preparedness.
The University of North Dakota is a member of a number of
these national associations. Thus there is the National Education
Association, the National Association of State Universities, the North
Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the Ameri-
can Council for the Advancement of Medical Education, the Asso-
dation of American Law Schools, the National Religious Educa-
tional Assodation, the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, the honor-
ary scholastic sodety of Phi Beta Kappa, and th^ Sodety for the
Promotion of Engineering Education. Failure to accept the respon-
sibility of such assodations reduces the university to a minor position
and fails to secure for it the recognition abroad which it has earned.
The consequence is that relationships of this kind require a great
deal of correspondence and frequent attendance upon meetings for
the conduct of the business of the associations. The fact that North
Dakota is not so well known thruout the country as it is at home
makes the need for such representation all the more paramount.
The calls that are made upon the President of the University to
attend these meetings, to take part in their programs, to accept a
share in the responsibility for the government of these associations,
increase with the growth of the University, and it is essential that
diis responsibility be accepted in view of the greater richness of
life which it brings to the University as a consequence of it. The
burden and the responsibility of such attendance fall largely upon
the president of the institution as its representative and necessitates
his absence to a considerable degree during the course of the year.
Widiout doubt, however, the results which come from these rela-
tionships are of great value, as can be seen in the increasing appre-
dation of the University and its admission to national organizations
whose membership is extended only to those institutions which main-
tain high standards.
Th« North CMtral The North Central Assodation of Colleges and
AMoeSatiM M ••tiai Secondary Schools met in St. Louis on March
22, 23, and 24. This Association consists of 1600 colleges and
secondary sdiools in nineteen different states. It prepares the list
of secondary sdiools that are accredited to it every year, and thus
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294 ^A^ Quarterly Journal
determines the right of graduates to admission to colleges and uni-
versities in its territory.
The Association carries on its work under three commissions:
the G>mmission on Higher Education, the G)mmission on Secon-
dary Schools, and the Gnmnission on Units and G>urse5 of Instruc-
tion. President McVey is a member of the Commission on Higher
Education as well as Vice-President of the Association. The next
meeting will be held in Chicago in March, 191 8.
Uniyertity Men at During the winter months, especially during the
Edocadoiul Gttheringt j^^j ^f ^^e Christmas holidays, several of the
national educational and scientific societies have held their meetings,
in which many of the members of the University faculty partici-
pated. Among those attendang were the following: Dr. H. R.
Brush, head of the Department of Romance Languages, appeared
on the program of the western section of the Modern Language
Association of America, at Chicago. Dr. G. P. Jackson, of the
German Department, was also in attendance at the same meeting.
Dean H. E. French, of the School of Medicine, met with the
Council on education of the American Medical Association and the
Association of American Medical Colleges, at Chicago. Dr. J. M.
Gillette, head of the Department of Sociology, read a paper before
the American Sociological Society in Columbus, Ohio, dealing with
the question of the teaching of rural sociology. He also attended
some of the sessions of the American Economic Society in the same
dty, as did also Dr. H. B. Whaling, Director of the Depart-
ment of Economics. Dean Joseph Kennedy, of the School of Edu-
cation, was present at the meetings of the Department of Superin-
tendents and of the Association of College Teachers of Education
of the National Education Assodation in Kansas City, and partici-
pated in the discussions. Dean V. P. Squires, of the College of
Arts, attended the meetings of the National Religious Education
Association in Boston, where he presided as chairman of the public
school section. Dr. A. H. Taylor, head of die Department of
Physics, delivered a lecture on the subject of radio communication
before the Chicago Academy of Science, and discust the same sub-
ject in an address at Northwestern University. Dr. E. B. Stephen-
son, also of the Physics Department, spent the holidays in making
a brief visit to several of the universities of the middle West. Dean
G. F. Wells, of the College of Law, was present at the meeting of
the Association of American Law Schools, in Chicago, and partici-
pated in the discussions.
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University Notes 295
ManitolMi Ezeliui^s The exchange lectureship maintained with the
LMtBf^ahip University of Manitoba for several years is still
in successful operation. Manitoba's representatives this year were
Professor Arthur A. Stoughton of the Department of Architecture
and Professor S. M. Clark of the Department of Classical Lan-
guages and Literatures.
Professor Stoughton visited the University in the early days of
November, speaking in the afternoon of Friday, November 3rd, on
**The Mission of Architecture." The University of North Dakota
has no department of architecture and Professor Stoughton's address
proved hig^y interesting and instructive. At the regular weekly
Convocation on the morning of Saturday, November 4th, Professor
Stoughton spoke on "Art in Life." This address was very pleasing
and has been secured for publication in this periodical. It will
zppeai in the July mmiber.
Professor Clark came in March, speaking on the afternoon of
Friday, March 3rd, on "The Influence of Sea Power in Two Crises
of Roman History." The speaker traced in a masterly manner the
part played by the Roman Fleet in two celebrated wars, showing
conclusively that the fleet was the deciding factor. It was not
difficult to read between the lines and make definite applications to
the present world-wide war. At Convocation the next morning
Dr. Clark spoke on "The Antigone of Sophocles" in which the Greek
dramatist's masterpiece was sympathetically portrayed, its intense
humanity being clearly brought out.
The representatives of the University of North Dakota at the
northern institution were Dr. H. R. Brush of the Department of
Romance Languages and Literatures and Dr. H. E. French, Dean
of the School of Medicine. Dr. Brush made the visit in the early
autumn, speaking at the Convocation gathering on "The Mission
of France" and before an evening audience on "The Message of
Cervantes." The visit of Dr. French came a little later — in March.
He qx>ke at the regular Convocation on "Three Ingredients of the
World's Medicine" and in the evening before a joint meeting of the
city Science Club and the University faculty on "The Production
of Hydrochloric Acid in the Stomach." This address was repeated
the next day before the student body.
This exchange lectureship has lost none of the interest of for-
mer years, and as the number of visitors increases with the passage
of time, a closer and larger and warmer acquaintance is developing
between the two institutions.
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The UiiiT«nit7 Mid In view of the conditions of the world war
Pr«p«reda«M which is so seriously involving the United States
and of the necessity of mobilizing the resources of the G>untry for
our national defense, a statement may be made concerning die work
being done at the University. Military training has not been given
since the Spanish-American war but the matter of re-establishing it
is under discussion in University circles. Last June a bill was passed
by G)ngress establishing what is called the Reserve Officers' Train-
ing G>rps in educational institutions, an essential condition being
that all freshmen and sophomores in the institution adopting the sys-
tem should be required to take training, but the chief purpose being
to train reserve officers who should be called on for active service
only in time of national peril. The bill provides that the govern-
ment shall provide arms, anmiunition, equipment, and uniforms, but
as yet no appropriation has been made to cover these items.
The University G>undl, at a recent meeting, passed a resolu-
tion asking the Board of Regents to adopt the system to go into
effect at the beginning of next year's work or as soon thereafter as
the Government is able to co-operate.
There are three other lines of preparedness work which are
being carried out at the University or by University men. As a
sub-committee of the Naval Consulting Board and Directors for
the State of North Dakota, a committee consisting of Professor
C. H. Crouch, chairman, T. R. Atkinson, formerly State Engineer,
President E. F. Ladd of the Agricultural College, Professor J. F.
Stevens, and Dean E. J. Babcock made an industrial survey of the
state last summer and fall. The survey consisted primarily of tak-
ing an inventory of the organization, facilities, and equipment of all
the manufacturing concerns in the state such as flour mills, coal
mines, brick plants, creameries, bakeries, machine shops, printing
establishments, etc. Practically every concern furnished the infor-
mation requested and this has all been sent in to Washington.
Another line of work is that under the National Research Coun-
cil. The sub-conunittee at the University consists of Professor A.
H. Taylor, chairman ; Dean E. J. Babcock, Professors G. A. Abbott,
C. E. King, A. G. Leonard, and J. M. Gillette. Their work con-
sists in reporting to the central committee a census of the local work
that is related to the scientific and economic development of the
country, and to arrange for co-operation and co-ordination of the
local work with that of the other institutions of the country.
The University is also represented in the Intercollegiate Intellt^
gence Bureau, a voluntary organization for the purpose of collect-
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University Notes 297
ing and classifying information concerning the graduates and under-
graduates of each institution who have had special training that
would make them available for special work in time of war. Dr.
E. B. Stqihenson is the local representative.
Foondsr't Day The observance of Founder's Day at the Uni-
versity has come to be regarded as one of the
red-letter events of the University year. It always brings bade a
goodly number of the alumni ; friends gather f r<Hn near and far, and
in many ways the spirit and mission of the institution are made dear
to all. The undergraduates see the institution from an added point
of view and begin to appredate its deeper significance. For all old
bonds of allegience are strengthened and new ties formed. While
the ends in view this year were the same as in former years the
celebration was in one particular feature somewhat di£Eerent from
any that had preceded. This was caused by the exigency of the
times — the tragedy of the great world war and its near approach
to our own firesides.
The cdebration took place, as usual, on February 22nd and
consisted of several interesting features, the most striking of which
was the morning meeting in the Gymnasium. For this a patriotic
program had been arranged. Here were given music by the band,
patriotic songs by the glee clubs and audience, and songs by the
freshman dass, the winners of a Carney Song Contest of the evening
before. But the central feature of this program was a series of ad-
dresses by four United States citizens of foreign birth on the one
topic, "The Privilege of Being an American." The speakers were
Reverend H. T. Thorgrimsen, Grand Forks, North Dakota, a native
of Iceland; Professor Paolo Conte, Grand Forks, North Dakota,
born and raised in Italy; Reverend F. W. W. Pugh, Larimore,
North Dakota, an Englishman; and Mr. Richard E. Wenzel, an
Attorney from Rugby, North Dakota, born in Berlin, Germany. The
addresses were of high grade, intensely interesting, and at times
highly dramatic. The spirit of patriotism ran high and many of us,
native to the soil, were given new points of view and bases for added
appredation of our birthright.
In the afternoon the annual clash took place between the basket-
ball teams of the University and the State Agricultural College.
This game was preceded by one between teams representing the high
schools of the two institutions. Both games were won by the Uni-
versity teams thus adding enthusiasm to the day. In the evening
two entertamments were provided for visitors and students alike,
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298 The Quarterly Journal
an informal dancing party at the Gymnasium and a presentation by
the Sock and Buskin Society, in the Auditorium of Woodworth Hall,
of three original one-act plays. All in all, the observance of the
day was unique, enjoyable, and profitable— -one long to be remem-
here.
Cara«r Song The Carney Song Q)ntest is a contest in sing-
^^^^^^ ing carried on by the four undergraduate classes
of the University of North Dakota. Its object is to cultivate the
spirit of song in University life, to encourage the writing of songs,
and to strengthen college loyalty. The existence of sudi a Contest
is due to the loyalty of an alumnus of the institution — Mr. E. C.
Carney of Williston, North Dakota, who graduated with the class
of 1904. Early in the year 191 1 Mr. Carney wrote to the Uni-
versity saying that he would like to give evidence of his appreciation
of the institution by making an annual gift of $50 for some worthy
University activity and asking for suggestions as to the best way to
use the amount The Carney Song Contest, as an annual event, is
the outOMne. It is held on the evening preceding Founder's Day
celebration, and the winning class appears the next day on die
Founder's Day program, rendering some of its songs.
The rules and regulations of the contest are simple:
1. Each class at the time of the Contest shall sing "Alma
Mater" and four original songs, two of which shall be of general
University interest and two that may refer quite specifically to a
particular dass. The word ''original" refers to the words of the
songs^ not necessarily to the music.
2. Each class shall select from its own number a choregus who
shall have charge of the rehearsals and on the evening of the con-
cert shall lead the singing of the class. This leader shall also serve
as chairman of the committee named by the class for selecting its
songs.
3. To be eligible to compete for the prize a class must have
seventy-five per cent of its members present and taking part.
4. The decision shall be rendered by three judges appointed
by the President of the University. They shall base their decision
upon the H>int and rendering of the songs with special reference to
interpretative power and choral effect.
5. To the class securing first place shall be awarded the prize
of $50 which may be used in any way that the class shall by vote
dedde.
The contest this year was held on the evening of February 21st.
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University Notes 299
It is regarded as one of the most successful of the series. The
Freshman Class won tho the contest was very close— Only four grad-
ing points separating the winners from the lowest losers. The judges
were Mr. A. J. Stevens, Director of the Fargo College Conservatory
of Music, Fargo, North Dakota; Miss Lucile HoUiday, Director
of Music of the State Agricultural High School, Crookston, Min-
nesota, and Miss Blanche Leigh, Director of Music in the Public
Sdiook of Grand Forks, North Dakota.
The Carney Song Contest is regarded as very valuable for the
University. It is clearly accomplishing its purpose. The frequent
rehearsals necessary to make a creditable public appearance tend to
draw the students together and the writing and frequent singing
of University and class songs tend to cultivate a real college spirit
and loyalty. The far-reaching effect of the Contest is little re-
alized until one appreciates the body of song that is thus created
to be sung by the present student body, cherished by them as alumni,
and passed on as a heritage to future students. The University
feels very grateful to Mr. Carney for his helpful co-operation.
An Bzp«rimMit in The question of marks always receives consid-
^^'•^^ erable attention at the mid-year time from both
students and faculty. The comparative fairness of marks, or their
absolute value as an indication of student ability, is sometimes called
in question, and it is frequently maintained in student arguments
diat the best students do not get the best marks.
To see the way students' rankings of themselves would com-
pare with the instructors' ranking of the students the following ex-
periment was carried out by Dr. E. B. Stephenson at the first
meeting of a class the second semester. The instructors' grades
were all made out but were not known to the students. The class
was one section of 14 students in a 4-hour course in Engineering
Physics. Each student was requested to rank each member of the
class, including himself, in the order of his comparative ability in
Physics, and the results are shown in the table. Four of the four-
teen students had changed to another section and are not reported.
The average of the rankings was arranged in the order of the least
sum of ranks. The instructors' rankings were by two men, the
work being divided equally into lecture and quiz work under Dr.
Taylor and laboratory work under Dr. Stephenson. Dr. Taylor's
grades are based on 15 to 20 marks in daily redtations and the final
examination. Dr. Stephenson's grades are based on 24 laboratory
reports, several written tests, and a final examination. The two
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The Quarterly Journal
instructors' grades are averaged for an instructors* average and then
the students' and instructors' averages were averaged for a final
grand average ranking. In case of a tie the man with the largest
number of high ranks was given precedence. At the bottom of the
table is given each student's and instructor's average deviation in
ranks from the grand average.
student
Names A
A 2
B 8
C 1
D 6
B 4
P 5
O 7
H 11
I 18
J 8
K 10
L 14
M 9
N 12
Avoraire
Deviation 1.9
Ranking of
B D £}
2
1
6
7
3
13
4
2
1
6
8
4
7
8
5 14 14
11 10 13
14 6 6
12 8 7
9 11 12
10 9 10
18 12 9
3
2
1
8
5
4
11
Individual Students
F O H I K
2
1
8
5
10
2
8
9
4
7
11
8
2
4
5
1
8
.6
11
7
9
14 10
18 18
8
1
5
4
6
11
7
10 9
8 11
1
5
2
8
4
6
18
Std. Instructors Orand
N Ave. T S Ave. Ave.
1
9
12
10 11
10
9
7
13
6 12 14 12
12 14 18 14
8 14
12
18 12
7 8 18
12 10 12
18 10
11 11
3
2
6
4
5
11
8
8 14 14 14
8 10
18
7
9
18
14
1.9 2.9 2.9 2.6 1.4 1.8 .86 2.1 2.0 .86 1.5 1.5 1.0 0.0
A number of interesting points are shown by the data. If the
final grand average is taken as the true ranking, the instructors'
rankings were exactly correct for 28% of the students, differed by
only one rank or less in 79%, and by two ranks or less in 93%. If
we assume the 14 students to be spread uniformly along from 68
to 96, the actual range of grades given, then each rank represents
2%, and therefore the instructors ranked 93% of the students within
4% of their true rank as shown by their grand average. The average
deviation from the mean in the table is something of an index of
the individual's ability to judge his fellows. Thus student I, who
has an average deviation of only .86, ranked the first seven men
correctly and also ranked himself correctly as ninth. Student N
was almost as good a judge of his fellow students as student A.
Students E, I, and N ranked themselves correctly, four ranked them-
selves too high and three too low. The instructors' average devia-
tion is one rank.
The above data, tho much too limited in scope and of too small
number of students to be at all conclusive, is interesting as pointing
to the probable fact that the consensus of opinion of students and
instructors is practically the same, and that grades probably have
a real value in indicating the performance of a student in a particu-
lar line.
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University Notes 301
AtUstios The basketball season of 191 6- 17 has closed with
with another state championship for the Univer-
sity. This is the second championship team Coach Gill has developed
in his three seasons at the University. Altho the schedule was not
so hard as that of some seasons, the team went thru the year with
only one defeat — the second game with the Agricultural College —
and altogether scored more than twice as many points as its oppo-
nents. The schedule of games and the scores are as follows:
January 15 Concordia 18 University 53
January 16 Jamestown College 12 " 61
January 23 Jamestown College 7 " 60
February 2 Concordia College — 18 " 38
February 17 Fargo College 18 " 30
February 19 South Dakota State College— 11 " 45
February 22 Agricultural College 24 " 25
March 3 Agricultural College 29 ** 24
March 5 Fargo College 15 " 16
The Gym League in Basketball this year consisted of eight
teams that played thru a seven-game schedule, each team playing
every other one. The championship was won by the Sigma Chi team
with a percentage of .857.
The Girls' Class Teams played thru a tournament that was
finally won by the Juniors after playing an extra game to decide a
tic with the Freshmen. The winning team was awarded sweaters
and special letters by the Athletic Board.
In hig^ school circles basketball is probably the leading form
of athletics and would seem to be particularly suitable for the long
winter season. The state has been divided into four quarters, or
districts, and within each district an elimination tournament is played
by the various high schools. The four winners of the district tour-
naments then meet on alternate years at the University and the
Agricultural College to decide the state championship. This year
the meet was at the University. In the preliminaries Valley City
fr<Mn the southeast district played Kenmare from the northwest and
won by a score of 36 to 21, and Michigan from the northeast played
Dickinson from the southwest and won by a score of 27 to 16. In
the final game, which was frequently tied and closely contested
thruout, Michigan won the state championship by 18 to 16. The
teams were supported by a large and enthusiastic crowd of rooters,
they played speedy but clean ball, and were very enthusiastic about
their treatment at the University.
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302 The Quarterly Journal
Th* GlM Glab The Mens' Glee Club has been such a superior
'^^ organization, comparing favorably wiA similar
choruses, that a more extended trip than usual was planned for this
year. From Grand Forks to the Pacific Coast several requests have
come for concerts. After negotiations were well under way it was
found that in order to make such an extensive trip more time would be
required than seemed advisable during the spring period. Tho the
coast trip was not abandoned until January a trip thru the state was
very quickly arranged. As usual, more requests came than the club was
able to grant. Some cities look forward to the coming of the Univer-
sity of North Dakota Men's Glee Club as an annual event. The Club
leaves for Devils Lake Wednesday, April 4, and will visit Rugby,
Bottineau, Minot, New Rockford, Carrington, Cooperstown, Valley
City, and Hillsboro. Twenty-two men have been selected from the
membership of forty singers. An abundance of material has made
competition keen. A program of great variety has been prepared
including a third part called, "Student Life on the Border." No
small contribution of these trips is the general interest aroused in
higher education.
Smninsr Setsioa The forth-coming Summer Session of the Uni-
versity will follow immediately the completion
of the regular year's work, beginning on Monday, June 25th, and
continuing for six weeks. It will follow very closely the work of
former sessions and thus seek to satisfy the more pressing needs of
higher education during the summer months. Emphasis will be
thrown upon wofk in chemistry, English, modem foreign languages,
education, home economics, political science, and art. In anticipa-
tion of the desires of teachers and prospective teachers, the work is
planned very largely from the teacher's point of view. There will
also be found round-table conference discussions on live educational
topics, a course of high grade evening lectures, and other phases par-
ticularly interesting to teachers in the state.
One added feature this year promises to be of particular in-
terest. Professor P. W. Dykema of the University of Wisconsin,
who has made a national reputation in the matter of Community
Music, has been secured for a week. He will be here during the
latter part of the Session and give an entire week to the development
of this rather new and highly important line of work.
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The Quarterly Journal
Volume 7 JULY, 1917 Number 4
Art in Life
Arthur Alexander Stoughton,
Department of Architecture, University of Manitoba
T DESIRE to urge upon your attention the claim of esdietics in
-^ connection with science and the matter-of-fact things of life.
The material and the technical take our attention to such an extent
that we are liable to lose ourselves in detail and minutiae and the
specific We forget the large, the ideal. We are in danger of
missing the generalized outlook on life by an exclusive study of the
particular. The safeguard against this narrowness of learning and
the absorption of the mind in a few departments of knowledge is
the possession of the ^irit of art by vAtidtk to bring every isolated
area of effort, every specialized function, or separate achievement
into vital relation with life as a whole. I am not speaking of art
in its restricted sense, meaning drawing or painting, nor any par-
ticular art, useful or fine. I am not now making a plea for more
art teaching, nor larger museum collections, nor better pictures on
our walls, desirable as these all are. Rather do I mean the influence
of the esthetic principle, — art in its highest and most general sense, —
the putting of every physical operation and every mental process
on an ideal plane, so that the results may be effected in a fine and
beautiful, instead of in a crass and matter-of-fact, way.
Art is the universal solvent, — ^the integrator, — the touchstone,
transmuting all base metal to gold; the prism, disclosing the rain-
bow hues of truth, revealing at once the unity of life and its variety.
It creates a new attitude of mind toward the separate parts of life,
by which they lose their fragmentary character and are brought into
true and vital relations with each other and to existence as a whole.
Thus are created the breadth of culture, with all diat this signifies
and the solidarity of the elements of life. No life is properly bal-
anced without the ministry of art. No education is comprehensive
diat does not implant the love of the beautiful. No culture is com-
* An address delivered at the Convocation of the University of
North Dakota, November 4th, 1916, In the Exchange Lectureship with
the University of Manitoba.
ConniilK. 1917. Umlvmitir of North Dakota.
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3o6 The Quarterly Journal
plete which does not make esthetics a controlling factor. This does
not mean learning to draw but being led to recognize charm and
grace, — being brought into assimilative contact with beauty, and
becoming acquainted with its manifestations in sound and form
and color and motion, that in its sensuous expression it may enrich
our lives with esdiedc pleasure, and in its ideal zsptcx, it may admit
us to communion with all that is true and lovely and of good report
VioUet-le-Duc, the French ardiitect and critic, says: "Art is
a fountain of instinctive emotion readiing the soul of man by various
channels. Thus^ the orator, the poet, the musician, the architect, the
sculptor or painter, all alike artists, may each in his own language
utter the same sentiment, and to a certain extent, arouse the same
emotion in the heart of him who hears or sees. These various forms
of art appeal to the senses, and the senses, in different ways, arouse
the same series of ideas. For example, die appearance of grief, the
accent of grief, and the representation or imitation of grief, create
the same sentiment, pity. • • • Every one can readily under-
stand the real object of art by referring to his own experience. For
there can be no one who, at least once in his life, whether by the
words of a poet or the notes of a musician, the aspect of a monu-
ment, a statue, or a picture, has not been thrilled by a peculiar
emotion, has not been subdued perhaps by a sympadiedc sadness,
elated by an unexpected sensation of joy or hope, awed by some new
sentiment of grandeur, or filled with gratified pride. • • • The
sentiment thus aroused by one of the various expressions of art is
our artistic instinct."
The habit of the appreciation of the beautiful should be formed
at the earliest possible age that it may become a matter of second
nature and as much an automatic process as any other, that the
whole course of life and the whole man may be suffused with the
ideal, for "art" in the sense in which I am using it is well nigh
synonomous with the ideal. This esthetic view of life is suggested
by Browning's lines:
"How good is man's life here, the mere living, how fit to employ
All the heart and the soul and the senses, forever in joy."
Heredity should play its part. The preparation of die diild
for this fullness of life should continue with its unconscious life by
the influence of artistic surroundings and by giving his mind a bent
toward viewing all things from the ideal standpoint This is a
process dear to Mother Nature, so that the child is easily susceptible
to it. It adds enjoyment and increases the suppleness of the mind
and the content of life, giving everything in it a new reference. It
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Art in Life 307
has been said that "the supreme purpose of all instructiofi should
be to reveal Beauty to the opening eyes of childhood; to make the
world so lovely that everyone will wish to live the Beautiful Life;
to teach children to work for the joy of the working, wisely, and
for some lofty purpose, to make work and service mean the same
thing at all times and in all places; to point out the largeness of
life, with all it has meant from the very beginning of time, to give
children the benefit of the Past and the Present so that they may
form the Future wisely, which is in their hands; in a word to relate
art and industry and education in the diild's life so that he shall be
indeed the captain of his own soul." Thus it is the bounden duty
of parents and society to provide a setting for the life of the child
in the home with all its appointments, in the school and the channels
thru which the mind is fed, in the outward aspect of the community
with all the appeals which it makes to his eager senses, that his out-
look upon life may be not conunonplace but inspiring and fresh and
elevated, in a word, — artistic.
The play of the child is largely based on phases of art in which
the esthetic elements of rh]rthm, balance, grace of movement, the
dramatic instinct, and song are ever present. Environment is the
background to whidi the sensitive organism of the child responds
chameleon-like. Every influence makes its record; every record is
an increment of character; forgotten but indelible influences may
well up into heroic decisions at turning points of life ; and the char-
acter ennobled and sweetened in its formative stage by the influence
of the ideal will be a continuing victory over untoward circum-
stances. What of gentle breeding may not be worked into the fibre
of diaracter by the surroundings in which unlovely things are ex-
cluded and harmony reigns; and in which, therefore, the mind and
body, thus kept free from distraction, acquire poise and self control
and so develop beautifully. The person so guarded and fortified is
best prepared to meet the shock of life.
Joseph Lee, in his Play in Education, expresses the thought in
sasring: "To many people education by rhythm appears unpracticaL
The demand of business men is often for bojrs who can spell and
add and have no nonsense in them; the less education beyond that
of a machine, and the less fool poetry and aspiration the machine
has in it, to get into its bearings and interfere with its smooth action,
the better. What is the use of rhythm in business affairs? People
who feel and talk in this way alwajrs have for some reason, the curious
obsession, that they are very practical. But are they really so?
Were the Greeks, or the Italians of the Renaissance, less successful
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3o8 The Quarterly Journal
than others in living a life that posterity can value and bequeathing
permanent acquisitions to mankiml? A soul, it would appear, is a
not uninqx>rtant part in the human mechanism, even in business
affairs. And if a soul were, as is sometimes thought, an encum-
brance in business, and if it could be dispensed with like the tonsils
or the appendix, would it even then be wise to let it atrophy? Does
success in business necessarily mean success in life? The eflBdent
man * • * is he who is efficient in saving his own life, who
can effectively translate his soul into action. It makes no differ-
ence to you how far you go if you leave your heart behind: in that
case you may as well turn back and start again. What counts is
not how far you travel but how far you carry your ideal."
The best time to gain this artistic habitude is the age at which
you are. If the child has been deprived of his natural rights, the
youth or the adult should seek earnestly to repair the loss. Now is
the accepted time ; now is the day of salvation. Let us be converted
and become as little children, that with willing feet we may enter
the palace of art and gain a new and fresh vbion of life, by looking
out of its windows on fair landscapes and serene prospects, restful
and soulfQling, in which the mind may wander, gathering flowers
from seeds sown in all ages by the lofty and inspiring ones of the
earth. To most of us who have grown up the idealism of the child
thru which rose-tinted glass he sees life in all its manifold significance
and the outer world in all its harmony of form and color, seems so
remote and unreal and foolish that our tendency is to treat it as an
infantile weakness, to be outgrown and discarded with the dolls and
t03^, at the earliest possible moment in favor of practical pursuits
and the acquirement of information. Fairy stories and poetry and
romance and self expression are to be replaced by contact with cold
facts and their application. It is strange how few of us realize that
idealism is one of the most precious possessions of the mature or the
youth or the child, not making one less practical but cushioning the
buffets and softening the shocks of the rude world and giving another
sense by which to lay hold of the material and the spiritual and
transform them both into the fabric of a higher life.
As in childhood, so in the childhood of the race has this more
profound and truer philosophy held sway. The ancients are our
teachers in the artistic conception of life. This is true among many
peoples in primitive states of development but it is specially evident
in some of the great periods. The Greeks make a religion of die
love of the beautiful, and this desire for esthetic perfection and for
complete expressiofi of all the faculties is down in all dieir records
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Art In Life 309
and monuments, whether of literature, architecture, sculpture, or
drama. In the harmonious development and play of all the physical
and mental functions we see the effort artistically to present life in
its fullness. In the Gothic age, despite the general misery of the
times, in which the people were ground down by serfdom and war,
we sec in one field,at least, — that of architecture — the highest ideal-
ism manifested, ably reenforcing the Church in the period since
known as the age of faith. Here religion and art go hand in hand.
The one in^ires, the other creates the material setting and by the
patient and devoted efforts of the whole community the cathedral
rises as the embodiment of one of the most stupendous artistic con-
ceptions of man. Architecture and the other arts in this period are
intimately linked with the highest and noblest aspirations. Man,
stunted on the social side, reaches out on the religious and all the
force of his being is expended in glorifying God artistically. In the
gcdden age of the Renaissance "every Italian was a perfect judge of
art," and of Florence of that time it was said that "no other com-
munity was so permeated with a love of beauty and so endowed with
a capacity to realize it." It was usual for all educated men to write
and sing and play, to dance, and fence, and in many other ways to
exhibit grace in suppleness of mind and body. The artists, in whom
we see these traits of the many merely carried to specialization, sel-
dom limited themselves to one branch of art, but were expert in
many, enriching eadi by their knowledge and command of the others.
Read Benvenuto's Memoirs if you would know the versatility of
diese men or Vasari's Lives of the Painters to learn how all might
do painting, sculpture, architecture, decoration, engineering, gold-
smithing, bronze founding, gem-cutting, engraving, embroidering of
stuffs and tapestries, sonnet writing, and playing on instnmients.
If it would be unwarranted to claim that in all the earlier
periods of the world all men, high and low, had the artistic attitude
toward life, frequently manifested in activity in the fine arts, it is
safe to say that generally the childhood of the world and its early
maturity were characterized by the predilection for beauty in things
and in the expression of thought and emotion. This spontaneous
esthetic sense has produced the epic or saga, or drama, the self-
expression in the dance and game, the surroundings of life in the
form of artistic buildings and the decorative dtaracter of common
objects of every kind. From the habitations of the cave dweller,
the tombs of the Nik, the Assyrian clay cylinders, the excavations
of the S3rrian mounds, the Cretan palace ruins, the Axtec caves* and
the monuments and records of peoples, Asiatic and European, primi-
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tive and civilized, we see the artistic quality of all, and we are aston-
ished by the poetic trend of their thought. The museums are full of
objects of common use coming to us from these remote times, besides
which our best are frequently tawdry and mechanical.
In modem times this seems all to be changed. This sophisticated
age, filled with delight in the new knowledge and science, ridi with
material resources and furnished with all manner of machine-made
products, has dispensed with some of the most precious and funda-
mental things: — sentiment, art, and leisure for real enjoyment of
life. These better things are no longer for daily use, but are
luxuries which busy people and the poor are not to use or enjoy. The
things of art are now matters of archaeology for the dilletante and
the artist — ^not, as in all former periods, for common use. The re-
sult is that materialism has deadened feeling, and this artistic treat-
ment of life, for which I am contending, has no recognized standing
in the marts of the world. It is considered beneath the notice of die
average man, engaged in the new phase of the great war, known as the
struggle for existence. He awakes to the existence of art only when
he has made his pile and he has time to commission his architect to
build him a palace, his decorator to recreate all the periods in it, and
his broker in art objects to expend some of his millions in AsooU
copes and royal Spanish tapestries and Tintorettos and Rembrandts
and gothic carvings, so that he may feel at home in his surroundings
after hb day's labor at coupon cutting. Is it not the thought of the
poor equally with the rich that art is a matter of having rather dian
of being, — z, museum rather than a state of mind or a transfiguration
of Ufe? Emerson expresses it in a single sentence, — "Though we
travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with
us or we find it not." How else should we be so indifferent, for
instance, to the appearance of our own streets or landscapes, toler-
ating eyesores and dirt, or to our own home surroundings in regard
to decoration and pictures, or to the disharmony in many other <ie-
partments of public or private life?
It is natural to adopt the concrete imagery of the painters in
discussing art in the larger sense and we turn to Browning as the
most acute interpreter of art in both senses. His Fra Lippo Lippi
says,—
"Can't I take breath and try to add life's flash,
And then add soul and heighten them threefold?
Or say there's beauty with no soul at all —
(I never saw it — put the case the same — )
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Art in Life 311
If you get simple beauty and naught else,
You get about die best thing God invents, —
That's somewhat. And you'll find the soul you have misKd
Within yourself when you return Him thanks."
and again,
•*You be judge.
You speak no Latin more than I, belike —
However, you're my man, you've seen the world
— ^The beauty and the wonder and the power,
The shapes of things, their colors, lights and shades,
Changes, surprises, — and God made it all.
— ^For what? do you feel thankful, ay or no,
For this fair town's face, yonder river's line.
The mountain round it and the sky above,
Much more the figures of man, woman, child,
These are the frame to? What's it all about?
To be passed o'er, despised? dwelt upon.
Wondered at? O, this last, of course, you say.
But why not do as well as say, — paint these
Just as they are, careless of what comes of it!
God's works — paint any one and count it crime
To let a truth slip. • • •
For, don't you mark, we're made so that we love
First when we see them painted, things we have passed
Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see;
And so they are better painted, — better to us.
Which is the same thing. Art was given for that —
God uses us to help each other so.
Lending our minds out.
As nature almost uniformly presents aspects of beauty or gran*
deur in form and color and movement, and sound, with its surging
waves, its gracefully swaying masses of trees, its ever-changing skies
and varied hues in foliage and flower, its bird notes and thunder
peals, so man has imfdanted in him as one of his noost precious func-
tions the esthetic sense, the perception by which he relates himself
to nature and to nature's god, which enables him to appreciate as
well as to create beauty in his mesure, so that his works may have
that divine stamp of art. Thus have been developed those arts we
call "fine"; architecture, the oldest witli its immediate family and
handmaidens, sculpture, mural painting, and many minor arts: the
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312 The Quarterly Journal
graphic arts, the representation of material forms: literature in its
varieties of oratory, poetry, and drama: music, pure or abstract, and
in combination with language in song and opera: movement, as in
the dance. In all, the characteristic is the same. The utilitarian
arts are given a decorative form and higher content. They are dedi-
cated to the enrichment of life. A decorative quality is superadded
to the useful properties, and they are thereby raised to the plane of
fine arts. They are related closely to eadi other because they arc
subjected to the same laws of mesure and rhythm and proportion and
harmony; in a word, they are given the beauty of form, the definite
^ace and tonal relations, which the mind appreciates and craves and
deligjits in. Thus building becomes architecture, language becomes
oratory, description becomes poetry, sound becomes music, walking
becomes dancing, clothing becomes costume. Thus we pass over from
the world of purely practical affairs to the world of art. The opera-
tions or products have not become less practical but they have a
different reference. They take on an added dignity from their two-
fold character in which diey supply the lower needs and at the same
time minister to the higher, by the transformation of art. In this
light we see why all those useful objects which have been given grace
and elegance have an interest of the first order. The fabrics in
which the process of weaving has been used as the basis of the deco-
rative design, the objects in wood or metal in which the beauty of
the material has been given full scope, the utensik or furniture in
which skill of hand is manifest, these all make a powerful appeal to
the mind sensitively attuned to harmonies of use and beauty. From
a chair well designed and made to the sublime Gothic Cathedral, the
principle and the effect on the mind are the same.
Passing to the work of pure art, such as the painted landscape
or the chiseled figure or the concrete, we reach an even higher level
of satisfaction, for which, however, considerable preparation of mind
is needed, on account of its abstraction and the many secondary and
reminiscent and inferential elements in it. Altho the greater die
work of art, the more universal it is and therefore the stronger is
the general appeal it makes, yet education is necessary for its fuller
enjoyment. It is such artistic culture, both in the conunoner pro-
cesses and in the fine arts, that I am speaking for — a habit of refusing
to see commonplace or ugly things and of demanding gracefulness
and harmony in surroundings; of stud3ring beauty in all its forms
and as it has been embodied in all ages and countries, so that taste
may be cultivated, artistic knowledge acquired, and an artistic diar-
acter formed.
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Art in Life 313
Thus is life opened to all the influences that beat upon it from
the past and present and is made sensitive to every artistic thought
that has been embodied thru whatever medium — literature, music,
ardntecture, painting, die plastic arts, craftsmanship, or the rhythm
of movement. There have been many notable examples of men, like
Pericles, Lorenzo de Medici, Napoleon Boni4)arte, Gladstone, and
Roosevelt, — men of great activity in practical affairs and devoting
themselves to public work, who yet have continued to cultivate other
sides of their nature and to enjoy other mental occupations. They
thus avoided the narrowness that usually goes with spedalization by
the catholicity of their tastes and die breadth of their sympathy. We
think of sudi men who have struck great blows for world progress,
or served their day and generation in continuous hard work, yet
guided and steadied by a high idealism. The strain of their prin-
cipal business was relieved by breathing the atmosphere of the larger
spiritual life in communion with literature and art and history, and
their daily occupations were interfused by "those thoughts which
wander through eternity." If men with the responsibility of states
on their shoulders can also cultivate the arts, how should not the
ordinary person keep all his powers of appreciation in free and har-
monious exercise?
I am therefore not counselling softness or sentimentality in thus
urging the claims of art. There is no incompatibility between the
strength of character so necessary in this world of struggle and die
permeation of that character by the spirit of art. The latter puts
all faculties and works of life on a higher plane — gives them unity
and invests them with a noble quality by which they are removed
from the commonplace and become ideal. It is the gendeness that
makes great. The present war affords an example. The men now
in the trenches fighting for democracy and progress are, thru this
their high devotion to principle and country, envisaging the ideal, and
diis great struggle is bringing in an awakening to values other than
material, among which, the artistic conception of life will surely be
realized. We stand in awe before the world conflict which is raging
in Europe and we are absorbed in its details because we almost fear
to confront the epochal changes that will come in its train. We
review the events which have changed the trend of history and set
civilization on new courses, and we discover that we stand, doubt-
less, at one of the most momentous crises of the world which we must
bdieve wUl create a new heaven and a new earth and make new
men widi new motives and reactions and a new outlook. A com-
plete readjustment in all departments must follow. In fact, while
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314 The Quarterly Journal
in the last decades we have been passing thru the darkest ages of
art, when this idealism has been submerged, there seems a prospect
of brightening skies. The hegemony of materialism has perhaps had
its day. The preoccupation of the world by science and business
and the competition of life, to the exclusion of religion and art and
the fmer feelings, may be reaching its term. Ralph Adams Cram
says: "I believe diat all the wonderful new forces, now woi^ing
hidden, or revealing themselves sporadically, will assemble to a new
synthesis that will have issue in a great epoch of civilization as uni-
fied as ours is disunited, as centripetal as ours is centrifugal, as spiri-
tually efficient as ours is materially efficient and that then will come,
and come naturally and insensibly, the inevitable art that will be
glorious and great."
The realization of the unity of life should be our aim. We may
develop one or another of its functions and let others dwindle (a
atrophy. We may enjoy a few of its satisfactions and think we have
attained completeness. Only as we conceive of life in its wholeness
as the Greeks did and the Japanese do, can we have its proper ex-
pression ; only in the interplay of all its activities is its full meaning
revealed; only as it is illumined by the glow of idealism are its
mountains and capes, its rivers and woodlands seen in true perspective.
Art affords us a vantage point, set hig^ above the dust of toil and
the limitations of knowledge, the chagrin of apparent failure and the
inadequacy of effort, from which to view all of these in their ideal
relation to the broad sweep of things material and spiritual, by which
survey to be assured that in their synthesis only is the meaning of
life made plain.
All of life should be pervaded with the subtle quality of art
As intelligent beings, see that ye add to your knowledge wisdom,
and to your wisdom, culture, and to your culture, art There is
the whole range of life to be taken account of and treated. Is it
to be a comprehensive artistic treatment, or a partial one, limited
to a few departments in which we specialize? For the latter sort
"universal" or "university" culture is a misnomer. There is the
mind to train and furnish with lofty images, drawn from die realms
of literature and the fine arts* the heart to fill with the purest senti-
ments and emotions, the soul to in^ire with the most ennoUing
ideals and purposes, the outward life to render sweet and gradous
with curtesy and gentle manners. There is the body to develop into
the beauty of the divine image and to clothe in a decorative way.
There is the home we live in to be made agreeable outwardly, and
the furnishings and appointments to be made appropriate and har-
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An in Life 315
monious. There are the surroundings of the house to be properly
treated and kept in order. There is the city itself, as the larger
environment, to be made orderly and its outward aspect attractive.
There is the life of the family and community and state to be trans-
fused by a more fraternal ^irit, a more elevated morality, and a
purer altruism.
"I feel for the common chord again." ReUgion, Morals,
Ideality or Art, — these three are the great energizing principles, the
spiritual forces, which transfigure life and make it glorious. On
them, as on the warp of the loom, should be woven the marvellous
tapestry of life, splendid and strong, figured with the forms that
personify great ideas, shot with the golden threads of sentiment and
glowing with the ridi colors of feeling mellowed by time and ex-
perience.
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The Nature of Moral Education
John E. Winter,
Professor of Philosophy and Education, Parsons College, Formerly
Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of North Dakota
TT^HE view of moral education herein outlined is based on a two-
''* fold assumption ; the existence of a moral consciousness, and the
possibility of its education. Writers on the history of morals, such
as Hobhouse, Wundt, and Westermarck are agreed that among the
entire human race, including even the most savage tribes, there is
a striking similarity in moral concepts which finds expression in cer-
tain antithetic ideas, such as our popular notions of approval and
disapproval, right and wrong, and upon which the social fabric is
based. These concepts do not consist in a mass of inherited ideas.
Actual moral ideas as such have no universal validity, for what one
individual, community, or age considers right another may consider
grossly wrong. Slavery, for example, has been heartily endorsed by
some communities, and is as heartily condemned by others; torture
is an intense pleasure and even a religious duty to the more savage
races, but is a horror to more enlightened peoples. These antitheses,
moreover, are exprest in various ways, corresponding to the peculiar
sanctions by which they arc gauged. Thus we have such terms as
justice and injustice, lawfulness and lawlessness, righteousness and
unrighteousness, holiness and sin; and corresponding with these we
have such sanctions as the social will or law, and the law of God.
But all these ideas manifest an identity of moral endowment, a
capacity to form and appreciate certain antithetic concepts.
As to the second assumption — the educability of the individual's
moral consciousness — its universality is questioned by many. There
is a strong conviction among educators that there are cases of per-
verse natures, natures that are "originally bad," and that are wholly
unresponsive to the call of right. Whether or not this be so, wc
have a choice of either of two possible theories. The one is the
theory enunciated by Rousseau,^ that the child is good originally,
that he is headed toward the right and that education is wholly
responsible for his conduct, be it good or bad. The other theory,
the one here adopted, holds that the child is originally neither good
nor bad, that he is bom with certain tendencies to action whidi in
themselves have no moral quality, but which may be developed so
as to produce a conduct that may be designated as "right" or
1. RousMiu: Bmile. Part I.
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Moral Education 317
"wrong." But both these doctrines have implicit in them another
doctrine. Whether or not we agree with Rousseau that education
is wholly responsible for the child's conduct, we cannot dodge the
logic of the argument which insists that, once having admitted that
a certain method of education may be able to develop "right" con-
duct, we thereby imply that a different method of education, or no
education at all, may develop a conduct that is "not right." We
have, then, as a basis for our discussion two assumptions, each of
which implies an antithesis: the existence of a universal moral con-
sciousness with its appreciation of the antithesis of "right" and
"wrong"; and the possibility of education which will develop in
the individual a conduct which may be designated by either of the
same antithetic terms, "right" or "wrong."
All conduct has a two-fold aspect. It may be viewed from the
standpoint of the individual, the doer of the act, the self; it may
also be considered from the standpoint of the content of the act, as
it affects others. The former gives us the psychological, the latter
the social aspect of conduct. The distinction is a purely logical one,
for there is no conduct that is individual whidi may not in some
remote way be related to sodety. From the standpoint of psychology,
conduct springs from certain inherited tendencies to action, the in-
stincts, and certain forms of unorganized, spontaneous impulses. It
is probable that the early instinctive and impulsive acts are not
accompanied with a consciousness of activity, or at least with a
very diffuse consciousness. As activities increase, however, in num-
ber and complexity, there develops a certain awareness of the rela-
tion of cause and effect. Certain impulsive movements are attended
with certain results and other movements do not bring these results.
Moreover, this awareness arises in terms of certain emotional dis-
turbances.^ Some activities are attended with satisfaction and others
with dissatisfaction. This emotional factor serves the child in a
two-fold capacity: it becomes the interpreter of all past activities in
terms of certain values which it attaches to each activity, and it also
acts as a suggester or prompter of future activities with reference
to these v/alues. At each conscious movement the child's experience
becomes more complex and differentiated. Each movement assumes
a distinctive character, while hb growing appreciation of values
causes him to react upon his experience in an effort to reinstate those
activities which have special value for him. The developing oon-
sdousness thus exhibits in elementary form an appreciation of values
in terms of emotional disturbances, a judgment with its inherent
3. Dewey: The Study of Bthlcflt p. 15.
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processes of perception, memory, and reason, and a certain control
of impulsive activities. From the standpoint of the individual, then,
the problem of moral education may be tentatively stated as the
effort to give this inner life of the individual valuable content, and
to develop the will diru the organization of the more or less aimless
and unorganized impulses, with reference to a conscious purpose.
In discussing the actviity of the child and his differentiation of
experience, we have already anticipated the other phase of conduct,
die social. Whence is that experience toward which the child
reaches? And what is the content of it? The growing awareness
of the child slowly recognizes that the experience whidi his activity
brings him is not identical with his experience of his own body, it is
essentially not self. Here we have, then, a growing differentiation
of experience in terms of socialization. It is evident that the more
he becomes aware of the not self or the social, the more he will
become aware also of the self. Recognition of the one necessarily
involves a recognition of the other. Thru this whole process the
child has acquired his experience thru his own activity. Society has
acted merely as a sort of matrix in which the germ of the self has
developed. This developmental process of the child is in ceaseless
activity; it is ever reaching out and organizing its new experiences.
From the standpoint of society, then, we may tentatively state the
problem of moral education as an effort to provide the proper matrix,
or social content, in the midst of which the individual may organize
his activities, so that they shall function with reference to certain
definite and valuable ends. What, now, is the content of that
education which will provide a proper environment, and develop th^it
which is inherent in the individual so that it will become eflFcctive
in conduct? Since the individual and society are organically re-
lated, and mutually dependent, it is immaterial whether we approach
this problem from the standpoint of the individual or of society.
A discussion of the one will involve a discussion of the other. From
the standpoint of the individual the content of moral education will
be characterized by the development of three definite elements, wis-
dom, moral motive, and resolute activity.
Wisdom
Wisdom, as here used, implies the possession of a body of
knowledge, coupled with an ability to weigh values. All ideas which
influence the individual toward the performance of a "right" act
are adjudged "moral"; and all ideas which issue in "wrong" acts
are adjudged "immoral."
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Jdmral EdmaOwu 3^
The use of the tenns "rigjit" and "wrong." "moral" and "im-
moral," immediately demands a consideration of three fundamental
questions: Whence are these ideas which we call "moral"? What
is the source of that standard of evaluation by which an idea is
judged to be "ri|^" or "wrong"? And how may these ideas be
developed in the individual?
For the answer to the first question we must turn to society.
We have seen diat the child's e3q)erience of die self is simultaneous
with, and coextensive with, his experience of society. It is his ex-
perience of society that makes it possible for him to experience his
own individuality. His developing oonsdousness enables him to dif-
ferentiate ever widening vistas of experience. Society gradually
assumes for him the mien of an organised institution which sur-
rounds him with conditions that elicit from him peculiar activities.
There are, first of all, die situations of family life ; the activities of
parents, brothers, and sisters, all of which compromise his own
activity. These activities find a mental equivalent in the rise of
ideas of authority, duty, responsibility, justice, care, love, sympathy,
in short, all ideas that may in any way influence conduct. The
school next adds its quota of ideas; the personaliqr of the teacher,
the curriculum, methods of study, sdiool government, and the social
relations of students. Then diere is that wider society, including the
conununity, die church, the state, and the world, each with its own
activities, influences, sanctions, responsibilities, and demands upon the
individual. In so far as any or all of these ideas influence the con-
duct of the individual they possess moral or immoral value.
As to the source of the standard by which the values of ideas
are judged, it has already been pointed out that the child early de-
velops an "awareness" in terms of certain values that are attached
to certain impulses, and the basis for these values lies in certain
emotional disturbances, such as satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and that
there early develops a tendency to repeat those impulses that meet
with a|H>roval, and to inhibit those that arc disapproved. Here, then,
we have the first glimpse of a judgment of values with reference to
a definite standard. The standard consists in the awareness of an
unrealized idea or "ideal." This ideal is not some hypostatic idea
that in some way makes its way into the mind; it is a product of
the constructive activity of mind, and manifests itself in the form
of a type by which the individual mesures his activity.' In early
childhood the ideal is purely individualistic or selfish, tho the values
that are sought are of a social nature. Every act or idea that minis-
3. Paulsen: Bthics, p. 271.
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320 The Quarterly Journal
ters to his own satisfaction is for him a "good." These early ideas
and activities, however, cannot be said to be moral, they are essen-
tially unmoral. As the individual develops, and experience valued
increase in complexity, the ideal also differentiates to include values
affecting not only the self, but the group immediately surrounding
him — the family, friends, and the school. And with the expansion
of ideals there develops also, as an integral part of it, that peculiar
imperative, the "oughtness" of action, whidi sets die seal of rigjit
or wrong on conduct. The ideal of personal satisfaction is replaced
or supplemented by a higher, a social ideal; and that is accounted
"good" which has a tendency to promote this ideaL In the family
it may take the form of obedience to parents, or the imitation of
brother or sister; in the school it becomes a conformity to the will
of the teacher; among the street gamins it takes the form of loyalty
to the gang. As experience differentiates still farther, the ideal will
embrace correspondingly larger groups including the local community,
the State, and all the varied institutions of that complex known as
organized sodety. The restraints and sanctions of family life are
supplemented by those of the other institutions. The ideal itself, and
the specific activities which an adherence to this ideal demands, will
vary with the individual, the community, and the age.
The statesman and the private citizen may have the same ideal, —
the service of society; yet their specific activities will differ widely;
the ideal of an American is not the ideal of a Russian, and the ideal
of the early Roman is not the ideal of the Italian of today. But in
each case all conduct is adjudged "right" so far as it is in hannony
with the ideal. But if ideals differ with the individual, the com-
munity, and the age, and the activities whidi they inspire are varied,
and not infrequently in flat opposition to one another, it follows
that we cannot formulate a concrete definition of the "good" which
will embrace all the varied ideals of individuals and groups.^ The
good b a relative term employed to express the relevancy of a par-
ticular act of conduct to a particular life situation. It follows also
that "right," which represents conduct in conformity with the good,
and "wrong," whidi represents conduct out of harmony with the
good, have no absolute value. They are essentially relative terms.
Thus far we have discust ideals, the good, and the right, with
reference to organized society and in terms of strict adherence to
its customs, laws, and sanctions. Conduct in conformity to this ideal
is marked by an essentially uncritical attitude. Ideals are taken for
granted without examining the ground for their demands. But
4. Paulsen: p. 381.
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Moral Education 321
moral education recognizes another and a higher stage of develop-
ment. The individual is led to pierce the veil of organized society
and to discern another standard of conduct which transcends the
standard of organized society, and whidi receives its sanction in
what we shall here term "progressive" society.^
By progressive society is meant the society which "ought to be*'
in contradistinction from the society which "is/' the possible con-
trasted with the actuaL Q)nduct in the interest of this ideal may
be un-sodal from the standpoint of organized society, because it dis-
regards the standard of this society; it may be in open violation of
the social standard, yet it will not be wrong, for it is enacted in
obedience to an ideal whidi transcends the ideal of organized society ;
it will be essentially free, because it is rational, and creative of stand-
ards to which it yields willing obedience. The ideal of this pro-
gressive society is evidently not the ideal of all. It marks the acme
of moral insight. The higher the stage of development, and the more
differentiated the experience of the individual, the clearer will be
its apprehension. Thus the final standard for the judgment of moral
ideas is not the individual as an individual, nor yet society as an
organized institution, but die demands of that larger life represented
by a progressive social order.
As to the third question — ^the method of developing moral ideas —
there is a wide divergence of opinion. There are those who strongly
favor the direct instruction of moral ideas in the school. Others
as strongly insist that moral ideas should be inculcated indirectly.
Still others favor direct instruction, but insist that such instruction
be excluded from the public schools. There is an overt attempt in
this country to introduce direct moral instruction in the public
schools. Formal textbooks have been composed which deal in an
interesting way with the cardinal virtues. A unique system of in-
struction is that known as the Fairchild system. This system pro-
poses illustrated lectures to impress upon the mind of the child acts
of honor, friendship, courtesy, industry, the need of choosing a pro-
fession, etc Several foreign nations, among which are Germany,
France, and Japan,^ make the direct teaching of moral ideas com-
pulsory in their public schools. Dr. Felix Adler recognizes^ the
intense need of moral instruction; but argues that it should not be
given in the form of formal lessons in ethics. It should take the
form of intimate communion between master and pupil. The work
S. Wundt: Ethics, vol. 8* p. 84.
S. See articles in Vol. II. Moral Instruction, and Training in Schools,
p. 70; 218; 819 respectively.
7. International Koral Education Congress. 1908 p. 18 s.
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iZM Th9 QmmrUrly J%mrma
•booidy however, be left t» volimttty agencies end not to the Stue,
becMHe of a lack of tnitabk teadien, becaine State tparhing tends
to beoome fonnal, and becanee morality cannot be taught without an
apperi to tome rdig io t or philoeephical ssrstem as a sanction. Pro-
fessor Dewey alto opposes direct moral instruction, but not out of
r^prd for rdifious or philosophical scruples. He holds duit moral
education does not best come that way; that the basis of moral
training does not lie in the handing out of certain pieces of informa-
tion called moral, which the child is supposed to abtorb, but that it
lies in the child's own activity.^ SomenR^uu related to Professor
Dewey's theory is die popular En^ish ideal' whidi is confined
laigdy to moral training or habit formation thru the ordinary chan-
nds of die social life of the sdiocd, with little or no systematic
instruction in morals.
Whatever may be the merit or demerit of direct moral instruc-
tion, this mudi must be conceded the opponents of diis dieory: the
content of moral instruction, as such, is mere intellectual fact, and
has inherent in it no guarantee whatsoever that the possession of the
fact will take effect in conduct. The truth of the matter is that
no one of the extreme views is entirely correct, and no one is en-
tirely wrong. The very nature of moral ideas demands a two-fold
treatment to make diem effective in conduct. There are some ideas
that will never be developed, or will be devefeped too lato to in-
fluence die individual, unless they are taught direcdy. On the odier
hand, it would be imposable to keep direct moral consideration
always in the forefront. Hence there is necessary also an indirect
inculcation of ideas, in terms of the formation of specific habits, or
trained tendencies to activity. These habits, however, are to be
sharply distinguished from those merely mechanical habits which are
the result of blind hit-and-miss activities. The former are based
upon intelligence; they are essentially informed. Undoubtedly by
far the larger share of that life which we call moral consists in
responses to these trained tendendes to activity. These habits con-
sist in a more or less strict adherence to the conventions of society,
or to what is popularly known as social morality. But it is evident
diat the moral life of the individual cannot be lived by habit alone.
Habit is mechanical. It functions with reference to a peculiarly
fixt life situation. But life itself changes ; experience becomes more
and more differentiated, and old habits become irrelevant to the new
situations. Hence there is a demand for an intelligent reconstruc-
8. Dewey: Koral Principles in ESducation.
S. Moral Instruction and Training In Schools, p. 108.
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M0ni BdMOiam 333
tion of activities, and thia implies a leadjr knairkdge of moral ideas.
Here then dtiect mofal instrucdon has its place, a place that will
allow of no substitute; The individual should have a positive ooa-
sdousness of what be is about, that he mm^ have a vital standard
by M^idi to judge his conduct This will inv<^e instruction, not
in an infinity of rules, but in a few of the basic principles of con-
duct. The individual should be taught the meaning of morality, and
its inexorable daim to his obedience and reverence. He should be
taught that the standards of society are not purdy arbitrary, but
that underljring diem all is a universd natural moral law which
carries with it its own rewards and punishments. He will thus be
led to understand that the moral law is not an end in itself, but a
means to an end, and that the chief business of the individual i& not
merely a conformity to the law but a healthy enjoyment of the
privileges aftn-ded by such otmformity. In the lig^t of these facts
die doctrines of duty, freedom, and responsBxlity will acquire new
meaning, for they will be seen to be rational. Armed with these
principles, the individual will be able to interpret intelligendy every
new life situation as it occurs.
MonvB
The second diaracteristic of moral conduct is that it be actuated
by a proper motive. In the first part of our discussion it was asserted
that the early impulses of the child gradually became clothed with
emotiooal vdoes^ in terms of ideas of satisfaction or dissadsfactioo,
and diat there early developed an effort to reinstate diose impulses
which met with satisfaction, and to inhibit those that met with dis-
satisfaction. The ideas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction both pre-
sented themselves aa possible ends to be attained, but there waa a
rejection of one and an acceptance of the other. The acceptance of
the one; in this case the idea of satisfaction, fiH^with made it the
actual end or purpose of action, in contradistinction from a mere
possible one.^® Thk actual end or purpose of action is %i4iat we
mean by the "motive" of action. An analysis of the above motive,
which is typical of all motives, will show that it contains two elo-
ments, an idea and its emotional accompaniment, both of which are
dynamic in dutfacter. It is a fundamental postulate of psychology
diat all ideas are dynamic, and that if made the object of attention,
dicy lend to f^ over into action, and will result in action, unless
inhibited by other ideas^ Emotion also has a more or less moving
effect on conduct, as its very name indicateti Motive, then, being
10. Wundt: Psycholoffy. p. IS4.
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324 The Quarterly Journal
.a combination of these two elements, is also dynamic or impulsive in
character. Moreover, it is in no sense an external power of force
acting upon the individual Environment may indeed play a part in
arousing both the idea and the emotion. It undoubtedly does. But
the motive itself is essentially of internal origin. As experience be-
comes more and more di£Eerentiated, ideas with their emotional
accompaniments multiply, and each becomes a possible motive. As
a result of this growing complexity there will necessarily arise con-
flicts among the possible motives, and these conflicts in turn will
demand that choices be made between the opposing possible motives.
The motive chosen in each case thus becomes the impelling force in
conduct, the stimulus to act. Its inherent idea is the idea which the
individual determines to realize, and the particular motive is chosen
in each case because of its superior emotional value.
Now, just as we may speak of ideas as being of an intellectual,
esthetic, moral, or religious character, so we may also speak of intel-
lectual, esthetic, moral, or religious emotions. These terms do not
represent absolute lines of demarcation between motives, but rather
reveal the dominant characteristic in eadi. That which differentiates
the moral emotions from the intellectual and esthetic emotions is its
peculiar imperative character — its "oughtness," — ^and its appreciation
of right or wrong. A moral motive is, thus, an idea clothed with
moral emotion. Thru its dynamic character it becomes a stimulus
to conduct in harmony with the right. An immoral motive is an
idea clothed with immoral emotions, and is a stimulus to conduct
which may or may not be in harmony widi the right ; for it is evident
that an act may be moral, tho the motive back of it may be immoral
Wundt.^^ draws a distinction between what he terms the "moving
reason" and the "impelling feding" of a motive; the one may be
moral while the other is immoral. Similarly Sidgwidc^' distinguishes
between the "intention" and the "motive" in conduct He holds
that the intention of an act may be wrong, while the motive is right,
and uses as an example die case of a man who commits perjury to
save his parent's life. Here the intention is wrong (committing per-
jury) while the motive (saving life) is moral. On the other hand,
the motive may be wrong and the intention moral. His example
here is the case of one person prosecuting another who is really
guilty, the prosecutor performing the act out of a spirit of malice.
Here the motive (malice) is immoral, while the intention (prosecu-
tion) is just and moral. The motive and intent, however, are fre-
11. WiiBdt: mtklcm. Vol. III. p. 301.
13. Sldawlck: Methods In Sthlcs. p. 303.
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Moral Education. 325
quently so closely interwoven that it is impossible to distinguish them.
It is evident from these facts, therefore, that moral motives have
various degrees of moral worth. A motive in which one of its ele-
ments — either the intention or its emotional accompaniment — is im-
moral cannot possess the same worth as the motive in which both
elements are moral. Motives may be grouped, therefore, with refer-
ence to their relative moral values. Thus, Wundt^^ has divided
them into four groups, naming them respectively, motives of external
constraint, motives of internal constraint, motives of permanent satis-
faction, and motives of the moral ideal. In evaluating these various
groups we must bear in mind the distinction made above between the
morality of the intention and the morality of the accompanying emo-
tion, or what Sidgwick calls the ''motive." Under motives of exter-
nal constraint Wundt includes those which stimulate the individual
to action because of a threatened punishment or social disadvantage.
These are the motives of mere economy. The intention here is moral
(conformity to law) but the emotion (mere avoidance of evil con-
sequences), if it is moral at all, yet borders on the immoral.
Under the second group— motives of internal constraint — ^Wundt
includes "those influences which are exerted by the example of others
and the practices and habits of our own will, as they are conditioned
by education and example." Conduct resulting from these motives
is characterized by an attempt to promote the social welfare in every
possible way. It is, therefore, essentially positive in comparison with
that conduct which is actuated by the motives of external constraint.
But here again, the intention, (promotion of sodal welfare) is moral,
it is highly moral, while the emotion accompanying it (mere imitation
of others or a desire to emulate others) has little or no moral value.
Under the third group Wundt includes those motives which, if
acted upon, will yield more permanent satisfaction than others. But
here the motives, while superior to the preceding, are accepted and
acted upon without any inquiry as to their validity. From these
motives there will emanate a conduct based on the principle of "right
for rigjit's sake," and in them the intention and its accompanying
emotion first blend in a common morality. While these three groups
of motives represent different degrees of moral worths, they yet have
this in common that they are more or less immediate and transitory.
There is no ultimate purpose in the interest of which all motives and
actions may be organically united. This fundamental lack thus gives
us a due as to the nature of the fourth and hi^est motive, the
motive of the morzL ideaL
18. Wundt: Bthlea; Vol. III. p. €7 SQ.
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326 Tke Quarterlf Jownud
In this motive, the intention and its aocompanyingemotion blend
in a single ultimate aim which consists, not in stimulating a servile
conformity to the restrictions of a fixt social standard, but in an
interest in, and a steady adherence to, a single ideal — ^the promotion
of the welfare of a progressive society. Activity in conformity with
the imperatives of this ideal marks the acme of moral conduct
Actuated by this ideal and imprest with the inexorable authority
of its claims, the individual is ever ready to obey its dictates, regard-
less whether his conduct meets with praise or censure. But this
brings us to the third aspect of moral conduct, that of prompt and
vigorous action.
Rbsolutb Acnvmr
In resolute activity we have the executive phase of conduct, the
will controlling the impulses and functioning in two ways, comple-
mentary to each other. There is a bold and dauntless projective
activity whidi we shall here term self-assertion, and which finds a
partial equivalent in the Greek idea of courage. Then there is also
a firm and no less courageous inhibidve activity which we shall term
self-restraint. Self-assertion implies forcefulness, initiative, outgoing
activity. It consists in the power to face opposition and overcome
it, whether this opposition come in the guise of physical or mental
danger, fear, or pain. Self-restraint implies a power to curb those
desires and impulses of whatever nature, whose gratification would
tend to omiprombe the attainment of the moral ideal. Moral activity
is, thus, not the result of the mere pull and pu^ of a multitude
of unorganized impulses. In moral activity the will functions in
the organization of impulses with reference to a definite program,
a program in terms of a strict adherence to the moral ideal. Reso-
lute activity, whether in the form of self-assertion or self-restraint,
will be essentially positive. The mere avoidance of evil savors
strongly of a negative morality, if such a morality is possible. Posi-
tive morality requires not only that a man shall not harm his fellow
man, but that he shall further his welfare; not only that he shall
avoid falsehood, but that he shall strive for the truth. The pulse
of morality throbs with victory over obstacles, whether these be in
the form of tendencies to evil inherent in the individual's nature or
snares thrust upon him irom without.
If we now gather together die different threads of our argument
we shall find that we have reached the following conclusions: The
problem of moral education in the early stages of At diild^s life is
the development of the wiU, in terms of an organizadon of the
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Moral Education 337
impulses, dini the substitution of a TthiaUe purpose for die more or
less aimless pressure of ins^nct and impulse. This is to be accom-
plished in die midst of a social atmosphere thru the development of
all die mental proc ess es ■ p er c e ption, memory, imagination, reason,
and the emotions, — ^all of whidi die child manifests in rudimentary
form. The conscious purpose whidi » to be inculcated is at first
the result of the accumulated reflection of parents, teachers, or
g:uardians, and is not fully appreciated by the diild. The early edu-
cation of die diild will result in the formation of habits. Aa ex-
perience differentiates, and social forms change, habits become irrde-
vant to life situations, and tend to break down. Thus there is
required a continual reconstruction of oqierienoe, and this in turn
demands an intelligence. As the intelligence develops, the individual
perceives that social standards are but partial expressions of a more
basic standard, the rational moral law. The ultimate aim of moral
education is the organization of all experience, in terms of instincts,
impulses, perception, memory, imagination, reason, and the emotions,
so diat it shall function in the development of a free being, one who
is able to grasp new life situations as they appear, who is not guided
by any external repression, but by a clear consciousness of an inxnt-
nent moral law, and who is able to initiate conduct in harmony with
this law.
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The University in the Service
of Society
John Morris Gillbttb^
Professor of Sociology, University of North Dakota
T N choosing a subject for this occasion I have selected one which
^ during several years has possest a strong interest for me. I
have chosen to discuss the university in the service of society just
because of this interest, and not because I can hope to make any
contribution which is destined to become renowned. Indeed, in my
own life work» I am committed to the saying of Manms Aurelius:
"As for life it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land ; and
the fame that comes afterward is obUvion."
What I shall say emanates from my own peculiar store of
knowledge) however restricted, and from my particular point of
view, however warped it may be, and is in no sense the result of an
extended investigation of what others have published on this topic
In fact, I have not been concerned with whether or not this especial
subject has ever been discust, but I have been far more concerned
with making a statement of certain relationships ^idi the university
as a social institution sustains to society at large. As a consequence
I am compelled to take a speculative risk in dealing with it and to
assume all req>onsibility for those characteristics which eventuate
from my own personal equation as well as for the omission from
the discussion of some items, the inclusion of which might have
given the discussion a superior form and ssonmetry.
Relative to both the terms, university and society, the idea of
the common man is none too dear and he would be greatly bewildered
were he called on to explain the functions of the university. The
average man thinks of the university in a very vague way. He has
a hazy conception that it is located somewhere, that it has grounds,
buildings, and some professors, that it is supported by taxes or sub-
scriptions, and that it is a good deal like the nearby hi^ school or
normal sdiool. Thus, a visiting legislator, after being shown thru
our own humble institution, contest his astonishment at what he
found. He had entertained an entirely inadequate conception of the
complex functions a university performs.
The hoary tradition that a university is a log, one end of which
is bestridden by a great teacher and the other by an absorbent and
• Given as the annual University Address at the University of North
Dakota, June IS, 191S.
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The University and Society 3^9
worshiping student, is the proper point of departure for every dis-
cussion of university and college. There are many good people who
still believe that that represents the function and character of such
an institution today. It reminds one of the college professor of
language who asserted that a college education should consist entirely
of the study of language^ for in it is contained thou^t, logic, and
discipline. Such cases are useful to demonstrate that specialization
may incapacitate the mind for perceiving the larger world of values
and that the traditional conception of college education bears within
it a strong tendency toward monopolizing the educational curriculum.
But fortunately for education, sudi a mental attitude represents an
intellectual bias from which society is gradually recovering, and such
definitions of education may very well serve in our museums of
antique theories of training as exhibits of vestigeal ideas.
The older tsrpe of college and university was an institution
whose chief function was to transfer certain more or less carefully
selected traditions from one generation to the next. This traditional
knowledge was that of a special class which was composed of the
youth of the ruling and wealthy castes. Because utility and useful-
ness were not in question, since the scions of nobility and the sons
of the wealthy did not have to look forward tp usefulness and ser-
vice, this traditional information and conventional polish was a quite
proper disguise for education. And since there were only three
learned professions at that time and two of those were concerned
with non-temporal and non-productive matters, hiunanity was able
to stumble along under the incubus of such a s]^tem of "higher"
education.
With the rise of the modern world, however, with its great
variety of important interests and its demand for insight into facts
which were seen to affect life profoundly, the need of hi^er institu-
tions of learning, possessing other functions than those of transferring
harmless tradition to the sons of the "respectable" class, arose. After
the present agencies for furnishing power and for manufacture and
communication were fully ushered in, civilization, on its material
side, became highly differentiated and rushed forward like a torrent.
With die pressing demand which the new agcndes made for a better
insight into the materials that nature furnishes for industrial pro-
cesses, science likewise branched out and threw off multitudes of new
sciences, many of in^ich were avenues to some of the industrial
callings. The hiuman mind also was dissatisfied with the old
philosophy* history, economics, medicine. As a consequence, experi-
mental piydiology, history with a greater vision, a more sympathetic
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3JO Tfty O^mrtertf Jt^wmd
political economy, todology, compArative p<rficics, bactfirioloor»
liygiene, and sanitation, alonf with a list of odier important new
sciences, were developed. The emphasis was thrown on the under-
standing of present conditions. The new theory of evolution threw
great emphasis upon the idea dutt life is a survival from a struggle
with environmental conditions. That individual organism survives
vi4iich is able to adjust itself to these conditions. A corollary is that
the better the conditions are understood, the greater chance the ift-
dividual concerned has of surviving. The further development of
the individual is contingent on a deeper insight into the nature of
die conditions whidi surround it and press upon it As a consequence
we arrive ^ the inference that an educational system not only can-
not afford to ignore or neglect a study of the contemporary con-
ditions of civilization but that its diief business is to make its students
acquainted with them. Upon die basis of the adjustment theory of
education which arises from evolutionary conceptions, and which
regards intelUgence as an adjusting function, the oondusion is in-
evitable that the mind is best trained by an acquaintance with and
a consideration of the actual phenomena whidi are most involved
in the great process of articulating individual and societal life widi
die present environment.
The modem university has been devel(q)ed in re^XMise to such
demands. The great modem social world n knocking at its doors
and asking aid. There are fifty professions to be trained for today
in place of the diree of half a century ago. The city stage of
civilization has rushed upon us, bringing with it scores of new prob-
lems that can only be met and solved by men and women who have
been trained for specific tasks. Industrial life manifests itself in
multitudes of directions. Expert physicists, diemists, biologistSi and
engineers are essential to making life in those directions both profit-
able and safe. Recent social and international development have
projected into the arena of public life many tremendous governmental
problems. To meet them successfully the hig^t type of statesman-
ship is required. Constructive statesmen must have knowledge and
vision, and must be masters of the whole fkld of social sdenoe.
The critical nature of modem society makes peculiar demands
on the university. That civilization is undergoing a severe test is
obvious to thoughtful nunds. The most gigantic and intricate
problems confront us in America. The regulation and control of
the most stupendous system of capital the vrorld has witnessed, the
adjustment of a race-conflict ever dynamic and menacing, the peaoo-
ful assimilation of millions of backward aliens, the adjustment of
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Tke UmvenUf 4md Society 33i
life to the artificial oonditions of a devdoping dty civilisation, the
insurance of empk^ment and a living income to the working men»
the staying the flood of degeneracy and human derelicts produced by
vice and the strains of maladjustment, the averting of the increasing
mortality of men and women in middle life from diseases of the
nerves and vital organs, the e£fective readjustment of the educational
system, the guaranteeing of die utmost publicity pertaining to matters
a&cting the common welfare, the establishment of immunity from
war and militarism, — ^these are a few of the serious problems. Were
we not callous from perpetual contact with them, or insensible of
dieir import thru our ignorance, a comprehension of the situation
would be almost overwhelming. Evidently there are sufficient
apparently insoluble problems and perils to capitalize the imagination
of, at least, the mildest agitator.
No rationally minded man can face these demands and assert
that the modem world is not placing a premium on that education
which is founded upon a calm, diligent, penetrating study of present
conditions. If the university is not able to respond to the demands
of our world for men who are trained for all the high and important
missions of life, it is by that much derelict in its duty. If it does
not meet the issue, other institutions will be established which will.
But, h^pily, universities are responding, altho slowly. They are
becoming microcosms of the social world. National universities
exist to meet the emcrgendcs of great states. Municipal universities
are now developing, as a democratic response, to train the young
men and women of the immediate municipality who have not the
means to go away to sdiool. State universities, which are of recent
growth, seek to offer to the young people of the commonwealth
access to the great empire of learning and to give to the state an
intelligent, loyal leadership.
The complex and critical nature of our social order places diffi-
culties in the way of securing the ri^t adjustment of a university
to society at large, and of attaining the utmost freedom in the expo-
sition of universal truth. One of the temptations or tendencies which
possess faculties is to guide education in either of two directions:
either to perpetuate the traditional form of instruction at the expense
of a comprehensive and intelligent apprehension of present conditions
and issues; or to over-emphasize the importance of the technical
equipment of the student to enter callings and professions before
broad and secure foundations have been laid in securing a knowledge
of the principles in^ich lie at the basis of our civilization. The one
tendency shackles the mind with the narrow bands of the past and
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332 The Quarterly Journal
installs a supreme but unilluminated contentment with the estab-
lished order; the other tendency discounts the world of intellectual
and ethical values and promotes the spirit of materialistic commer-
cialism. A university does not fulfill its function unless it bestows
upon its students the intellectual power and interest to submit all
traditions to the process of criticism in order that the valuable ele-
ments may be conserved and the worthless ones discarded. Nor does
it do its duty in full except that the intellectual and ethical interests
of the student clientele are developed so that all callings and pro-
fessional equipment are viewed as agencies to promote life in the
largest sense.
The second obstacle that stands in the way of the full realiza-
tion of its duty by the university consists in the disinclination of the
larger commimity to concede the value of the utmost liberty of re-
search and annoimcement of views in all lines of university endeavor.
This is especially pertinent wherever the views are those of men who
are called to treat questions which concern the organization of society,
the principles of social justice and the ethics of collective life. Today
we view with intellectual condescension that andent social order in
which the innovators in the realms of chemistry, ph3rsic5, and astro-
nomy were made the objects of attack and were penalized for ques-
tioning the prevalent ideas. It is to be hoped the age will come
when the social scientists may expect as large an immunity from
odium when their views run counter to what has been commonly
held as natural scientists now enjoy.
In order that the idea of certain of the services which the modem
university might perform may be advanced, let us consider that in-
stitution in relation to certain fundamental sociological conceptions.
And the first of these conceptions is that of conservation.
In recent years we have witnessed a campaign in behalf of the
conservation of the natural resources of our nation, whidi only means
that our mines, forests, and water power should not be wasted nor
used for purely selfish purposes. The sociological use of the word
conservation is not far dissimilar. We are to think of sodety as
constituting a system of structural organizations, each of which has
its division of labor to execute. All parts act in relation to every
other part. It is a more or less orderly process of cooperative inter-
dependence. This is the sodal order in which all institutions and
interests have their place. However, it should be noted that conser-
vation is distinct from conservatism. The conservative man wants
things left as they are. He insists that the sodal order is good, that
any modification would prove injurious, and that the established
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The University and Society 333
system is more or less sacred. On the other hand true conservation
places a valuation on things. It constructs a scheme of values which
is based on the experience of the past. What has promoted the
interest and welfare of the masses of men is deemed valuable and
should be conserved. Those processes and agenda which have in-
jured humanity at large are regarded as bad and should be eliminated.
Hence the true conservationist is an eclectic. He does not worship
the social order as a perfect and sacred scheme of relationships.
Recognizing many imperfections, he favors their elimination out of
justice to the largest niunber of human beings.
The service the university has to perform in this connection is
that of putting members of society in the position of being able to
carry on the process of evaluating social institutions and processes
wisely and judiciously. But before students can be taught this, their
instructors must learn the art of evaluation. Every course of study
and every study in the curriculum should be submitted to the cri-
terion of social efficiency. We have been using purely arbitrary
criteria in the past to arrive at the worth of the various subjects. The
majority of educators now are able to think only in terms of their
subjective tests. Such tests may be good for individual satisfaction
but they are almost worthless relative to the objective demands of
the age. When schoolmasters have learned to evaluate educational
processes in the mesure of their contributing power for the age we
live in, we will hear less of the mythical discipline and culture argu-
ments and more of those of objective needs. If democracy is to
develop as it should, this is an important function. By natural
tendency men are conservative. The mass of people are prone to
accept things as they are, without question. In their estimation all
that comes down from the past is to be conserved just because it is.
Habit sets in early in the career of the individual and binds his mind
fast to the ideas he has received. Imitation is the easiest method of
obtaining information and this means that ideas are taken over from
the past generation without critical scrutiny. Consequently the old
order of things is continued, notwithstanding its imperfections and
barbarisms.
The institution of slavery was conserved and the social order
to which it belonged was continued so long as men remained in the
passively imitative attitude of mind. Prostitution, the slums, alco-
holism in the form of the saloon, and pauperism have been conserved
because individuals have not been in the position, intellectually, to
estimate them in terms of social wordi. That great anadironistic
vestige of the barbaric age, war, persists for the same reason, and
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334 The Qwarterlf JimnuU
apparendy intelligent men seek to make it rfipectaMe hy bedgipg
it about with a few to-called civilized rukt. But war, togiether
with the system of militarism on wfaidi it is founded, is barbarism
thru and thru. To pronounce that a soldier may be killed 1^ stab-
bing him with a bayonet but not 1^ asphyxiation, because the former
method represents "civilized'' warfare while the latter does not,
is to perpetrate a jest at the expense of civilisation.
Hie university does not need to take up die work of making
men conservative. Most of the graduates of universities today are
conservatively minded. They have met little or nothing in thdr
curriculum whidi was fitted to make them intelligent about life
values. But the university as the agent of civilization does have a
great work in the direction of bestowing on its sons and daughters
the power and spirit of evaluating knowledge and conditions.
A second sociological conception is that of social interests.
Eminent sociologists now view society as an association of fundamen-
tal interests, some of which are cooperating, others conflicting. The
great organizations and institutions have grown up about and are
the expression of, these interests. The social order is not all pacific
within its boundaries, because the interests strive for supremacy. But
the social order should evolve toward a larger reconciliation of
warring interests and a more extensive cooperation of all associated
factors.
In seeking to view the function of the university in relation to
this social situation, it is dear that it may perform at least two dis-
tinct services. First, it has a specific duty to prepare men to partici-
pate actively in these interests. Every great interest is prosecuted
and furthered by individuals who are versed in its processes, and each
legitimate interest represents a magnificent field of work and en-
deavor. Hardly any of these interests could be abolished without
seriously crippling the mechanism of society and destroying life and
property. They will and ought to be continued and the good of
the world demands that those who enter their service should have
the hi^est equipment Since I have already noticed the tendencies
which make a demand for trained men in the various technical,
scientific, and professional callings, further observation here is super-
fluous. But it may be stated that the training functions of the uni-
versity should mirror the life of the larger community and that it
should conduct training courses for all of the higher, professionalized
interests.
Second, die university has another duty relative to the vast and
intricate social interests. We remember that these interests tend
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The University and Society 335
toward conflict and discord. General social welfare is best promoted
wherever a just basis of cooperation obtains. The ideal for future
social development lies in the direction of effecting a reconciliation
among the contending interests. Much of the recondb'ation thus far
secured during the past has been of a compulsory nature. Agree-
ments and settlements frequently have emerged solely because the
strongest interest dominated the situation, not because a just basis
of settlement had been reached.
Obviously what is required, in order that a fairer day may
dawn, is the genesis of a conciliating attitude and the cultivation of
fair minds and the love of justice. In order to equip a man for a
profession, it is not sufficient that he be given the technical details
and the principles at die basis of his calling. Schools of technology,
professional schools of all kinds, and universities have been accom-
plishing those results very efficiently. But the invaluable work of
seeking to bestow upon every candidate for a calling the knowledge
and significance of its larger background, its relationship to society,
and the just and fair functions it ought to perform for society, have
been too generally omitted. As a consequence, many of our trained
men begin life either insensible and indifferent to the calls of social
justice, or as positively committed to the predatory and exfdoiting
view of life. Setting out to win success at whatever cost, they jeo-
pardize the interests of others, engender antagonisms, and postpone
the day of reconciliation. To a large extent, because of this, we
have trust against people, capital against labor, sect against sect.
Is it not time that the university should demand and establish broader
foundations for the professions?
A third sociological view emerges when we conceive society as
a progressive process. The collective life of humanity has moved far
away from the stage of development that was in vogue with the
first men. As we look back at the crude beginnings of cooperative
effort, as we survey the many interesting stages of evolution since
then, and as we note the bewildering diversity of processes now
represented which have in some manner sprung from that ancient
past, we are sensible of a most remarkable development in social
matters. The human race has had a million years in which to
develop collective life and, during the earlier nine-tendis of that
great stretch of time, men marked time, for most part, and took only
the slightest step in advance but once in a millennium. Yet, the
remarkable thing is that the steps were taken and that society has
really evolved.
In order to denote the relationship of the university to human
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advancement, kt us inspect two items of that aspect of the social
process which we call progress. These features are the cause and
the direcdbility of progress.
While there may be many aspects of the cause of progress,
there is only one great sociological condition which is ultimately able
to account for it. That fundamental and indispensable condition is
the expansion and development of the intellectual faculties. The
human understanding is the key which unlocks the door of all the
causal mysteries that surround the subject of social advance. We
note as we inspect the ethnological records of that advance that social
evolution has been most rapid at those times when the intellect moved
forward to new insight and attainments. Such new insist mani-
fested itself in fresh inventions and achievements. Every invention
and discovery that afforded the race a larger mastery over nature
was especially fruitful in the direction of progress. The great epochs
in human improvement have been ushered in by the discovery of the
larger forces of nature and of the methods of utilizing them. The
discovery of the means of using domesticated animals for food and
for motor power, the discovery of methods of utilizing wind power,
water power, steam power, and electricity, have constituted the great
eras of human advance. But the discovery of certain social contri-
vances have been necessary conditions and safeguards of social wel-
fare. The building up of a language, of a system of notation, of the
state and of other social organizations, were indispensable agencies
of communication and cooperation. By means of all these agencies
human interests have become diversified, multiplied, intensified, and
their satisfaction has been placed on a regular and stable foundation.
Now, after society has developed into its higher stages, the uni-
versity is the indi^ensable agency for securing progress. In the
beginning of society, improvements and inventions might be stumbled
on by the average man. No special process of intellectual training
was then needful to make minds keen on the scent of principles. But
our collective life is now built on such a colossal and intricate plan,
and the fields of knowledge are so vast and profound, that the possi-
bilities of further discovery no longer lie on the surface. They are
now potentially possible only to the ablest and best trained intellects.
The men who are willing to devote a lifetime to the work of in-
vestigating one small section of the field of nature or of society, with
little or no thought of material rewards, — such men are now and are
to be in future the essential agents of further human progress.
As the institution for the discovery and training of sudi men,
and as the agent for furnishing the conditions, the laboratories, the
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The University and Society 337
equipment, the available time and support without which none but
the wealthy could hope to enter the field of research, the imiversity
is the prime agency for opening up the avenues to human advance-
ment. The improvement of the conditions of society and the con-
tributions to the advancement in the welfare of the nation, the state,
and the municipality, are of a necessity centered in the proper func-
tioning of the university
The directability of social evolution is a consideration which
vies in its importance, as a factor in social progress, with that which
we have just treated. Towards what goal does the colossal cara-
vansary of social evolution trend? How are we able to direct that
intangible, baffling, but ubiquitous condition that we term society?
The Austrian sonologist, Gumplowicz, said that it could not be con-
trolled or directed ; that the social forces, like the forces of the solar
system, lie outside the reach of human power ; that human progress
is therefore impossible, and that social misery must increase with
time. The lot of the masses of hiunan beings, he claims, must be-
come more intolerable because the development of their capacity to
enjoy, widiout the accompanying ability to command the means to
satisfy their expanding wants, is inherent in the social process. Hence
the himian race is doomed to an existence of increasing and inevitable
misery.
It is the glory of the United States that it developed an intel-
lectual giant who has administered a death blow to this theory and
has builded a scientific foundation for a theory of progress. A soldier
in the Civil War, he was afterward for many years a renowned pale-
ontologist in the service of the United States Geological Survey,
finally becoming the father of sociology in America, and one of the
world's greatest and most constructive minds in that field. The late
Lester F. Ward developed, for the first time, a system of social
philosophy in which the principles were firmly laid which demonstrate
not only the possibility of progress, but in which was indicated the
possibility of social control.
His demonstration consisted in showing that society is a great
field in which the phenomena are produced by social forces, just as in
nature the natural forces account for natural events. And just as
natural scientists have obtained control over certain fields of nature,
and can predict in many fields what will occur because they have
discovered the nature of the forces at work in the respective fields,
so in the field of society a thoro knowledge of the nature of the forces
which move society and produce collective events will place in man's
hands the ability to direct the stream of social activities. Then social
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evolution will no longer be a matter of accident. Progress will, as
a consequence, not be spasmodic Hiunan misery whidi eventuates
because of conditions not now controlled will be eliminated.
What Ward, in a masterly manner, has philosophically demon-
strated, the world has been proving in an increasingly practical way
ever since society began. The growth of the state reveak a remark-
able series of developments in the direction of the control of the
sociological conditions of life by means of state agencies. Without
possessing a theoretical insight into the nature of society, the peoples
of the successive ages have more and more clearly seen that the evils
and abuses which arise could be removed only by the strengthening
of a central authority representative of the rights and interests of all
classes of society by means of which the conflicting and menacing in-
terests could be regulated. But this work of regulation and reconcil-
iation of interests is as yet far from complete, largely because the
social forces are not yet dioroly known, charted, and classified. Both
practical and scientific workers in the social field are needed who will
seek to perfect this knowledge and, by it, make progress more possible.
The universities are as logically and naturally the homes for
the prosecution of the scientific aspects of this task as for the devel-
opment of insight into the processes of physical nature. The field
of society is intricate, complicated, baffling. The social forces and
conditions cannot be placed in a laboratory or test tube for experi-
mental purposes. The laboratory of the social scientist is the com-
munity and the collective life that lies without imiversity walls.
The economist, political scientist, historian, and sodoolgist must study
life as it is, and cannot help having opinions according to conditions
as they observe them. They may draw wrong conclusions and make
mistakes. But men in natural science have often erred. It should
be recognized that new fields call for long and patient effort before
positive and absolutely demonstrable conclusions may be drawn.
Meanwhile, it is the function of universities to promote investiga-
tions into community conditions, to counsel moderation in the
announcement of results until their certainty is reasonably assured,
and to foster deeper insight into things of the collective life. Only
by pursuing this course can they serve society to the full mesure and
perform their service that lies in the plane of directing human pro-
gress.
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Emerson as a Social Philosopher
GB(MtOB R. Davibs,
Assistant Professor of History and Sociology,
University of North Dakota
OOCIAL philosophy is increasingly coming to recognize the debt
^ that it owes to creative literature. The more clearly the laws
of society are understood, the more it becomes evident that the great
geniuses of literature have grasped in flashes of poetical insist the
principles which science is slowly groping to express in practical
prose. A study of the classics reveals the fact that the influence
they wielded proceeded essentially from a point of view of spiritual
detachment thru whidi the writers were able to feel and express the
operation of an ever present moral order. Hence the classics express
the potencies which the human mind will imfold when it reaches
moral maturity in a clear, scientific understanding of social law. Of
all the great names of literature, Emerson has a particular claim
upon the attention of the social scientist in that he felt the impress
of the modern scientific spirit. It is the purpose of ti^is paper to
attempt to set forth the essentiab of Emerson's social message, and
then to compare his work briefly with the creative thought of earlier
historic epochs.
It is not at all difficult to oomprdiend Emerson if one takes
a stand in imagination on the calm and dear nx>untain tops from
which the author surveyed life. For Emerson is pure intellect raised
to those heights of character where he sees moral and sodal law as
a domain of the same universal balance and harmony which the
scientist discovers in the physical universe. Beholding life in its
perfect ebb and flow, its absolute compensations, the seer becomes
the poet, the vision of truth becomes the vision of beauty, and all
life in its lights and shadows, its laughter and its tragedy, its saintli-
ness and its sins, its death and its resurrection, its whirlwinds of
war and births of new systems, its endless play of color and form,
becomes one vast allegory by which an Infinite God has revealed
himself. Emerson saw life as it is given only to the pure mind to
see it, as an eternal hannony, as a glory and a dream, which in the
market place of self-seeking fades into the lig^t of common day.
The spiritual detachment which is the condition of his vision he
suggests in the following lines:
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340 The Quarterly Journal
The delicate shelb lay on the shore;
The bubbles of rfie latest wave
Fresh pearls to their enamel gave;
And the bellowing of the savage sea
Greeted their safe escape to me;
I wiped away die weeds and foam,
And fetched my sea-born treasures home ;
But the poor, unsightly, noisome things
Had left their beauty on the shore
With the sun, and the sand, and the wild uproar.
Then I said, "I covet truth;
Beauty is unripe childhood's cheat, —
I leave it behind with the games of youth."
As I spoke, beneath my feet
The ground-pine curled its pretty wreath.
Running over the dub-moss burrs;
I inhaled the violet's breath;
Around me stood die oaks and firs;
Pine cones and acorns lay on the ground;
Above me soared the eternal sky.
Full of lig^t and diety;
Again I saw, again I heard.
The rolling river, the morning bird; —
Beauty through my senses stole,
I yielded m)rself to the perfect whole.
His point of view, Emerson has explained most clearly, periiaps,
in his essay entitled "The Poet." He might well have prefixt to it
the text: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world
and lose his own soul," since the essay is a sermon on the nature
of the soul as poetic insight, which is taken to mean the interpreta-
tion of the symbolism of nature and of life. And the form itself
is essentially poetry; for Emerson has written his best poetry in
his prose; — he is not a master versifier, and when he drops into
conventional meter he loses something of cadence and fulness. In
the essay he argues nobly the preciousness of insight into the har-
monies of life as the ultimate wealth. He points to creative litera-
ture as the source of the full interpretation of an age, to the genius
that can weave the threads of purpose in die particulars of science
into a fabric of spiritual meaning. He renames the Trinity as the
Knower, the Doer, and the Sayer, or the love of the True, the
Good, and die Beautiful, who are all three one and equal, but it is
the Sayer, the poet, who declares the harmony of knowledge and
deed, and so becomes the revealer of life's meaning. It is this func-
tion, in fact, which Emerson in a scientific age performs.
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Emerson, a Social Philosopher 341
Turning outward from die subjective position to the Universe
that our author beholds, let us attempt to sec it thru his eyes. We
need not dwell upon his view of physical nature; briefly stated, it
sees the world as the mathematics of number and form, algebraic
symbolism, and die flowing curves of the calculus, the action and
reaction of physics, and the subtle combinations of chemistry pro-
jected from their origin in the Universal Mind, and clothed in the
magic of reality. It is not, however, in his conception of Nature
that Emerson stands preeminent, but in his discovery of the same
Universal Mind in the evolution of life, the flow of history, and
the laws of society.
It has often been remarked that in his interpretations of biology
Emerson antidpated in general terms the Darwinian theory, as is
evidenced in the lines:
A subtle chain of countless rings
The next unto the farthest brings.
The eye reads omens where it goes,
And speaks all languages die rose;
And, striving to be man, the worm
Mounts through all die spires of form.
But he has done more than this; he has, in fact, sketched the far
more pregnant view of Creative Evolution, which of late Berg^on
has so ably elaborated, and which has put life and divinity into the
medianism of the Darwinian hypothesis. And not only that, he
has also seen and poetically stated the same principle in the complex
field of social evolution, picturing how the golden thread of creative
energy which runs thru the long ages of cosmic history in the climb-
ing mutations of species, grows on into the expanding world of hiunan
consciousness, and now finds its supreme work in the vital activities
of the mind. Thus human history is shown to be primarily the
record of the evolution of culture and its reaction on man and nature.
The parallelism between the evolution in nature and in mind
may be simply illustrated. We are all familiar with the partial
evolutionary series which have been discovered by geologists, as for
example the connecting links leading up to the horse. Placed in a
line these skeletal remains present a gradually advancing succession
of steps from an animal the size of a fox up to the present diverging
types of horses. Suppose we place beside this line of skeletons a row
of successively invented models of any machine, as for example the
steam locomotive. Here again the series leads from a small and
relatively simple type by successive steps of adaptation and improve-
ment up to the modem giant locomotive. Thus it may be seen that
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342 The Quarterly Journal
the tfaou^t of man is but the creative thought of nature aMuming
a new and more intricate mode of exp r es si on, in which man, who has
become a living soul, is made a partner in creation. We may con-
sider the creative act as a sweep of thought which like a powerful
magnet playing upon a mass of filings throws the atoms of protoplasm
or metal into form about an idea, whidi in its fulness is a person-
ality, — the Infinite Mind that the seer recognizes in the symbols
of the Universe. Thus mind centers in religion and art, it reacts
on the Universe as the social, biological, and phjrsical sciences, and
the progress of civilization consists essentially of the darification of
thought thru experience into ever-widening circles of trudi, — in the
emergence into consciousness of the eternal laws and harmonies.
Emerson continually assumes and illustrates this concept, but
a single poetical quotation must suffice:
Earth proudly wears the Parthenon
As the best gem upon her zone
And morning opes widi haste her lids
To gaze upon the pyramids.
O'er England's abbeys bend the sky
As on its friends with kindred eye;
For out of Thought's interior sphere
These wonders rose to upper air,
And Nature gladly gave them place.
Adopted them into her race,
And granted them an equal date
With Andes and with Ararat.
These temples grew as grows the grass,
Art might obey but not surpass.
The passive master lent his hand
To the vast soul that o'er him planned.
And the same power that reared the shrine,
Bestrode the tribes that knelt within.
Ever the fiery Pentecost
Girds with one flame the countless host.
We turn next to Emerson's philosophy of society which, as we
might guess, includes in a vast synthesis all diat man has ever done
of good and ill. Tho accepting the highest standards of ri^teous-
ness as implicitly as he accepts the law of gravitation, Emerson {days
the part of the interpreter and not the critic in his view of the past,
and on the foundation of the unity of life he builds his social doc-
trine. He says:
In liberated moments, we know that a new picture of life
and duty is already possible; the elements already exist in many
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Emerson, a Social Pkilotopker 343
minds around you of a doctrine of life whidi shall transcend
any written record we have. The new statement will com-
prise the scepticisms as well as the faidis of a society, and out
of unbeliefs a creed shall be formed. For scepticisms are not
gratuitous or lawless, but are limitations of the affirmative
statement, and the new philosophy must take them in and make
affirmations outside of them, just as mudi as it must include
the oldest beliefs.
So, as he looks over the records of history, he pictures with
intuitive insight the unity of events in their interplay and compen-
sations, and discovers their identity with the impulses of his own
soul. Here are a few sentences from his essay on history:
There is one mind coounon to all individual men. Every
man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that
is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of
the whole estate.
Man is explicable by nothing less than all his history. With-
out hurry, without rest, die human spirit goes forth from the
beginning to embody every faculty, every thought, every emo-
tion which belong to it in appropriate form.
Each new law and politick movement has meaning for you.
Stand before each of its tablets and say, "Here is one of my
coverings. Under this fantastic or odious or graceful mask did
my Proteus nature hide itself."
And tho in his exuberance of self-reliance he over-shoots the
mark in the following passage, yet we accept his purpose which is
to dirow us back from the past into the work of the present:
Time dissipates to shining ether the solid angularity of facts.
.... The Garden of Eden, the sun standing still in
Gibeon, is poetry thenceforward to all nations. Who cares
what the fact was when we have thus made a constellation of
it to hang in heaven an immortal sign. London and Paris and
New York must go the same way. What is history, said Napo-
leon, but a fable agreed upon. This life of ours is stuck round
with Egypt, Greece, Gaul, England, War, Colonization, Church,
Court, and Commerce, as with so many flowers and wild orna-
ments, grave and gay. I will not make more account of them.
I believe in eternity. I can find Greece, Palestine, Italy, Spain,
and the Islands, — the genius and creative principle of eadi and
of all eras in my own mind.
Emerson's philosophy of life has rested in these later years under
the stigma of individualism, but a careful study will assure anyone
that the imputed blame is undeserved, and that Emerson, far from
having contributed to that perversion of selfishness which we miscall
individualism has instead pointed out clearly the true foundations
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344 The Quarterly Journal
of democracy, and indicated the path whidi our political development
must follow. For individualism is a good word; we must repent
of our weakness in having lost faith in it; and must come back as
every vital age has come back to the recognition that the foundation
of all things in social life is the individual soul in harmony with
the Universe.
To begin at the point where Emerson seems to our generation
^0 be most in the wrong, let us recall his words: "The less govern-
ment we have, the better, — ^the fewer laws, and the less confided
power." Taken from its context the sentence is admittedly mislead-
ing, for the problems of the present day lead us directly toward
state action. But when we go into the details of modem legislative
needs we find Emerson vindicated, for the end of scientific legisla-
tion would be greatly to simplify the present activities of civil gov-
ernment and its extension in property. Law, in both its professional
and political aspects, is naturally the function of society whidi has
the most successfully resisted the impress of modern scientific method,
with the result that tho we live in a new industrial and philosophic
world, we are building the complex structure of modern life on
legal traditions of an outgrown age. When the scientific spirit at
last breaks its way thru the thick cobwd>s of legalism, it will brush
I aside a thousand laws representing special interests, petty ambition,
! and feudal precedent, and will reconstruct on the lines of a few
I simple and direct principles radiating from the essential nature of
} society. Emerson is right in his position that institutions resting
heavily on compulsion should be objects of suspicion. He saw as we
do that when laws grow into a tangle whose meaning the plain
mind cannot grasp, when privileges and red tape clutter the stage
of action, and when organization overrides initiative, that the real
trouble lurking behind the mask of complexity is group or dynastic
\ self-interest. For genuine democracy makes toward simpb'city and
y self-reliance, toward a flexible society where the captain of industry
and the ditch digger and the poet each readily finds his place and
is rewarded for the doing of his work well.
A quotation or two must suffice in presenting in Emerson*8
words the problem of the State:
That which all things tend to educe, which freedom, culti-
vation, intercourse, revolutions, go to form and deliver, is char-
acter; that is the end of nature, to reach unto this coronation
of her king. To educate the wise man, the State exists, and
with the appearance of the wise man, the State expires.
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Emerson, a Social Philosopher 345
It is clear from this passage ami from its context that what he means
by the State is not social organization but the organization of physi-
cal compulsion. In this concept he is in agreement with present
cicpert thought, as is suggested by the following quotation from a
recent work whidi traces the progress of society dim feudalism and
capitalism, and anticipates the future as foUows:
This has been the path of suffering and of salvation of hu-
manity, its Golgotha and its resurrection into an eternal king-
dwn — from war to peace, from the hostile splitting up of the
hordes to the peaceful unity of mankind, from brutality to
humanity, from the exploiting State of robbery to the Freemen's
Citizenship.*
Emerson correctly diagnoses, also, the materialistic thinking and
legislating whidi places property above persons, and whidi is the
disease that breaks out in class and world strife. These are his words:
And so the reliance on property, including the reliance on
governments that protect it, is the want of self reliance. Men
have looked away from themselves and at things so long that
Aey have come to esteem what they call the soul's progress —
namely, the religious, learned, and civil institutions — ^as guards
of property, and they deprecate assaults on these, because they
feel tfiem to be assaults on property. They measure their esteem
of each other by what each has, not by what each is. . . .
But that which a man is, does always by necessity acquire, and
what a man acquires is permanent and living property, which
does not wait tfie beck of rulers, or mobs, or revolutions, or
fire, or storm, or bankruptcies, but perpetually renews itself
wherever the man is put.
Fear for ages have bowed and mowed and gibbered over
government and property. That obscene bird is not there for
nothing. He indicates great wrongs that must be revised.
That is, as it appears, Emerson would charge our dvili-
zation wiA failure in respect to rfiat species of speculative property
holding whidi is like the buying and selling of diurdi benefices in
the middle ages, — a spurious ownership, not related to the real activi-
ties of the owner as a master of industry, and which will fall to the
ground when the legalism which supports it is dissected away.
But, we ask, from whence is to come the force to regenerate
sodety. Emerson answers diis question with historic accuracy and
spiritual insist, as the foUowing words show:
We want men and women who shall renovate life and our
sodal state, but we see that most natures are insolvent ; cannot
satisfy their own wants, have an ambition out of all proportion
•Oppenheimer. "The SUte/* p. 90. Indianapolis, 1914.
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346 The Quarterly Joumd
to dieir practical force, and so do learn and beg day and nigjbt
continually. Our housekeeping is mendicant, out arts, our occu-
pations, our marriages, our religion we have not chosen, but
society has chosen for us. We are parlor soldiers. The rugged
battles of fate, where strength is born, we shun.
We do not see that virtue is height and that a man or a com-
pany of men plastic and permeable to principles, by the law of
nature must overpower and ride all cities, nations, kings, ridi
men, poets, who are not.
And in these words Emerson voices the belief which is the
inspiration of social thought today:
We think our civilization is near its meridian, but we are
yet only at the cock-crowing and the morning star. In our
barbarcHis society the influence of character b in its infancy.
As a political power, as the rightful. lord who is to tumble all
rulers from their chairs, its presence is hardly yet suspected.
It is in this recognition of moral and social trudi as power
that Emerson anticipates the age to come. For under the stimulus
of diis faith the cultural and social sciences are now rapidly develop-
ing toward a place which shall be commensurate with die immense
developments of the physical sciences. And like the physical sdenoes,
our newer concepts of social forces are cosmopolitan. In Germany,
England, France, America, and elsewhere there is emerging a world
social science and culture, whidi tho seemingly submerged at present,
can only be hastened by the progress of events, particularly if inter-
national federation is achieved. As we come more clearly to see and
to express the universal truths which underly our diverse societies,
we shall have an international brotherhood that will lead public
opinion, discipline our extravagant conunercialism and militarism, and
make real the world harmony which is the framework of the Uni-
verse. "Absolute right is the first governor," says Emerson, ''or
every government is an impure theoracy." In the world-wide com-
munity of science and culture we shall achieve a permanent Kingdom
of God.
Let us now attempt the task of placing Emerson in relation to
the creative thought of odier historic epochs, and to the social move-
ment of his own day. For we must agree with him that the course
of history and of thou^t is a unity. There is one light that
ligfateth every man that cometfa into the world, tho the prisms of the
flesh give to it an infinite variety of hues. And wherever in die
course of history mind has clarified into genius, it has spoken to mind
across the barriers of race and time, for in the realm of die spirit
diere is neither Jew nor Grreek, bond or free, male or female.
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Emerson, a Social Philosopher 347
Creative tfaou^t proceeds frcMn one Mind, but the form that its
expression takes is largely dependent upon die environment of his-
toric conditions.
Comparing first the genius of Emerson with the flowering of
genius elsewhere, we may easily identify it as of die same spirit as
that which spoke thru the Greeks. Thus it is that we find every-
where thruout Emerson's works reference to that glad early world
when dviliauition, as it expanded westward from the oriental de^>o-
tisms, was opening into a glorious day of victorious freedom. Not
only is rea>gnition given to the sensuous genius of Greek life, but also
to the moral heights it reached in the dramatists, and especially in
Socrates and Plato, who are akin to Emerson in their idealistic out-
look. And when we turn die pages of Shakespeare, how quickly we
recognize the same genius speaking from that calm center where the
mind becomes pure insight. Phrases indicative of viewpoint might
be paralleled; as, for example, Emerson's "Every man is a divinity
in disguise, a God playing the fool," and Shakespeare's ''All the
world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Put
in either form the thought is the same flash of insight piercing the
masks of life which moral intuition states as the doctrine of forgiving
until seventy times seven. The artistic atmosphere or intellectual
flavor is also paralleled, as in the Essay on Nature and As You Like
It. Indeed the central theme of Shakespeare is the same as that of
Emerson; namely, a world of moral action and reaction; that is, of
law.
But tho there is identity of viewpoint there is a wide divergence
in expression. Emerson in an age of science is the white light on the
point of flashing into the rainbow colors of the emotions, but always
going back immediately into the cold light of the intellect. Shakes-
peare, of the Renaissance, writes in terms of living human experience
and gives us the colors of the emotions in all the varied shades of
a Californian garden. Most authors play on two or three emotional
colors only; they are like the spectrum of a single element or the
flower colors of a single plant, while Shakespeare is die universal
mind in all its typical expressions. And when we look into the age
that produced him, we see what it was that made his genius pos-
sible. Life was then beginning to flow forth from under the glacial
weight of feudal tradition into that turbulent stream of English
history which is the main creative channel to the nineteenth century ;
learning, ccwnmerce, travel, and a new continent dazzled with their
enchanting vistas, and for one thrilling generation it seemed that
freedom had been forever won. But the social skies were quickly
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348 The Quarterly Journal
overcast, and the creative energy which threw out the rainbow oif
promise in the Shakespearean drama went underground again in
the channels of religious faith as exprest in Milton and Bunyan.
The great dramatist wrote his last in the days when the Puritan
struggle that culminated with constitutional liberty and the machine
age was beginning, and tho there is no clear evidence to show that
he understood the course of events, yet it is probable that his subtle
mind felt the drift of things. For his later work darkens with the
social tragedy of sin, as in Hamlet ; and his last drama breathes die
spirit of religious mysticism. In Prospero he presents a figure of
the guiding personality in history, a representation of that concept
of providence which the Puritan pu^ed to the point of fanatidsm.
Like the Puritan, also, he seems to have turned to America as to
the future. And, to complete the diain of relationship, it is the
Puritan impulse emerging from social struggle to freedom and from
enforced narrowness to universality that finds expression in Emerson.
We find also in the case of Emerson that the historic setting
furnishes us with the chief reason why he could preach individual-
ism with such fervor. He was privileged to live in the days when
America, like a careless youth, was beginning to feel its boundless
strength and wealth, but had not yet experienced the weight of
responsibility that was to be thrown upon it. "America is a poem
in our eyes!" he exclaims, "its ample geography dazzles our imagi-
nation, and it will not wait long for meters." Yet he expresses an
ideal which was not quite founded in reality. He was not analyst
enough to see, as Lowell so clearly did, that America had planted
in the New World along with the wheat of a fine idealism the
tares of Old World evils. And perhaps it is well that he did not
see it, for it would have clouded his genius. But it is likely that
in his later years, as he watched political and economic developments,
he sensed the discordant note, and that this is in part the explanation
of the mental abstraction of his last days when he began to lose
contact with the world, and seemed to be groping in the depths
of his soul for some thread that he had missed. Thus did he pass
away, his mental skies clouded, and the beauty he once had known
departed. In the poetry of Walt Whitman, on whom the mantle
of prophecy fell, we find the same universality and individualism,
but with the artistry changing to ruggedness and the gentleness
changing to strength as if for a coming struggle.
The present generation, living imder the tension that preceded
the destructive outburst of war, has found conditions unfavorable
for the creation of a genuinely idealistic literature. The balanced
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Emerson, a Social Philosopher 349
and seeing optimism whidi is the impetus of the highest literature
would sound as insincere today as did Pope's "Whatever is, is right/'
in the Augustan age. Hence in this age the seeing mind gives us
the plays of Ibsen, which express the sincerity and courage of
scepticism. And, logically, we are witnessing a renascence of re-
ligious faith, not in an emotional orgy but in such philosophy as
that of Eucken, and in the attempted thoughtful return to the laws
of society as the love of God and neighbor, which when it attains
its strength should somewhat submerge the evolutionary paganism
and Mammon worship which have for so long ruled the intellect.
Then, as the path of progress becomes clear again, we may expect
that the social mind will burst forth into the ecstacy of a great
literature.
A consideration of Emerson's attitude toward religion will in-
volve a comparison of his philosophy, in viewpoint and social import,
with that of the founder of Christianity. Viewing. life as he does
from the standpoint of a broad scholarship, Emerson readily under-
stands and identifies religion in all the diverse forms under which
it hides. Yet he acknowledges a scale of relative values, and while
often referring to Jesus in terms that link him with Socrates,
Zoroaster, and Shakespeare, he asserts his primacy. "Jesus," he says,
"speaks always from within, and that in a degree that transcends
all others." And when we study the life and philosophy of Jesus
from the standpoint of their relation to his times and to the course
of history, we see that he interprets for us both the point of view
of moral insight and of action.
Jesus appears at that crucial point in history when the current
of Hebrew thought, which is the moral mid-stream of the ancient
world, plunges into the world-wide imperialism of the Roman Em-
pire. Coming from an unspoiled peasantry that lived in hope of the
dawning universal kingdom of truth, he first is visible as a perfect
flower of intuition, and his earlier sayings, as recorded in the Sermon
on the Mount and the parables, present in natural simplicity the
same point of view of a moral universe and a law of compensation
that we have noted in Emerson, tho tinged more strongly with com-
passion and hope. Life seems as beautiful and perfect as die flowers
of the field and the lilies of the valley. A kindly providence watches
even the sparrows. Joy and sorrow balance in beatitudes to die
poor and woe to the ridi. Eternity compensates what this world
cannot touch, as in the parable of Lazarus and Dives. Death is
hallowed by the figure of the corn of wheat that falls into the
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350 The Quarterly Journal
ground to die that it may bring forth fruit. And upon society
rests the glory of a divine future.
But Jesus omipletes one gap in the philosophy of Emerson that
may be suggested by quoting from the latter part of the essay on
"Compensation."
There is a deeper fact in the soul than compensation, to wit,
its own nature. The soul is not a compensation, but a Ufc.
The soul is. Under all this running sea of drcumstance, whose
waters ebb and flow with perfect balance, lies the original abyss
of real being. Existence, or God, is not a relation, or a part,
but the Whole. Being is the vast affirmation, excluding nega-
tion, self-balanced, and swallowing up all relations, parts and
times, within itself.
In these words does Emerson recognize the fact that life is
something more than thought; yet, tho his life is one of Puritanical
uprightness, he never quite steps out of his books to become a throb-
bing personality. We are, after all, not greatly benefited by a
philosophy that opens our eyes but leaves us icicles. We want one
that gives us the truth, but with it the impulse to touch the common
life, and to move tho it may be thru suffering in the pathway that
makes for the beckoning future. And it is here that Jesus presents
himself as the master mind of history ; for he stept out of philosophic
calm into the common highways of life. True ever to the sensitive
compass of his deepest intuitions he moved forward under the grow-
ing weight of his mission until he stood pointing accusingly to the
fountain head of evil in the formali^n of the priesthood and the
selfishness of the rulers. Then the lightning fell, and the lamb on
the altar was slain. But the life had effectively preached what
philosophy can never say with convincing force. Jesus has illumi-
nated that darkest cavern of fear, the death of shame, and has given
to humanity its supreme creative impulse in the revelation of the
power and beauty of holiness.
Emerson is, then, the philosopher of America's adolescence; of
its growth rather than of its maturity, of its ideals rather than of
its deeds. He has exprest an insight into the human soul and sodal
life which makes his work a real contribution to social psychology,
but as the spokesman of a nation's consdousness he points to a duty
unfulfilled. At last the years have brought the inevitable weight
of national maturity, and in the international arena America is to
be tested. May its suffering and sacrifice for freedom purge it of
its worship of false gods, and lead it eventually to the fulfillment
of the task primarily imposed upon it of working out an effective
democracy that shall be a beacon light to the nations of the earth.
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The Land, the People, and the Schools
of South Africa
II*
C E. COLBS
Late Missionary'superintendent of Schools in South Africa, and
sometime Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute
^nr^ HE second half of the history of Education in South Africa is
^ linked with the personality and service of the present Superin-
tendent-General of Education, Dr. Thomas Muir, who was appointed
in 1892 to succeed Dr. Langham Dale who retired on a well earned
pension. Dr. Muir is a Scotsman and was serving as the Head of
the School of Education of Glasgow University when the Govern-
ment of South Africa appointed him to his present position. Among
the honors which have fallen to him for the noble service he has
rendered his adopted country and the cause of education, we may
name his election to the Royal Society, F.R.S., his admission to the
Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., his appointment to
the University of the Cape as the Pro-Chancellor and the various
university distinctions which have been bestowed upon him. He
wears them all with humility and never allows them to be referred
to except as evidences of the progress of education in his particular
sphere. It is not too much to say that Dr. Muir is one of the great-
est educationalists in the British Empire. He has a perfect genius
for his work, a love for young h'fe, and an implacable tenacity of
purpose. Of a retiring disposition he yet has the master spirit and
the master hand. He has painted out many ugly blots and re-touched
many weak spots during his service in South Africa, and every effort
he has made has improved the picture and beautified the prospect
His first service was a careful and prolonged examination of the de-
partment, then of the local conditions, and finally of the peoples*
opportunities, and fadlities. As the result of his investigation he
outlined the plans of work which reached on beyond the present
achievement. Since the year of his appointment all education in
South Africa has felt the influence of this man, whose memory will
be ever held in highest regard.
The position of Superintendent-General of Education is prob-
ably peculiar to South Africa. He is at the head of all the systems
* Readers of the Quarterly Journal will find the first part of Dr.
Coles' study of South African conditions in the issue of Jan., 1917, pp.
184-194.
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352 The Quarterly Journal
of education in the country that receive any financial help from the
State for educational work. He is appointed for life and is sub-
ject only to the legislative authority. The Minister of Education
is elected by the people with his party, and retains office during the
life of his party in Parliament. But the Superiiitendent-Gcneral
continues his service while parties come and go. Of course his path
is not always one of roses. He has strenuous battles with the gov-
ernment on the one hand who want all the work done without cost,
and with the school boards and staffs on the other hand who are
always asking for more money for salaries and equipment. We, in
this country, have problems in our individual states; what must be
the problems that confront one who is at the head of all educational
work from the kindergarten to the university in an area as big as
more than thirty of our states! with five legislative authorities and
a multitude of nationalities from jet black to white!! As will be
seen if the Superintendent were subject to the changing political
parties and the latest political faddist in mental phenomena, it would
be impossible for him to get anywhere. Concentration, co-ordination,
and centralization are the keynotes to the efficiency scheme of educa-
tional life in South Africa. The average Minister of Education is
only too glad to have such an expert at his elbow to keep him in the
paths of sure progress and, as a matter of fact, each such Minister
is only too willing to do his best in order to promote the political
effectiveness of his party. The present Superintendent has developed
co-ordinated education, beginning with the kindergarten and finishing
with the post-graduate work in the university. To make the system
work effectively has been hb chief ambition. Dr. Muir has added
to the grades, developed the high schools, and linked all the work in
one harmonious system. In this he has been influenced by the.
American method rather than by the British, with the result that it
is as easy for a child to proceed from grade to high school and from
high school to college there as here.
The Superintendent-General is also responsible for the present
system of examinations of which that for the grade schools is espe-
cially worthy of note. The long distances to be covered when
travelingf the lack of swift means of communication owing to the
scarcity of railroads, the need for co-ordinated teaching, the wisdom
of personal inspection of buildings and property, and many other
matters have made it necessary to adopt a method of inspection whidi
will creditably justify the work of the department and encourage
the staff and the scholars of the school. Regular examinations there-
fore are taken by the District Inspector whose position is permanent
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She Schools of South Africa 353
and held upon good behavior till the age for retiring arrives. The
fixing of the pension value is ratiodnative, and is regulated by the
length of service from the age of sixty-five backwards, the class in
which the work has been done and the average salary received.
In accordance with the State requirements an examination
(individual) of the scholars in every class from Grade I. to Grade
VII. is conducted by the Inspector at the annual examination of
every state-aided school. Thk examination is partly written and
partly oral. Most importance in the examination is attached to
reading, diction, composition, arithmetic, and general intelligence.
Strength in these will compensate for any weakness in the mere
technicalities of granunar or the less important details of topogra-
phical geography. This individual examination in the grades relieves
the local teacher or the prindpal of the responsibility of promoting
or Retarding the child, and at the same time acts as a spur to the
teacher to raise such enthusiasm among the pupils as will help them
to overcome trivial obstacles with a view to gaining the higher grade.
It is not an unmixt blessing to have the teacher examined in this
practical way with regard to the quality of his work espedally in
view of the fact that the teacher is engaged with a view to a perma-
nency and not merely for a limited time. Any slackness in the
teacher or the methodology is quickly discerned by the competent
and wide-awake inspector and at once corrected. It is more satis-
factory also to the parent to know that the merits of the child's work
have been determined by tests applied in an expert and independent
review. There are pitfalls in every service but the inspector is there
to help and to advise.
In the Cape Province there is the dosest connection between
the primary and the secondary school courses — a characteristic feature
derived from the Scottish origin of the educational system. High
schools are usually larger schools with both primary and secondary
departments adequately equipt and giving a five to seven-year course
of secondary education beyond the fifth grade. Up to that grade
all the pupils follow the same course, but beyond that there are several
courses open to the students altho most of the pupils choose the
course of secondary education of the ordinary type. The co-ordinated
system of education permits the transfer of the pupil from one school
to another in any part of the sub-continent without any break in the
work, and with the fullest opportimity of continuity. The schools
are dassified under three heads:
Third Class Schools work as a rule up to the fifdi grade.
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354 T^ Quarterly Journal
Second Qass Sdiools are organieed to give instruction up to the
eighth grade and to provide also for at least two extra subjects.
In the small citi6s the two extra subjects chosen are usually
Latin and mathematics ,these of course preparing the pupil for
continuation in the hig^ school.
First Qass Sdiools must be prepared to teach up to the university
matriculation standard, and if the educational department is
satisfied as to the staff, building, and equipment then the Sdiool
may be graded as a high school.
In order to visualize the school life of the Sunny Southern Land
we have adopted the historical-empirical method and the description
of secondary education also follows that plan. Before leaving the
former section, however, it will be well to state that the classifica-
tion of schools is the Work of three inspectors who sit as a com-
mittee to consider all questions relating to the grading of schools
and whose findings arc duly reported to the Superintendent-General
of Education. In 191 2 there were, in the Cape Province alone. 1,391
Third Class Schools, the greater number being rural schools, 98
Second Class Schools, and 94 First Qass Schools of which 45 were
graded as high schools.
Secondary Education
In the year 1899 ^ detailed four-year high school course was
fitted into the elementary course, permitting the student after com-
pleting the work in the fifth grade to pursue a course of studies out-
lined mainly for the purpose of preparing him to matriculate in the
University during the last year in school. In 1912 a further year
was added to the course, and now the total course from the kinder-
garten to the completion of the high school requires twelve years.
The usual course taken in the high school includes: — English, Dutch,
Latin, history, geography, mathematics, science, drawing, woodwork
or (in case of girls) needlework. Science is compulsory and the
teaching of it must be both observational and experimental, as well
as theoretical. Almost all the high schools for girls take botany
for their science subject while a certain number of the boys' schools
take chemistry or physics or both. Woodwork or manual training
for the boys and needlework for the girls are compulsory. It was
not until 1904 that domestic sdence with cookery was included in the
school course, but since their introduction they have grown in favor
every year. Literature and history are allowed as alternatives for
mathematics and Latin, but the practical courses receive the largest
mesure of support.
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The Sckoob of South Africa ' 355
A great amount of freedom is allowed in the choice of languages.
In most of the girls' schools French is the favorite language. High
Dutch is extensively tau^t thruout the whole of the country and
German is a favorite subject in the German settlements, and owing
to its similarity to the Dutch is greatly encouraged. In the high
schools and normal institutions where Kafir is the family language
a great deal of liberty is allowed in the use of English, Dutdi* .and
Kafir. It follows, then, that most of the children of South Africa
are familiar with more than one language, and use more than one
in their daily life. The languages and literature of these different
languages are faithfully taught and with marked educational success.
In 1 9 10 a Commerdal Course was placed in the schools and this
course includes bookkeeping, commercial correspondence, shordiand,
and typewriting.
Art and music also have their place in the curriculum and the
educational department has done mudi to encourage this depart-
mental work. Music teachers in the state-aided schools are placed
on the same footing as the regular staff. If the teacher is adequately
trained and certificated the department of education will contribute
to the salary of the music teacher as to the salaries of others. The
requirements of the music teacher are the equivalent of the Bachelor
of Music degree, and most of the teachers are trained in the conser-
vatories and academies of Europe. Q)mpetent examination is givep
by professors of music from European schools who visit South Africa
at the invitation of the education department It rarely happens
that the same professor visits more than once. Vocal and instru-
mental music are taught in the schools, and in some cases the pupils
decide to ^ecialize in music, and are usually sufficiently well enough
prepared to enter upon the four-year course for the degree immedi-
ately upon leaving high school.
On die 1st of October, 191 3, an ordinance was passed and pro-
claimed as law whidi placed religious instruction in high schools
upon a new basis. Schools are now opened daily with the Lord's
Prayer and with the reading of a portion of Scripture. Religious
instruction according to a prescribed syllabus of Scripture lessons
is given daily in all classes up to and including the fourth grade for
a period of not less than a quarter and not more than half an hour ;
and above the fourth, for a period not exceeding half an hour upon
two days of every week during school hours and as far as possible
at the commencement of the school day. The rights of parents and
guardians who have conscientious objections to such instruction are
carefxilly guarded, as are also the conscientious objections of any of
the teachers. Where the majority of the parents request in writing
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356 The Quarterly Journal
that a prescribed catechism shall be taught it is the duty of the school
board to provide special facilities for such instruction by obtaining
adequate and qualified instructors from among the local clergy.
A good deal of emphasis is laid upon the subject of mathematics.
Out of a statutory week of 25 hours of high-school work 7j^ hours
must be given to mathematics. This course includes algebra, aridi-
metic, geometry, and elementary trigonometry. The course is planned
on modern lines, and the educational dq;>artment reconunends no spe-
cific text-books, but suggests that proofs of theorems should be based
as much as possible on first principles. Where the student is taking
the final examination at the high school prq>aratory to entering the
University the papers set for the examination are of a rather difficult
character even for the pass examination! as a considerable number of
the questions consist of fairly stiff riders and problems.
The final examination in the high-school course is conducted
under the au^ices of the University. This examination falls into
two principal departments, the first for those students who are com-
pleting their school life at this time and the second for those who
desire credit for entrance to the University. The successful students
in the former receive what is called the School Higher Certificate
or the School Leaving Certificate, and in the latter receive the
Matriculation Certificate. Both these certificates are issued by the
yniversity, both are of equal educational worth, both are highly
prized by the recipients. After many years of experimentation the
University Coundl has banished competitive examinations and the
lists of successful candidates for the certificates are published in the
Educational Gazette in alphabetical order. The courses of study
aim at a well-balanced education, and the examiners are mainly
college professors who are not in personal touch with the pupils.
Altho there are defects in the system, yet on the whole such method
of examination provides for a scholarly, impartial, and independent
result. Sometimes the papers set have been too high for the average
student, but the plan is to make the examination a real test of ability
and training and to keep the standard as high as possible.
There are no co-educational high schools in South Africa, altho
co-education is permitted in the various colleges of the University.
The total number of students in the high-school classes for 1899
was 1,447. This number was increased in 191 3 to a total of 5*696
with a further addition in the First Class Schools of 900. While
the final examination is conducted under the auspices of the Uni-
versity, high school inspectors are employed by the education depart-
ment to supervise all the work in the schools, to classify and advance
die pupils and, in co-operation with those directly in charge of the
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The Schools of South Africa 357
schools, to plan all the work, give careful supervision to the equip-
ment, and to keep the department informed regarding both teachers
and scholars.
The physical side of life is not n^lected and, as might be ex-
pected in a land where the sun shines almost in perpetuity* outdoor
games for all the year are encouraged for both boys and girls. I'he
boys' schools usually have a regular instructor engaged for physical
exercises and drill, the latter being semi-military in character. The
games of cricket for the summer and football for the winter are
greatly enlivened by challenge matches and championship contests.
The girls' schools also are provided with trained physical instruc-
tors, and their outdoor sports are usually hockey for the winter and
tennis for the summer. Work in the gymnasium is compulsory for
both boys and girls with calisthenics, Swedish drill, boxing, swim-
ming, and other physical exercises. This work is taken each year
during the high-school course.
The whole system of education, spiritual, moral, mental, and
physical is organized with a view to making the boys strong in them-
selves and willing defenders of the weak, and to making the girls
capable and graceful companions of the coming men. The boy is
expected to grow into a man who will shoulder family responsi-
bilities and take his place in the nation as the head of a family.
The girl is expected to become the fitting and gracious companion
of such a man. The South African is a reserved and sometimes an
unsq^roachable biped, but there is some good stuff in him!
Departmental Organization
All public schools are under the central authority of the edu-
cation department of the Union Government (corresponding to our
Federal Government) and the Superintendent-General of Education
presides over all thru the central office. The work of this office has
been differentiated. There is a branch for recording educational
statistics and reports, a second for the examination and certification
of teadiers, a third for school equipment and teaching apparatus
with applications for special grants, a fourth for school sites, plans
and buildings, a fifth for menfbership finance and general working
of school Boards, and a sixth for the organization and control of
railway schools. This last brandi is one of the special features of
sdiool administration in South Africa. Railroads are owned and
controlled and worked by the government and are put at the dis'-
posal of the education department for carrying children to central
places for instruction. The cities are usually 150 miles apart, and
the villages about 50 miles apart* so that the railway renders vital
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358 The Quarterly Journal
service to the nation in thus providing for the children of the rail-
road service and also for others who are living in isolated places.
No charge is made of course for bringing the children on the rail-
road to the appointed school, and it is of interest to note that all
students in government-aided school, whether public or denomi-
national, are permitted to travel on the railroad at all times at spe-
cially low rates. To facilitate this branch of the work an educa-
tional survey was made in 1893 with the object of showing how the
educational wants of any neglected division of the country could be
best ascertained. After five years* work the survey was completed,
the resulting twenty reports with illustrative maps being duly pub-
lished for the benefit of the divisions concerned.
The office library of works on education was formed in 1895
and has become an extensive and valuable part of the department.
Where ordinary agencies fail assistance is given in the preparation
and publication of text-'books. The first to receive departmental
aid was Dr. Marloth's Botany. One of the series received marked
approval in Europe, and Germany spoke of The Advanced Soudi
African Atlas as a model work. The Education Gazette was started
in 1 901 to give teachers and school managers early information on
matters of departmental interest. The Gazette has grown steadily
in size and value and is now recognized as an educational guide of
considerable importance. A building-loan scheme was put in opera-
tion in 1894 ^n<l simultaneously with its application has proceeded
the nationalization of school property.
Compulsory Education
When the school boards were inaugurated in 1905 they were
granted the power after the first year of work to pass a resolution
making school attendance compulsory for all European children be-
tween the ages of 7 and 14. For three years nothing was done in
this regard except in one school area. However, in 1909 the matter
was taken up more energetically both by the school boards and the
department with the result that in that year out of a total of 129
school boards 52 had adopted the prindple of compulsory attendance.
There is no doubt that very soon compulsory attendance will be
universal in South Africa. Before 1892 it was permissable for blacks
and whites to attend the same school and even the same classes. In
1909 a different system was ordered and separation between blacks
and whites definitely decided. To accomplish this without injustice
to either section of the people a new class of school called the Third
Class Denominational School (Church A. 3) was established, and
this put an end to a system that had caused very considerable annoy-
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The Schools of South Africa 359
ance both to the peoide and the educational authorities. Under the
old voluntary system of sdiool committees where each member of
the committee became a personal guarantor for teachers' salaries and
general maintainence many abuses had been rife, but the new school
boards elected by the people and backed by rateable levies and de-
partmental grants are under the scrutiny of the people and the de-
partment. Under the old system the prindpal of a second-class
public school once reported to the department, "My salary is
subject to the following arrangement with the managers: should the
school fees be insufficient to make up the moiety of my salary, I will
pay for five scholars!!!" Another teacher reported, "A .teacher has
to buy his com, sheep, etc., from one of the managers; he receives
a poor article and in addition is frequently overcharged to the extent
of IS to 20 per cent"
PosmoN OF Teachers
The importance of having properly trained teachers has been
steadily kq)t in view. A plan has been made and already partly
carried out to have a series of training schools and colleges to pre-
pare those who are desirous of entering the profession. High-school
teadiers must be graduates of some reputable university or college
and possess the necessary teacher's certificate. The inducements in
the Cape for young men and young women of ability to enter the
teaching profession are much greater than in the years preceding
the regime of Dr. Muir. No teacher in a public school can now
be dismissed without the sanction of the education department.
Teachers' salaries have been materially increased and in some cases
more than doubled. Vacation courses have been found of great ser-
vice in preparation for the profession, and year by year the supply
of teachers adequately prepared has steadily grown until the supply
has become equal to the demand. The following statement of
salaries paid to heads of different classes of schools represents the
growth of importance of the profession: (The terms principal, head-
master and superintendent are synonymous.)
1892 1909
Principal of AI Boys School ... $2,000 $3,000
AI Girls School ... 1,000 1.800
All School . . . 1,000 2,250
AIII School ... 600 1,500
Dr. Muir well says, "Indeed at the present day the teaching profes-
sion in Cape Colony is in a better position, both as regards remuner-
ation and social status, than it is in most English-speaking countries."
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The Good Service Allowance whidi carries pension rights is open
to all classes of teachers and is fixt on a most liberal basis of com-
putation.
Training Institutions
Seven colleges and schools provide for the training of the Euro-
pean teacher. These are: i. The Normal College, Capetown;
2. The Training College, Capetown; 3. Training College, Wel-
lington; 4. Training College, Grahamstown; 5. Training De-
partment, Victoria College, Stellenbosch ; 6. Training School,
Robertson, and 7. Training School, Paarl.
For the training of the Colored and Native teachers the various
missionary societies in the country have provided institutions of a
high standard, all of which are recognized by the department and
receive grants for the support of the work. Many of the missionary
instructors in these institutions have attained a very high educational
position, and it is commonly said in South Africa that the Colored
and Native peoples are better served educationally than the whites.
Most of the missionaries are men and women of sincere devotion
and their influence is both moral and intellectual. Two additional
subjects are taken in these missionary schools, one a practical course
in hygiene and the other the study of the native or home language.
Institutions at the following places represent the Dutdi Re-
formed* the Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist, and the
Episcopalian churches: Bensonvale, Blythswood, Buntingville, Qarke-
bury, Emgwali, Engcobo, Healdtown, Lovedale, St. Matthew's,
Shawbury, Umtata, Zonnebloem, and Genedenal. In addition to
these there are training departments in connection with the girls high
schools at Stellenbosch, Graaf-Reinet, Cradock, OudtshoQm, and
Kimberley, and smaller but still considerable dq)artments at Wor-
cester, King William's Town, Beaufort West, and Uitenhage.
Other schools have classes of pupil-teachers, and these classes vary
from one to twenty in number.
The same examinations are given in the Colored and Native
schools as in the European, and the same demands are made in
respect to residence and experience. There are no Jim Crow laws
in education. Three different certificates are given for teachers who
take up the usual work of the profession. The First Class Certifi-
cate is granted to a graduate from a reputable college or university
after evidence that the applicant has special fitness for the work. The
Second Class . Certificate is granted to those who have passed the
matriculation examination and have at least one year's professional
work in college or training school. The Third Class Certificate is
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The Schools of South Africa 361
granted to the applicant who has passed the seventh grade and has
the additional work of three years in a normal or training school.
Special certificates are given in a variety of subjects including art,
music, manual training, domestic science, physical instruction, and
science. When a teacher is appointed to a school he becomes a part
of the huge educational machinery of the country, and he may move
from one part of the country to another without interrupting his
service or hindering his promotion. His certificate determines the
class of school in which he may teach, but he is encouraged to gain
a higher certificate if he possess only a lower, and to rise in his pro-
fession from the position of a master to that of a principal.
Inspectors
The majority of the in^>ectors have been promoted from the
headship of a high school, except in the case of the special inspectors
as those in art, music, etc These men and women are the eyes of
the education department. Their regular reports on the schools in
their district tell of the doings of the board, the service of the various
sta£b, the condition of the buildings and equipment and the progress
made in the classes and by the pupils. This foroe of inspectors con-
sists of well-trained and experienced officials who are familiar with
the work in the schools and are heartily in ssrmpathy with the teach-
ing stafF. The appointment carries with it many privileges, and in
some cases inspectors are allowed to act as examiners to the Univer-
sity. The salaries with allowances sometimes reach the sum of
$5/xx) per annum> and in all cases are in advance of the salaries
allowed to the principals. One class of inspectors is in charge of all
grade schools, a second class of the hi^ schools, and a third class
of all the special courses. A comparative table gives the schools,
their classes and progress:
1892 1909
High Schools ------ 41
First Class Schools ----- 56 50
Second Class Sdiools ----- 76 101
Third Class Schools - - - - - 337 841
Church A 3. Schools ----- 35
District Boarding Schools - . - . 12 4
Private Farm Schools ("Little Red Schoolhouse") 270 844
Poor Schools ------ 42 275
Evening Schools ------ 19
Mission Schools ------ 478 693
Aborigines Schook ----- 273 795
Totab ----- 1^544 3^
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362 The Quarterlf Journal
Financial Support
All the educational institutions of the country receive dual sup-
port. The denominational schools receive help from their respec-
tive missionary societies, and grants from the State for the educa-
tional work. The public schoob levy taxes to the amount of one-
half the required sum for the years work and the State provides the
other half from the general funds. The advantage of this system is
that the government thru the education department keeps a firm hand
upon all the school work and yet encourages and stimulates local
interest. The proportion paid by the State is now on the increase
and in fact in 19 12 the proportion was something like two to one.
When new teachers are to be engaged, or improvements are to be
made in the equipment the local board must apply to the department.
An inspector is sent to the field to meet the board and to gather
all necessary information. His report is sent to the department and
if passed the necessary allowance is made in the next budget to be
presented to the legislature. A strict accounting must be given of
every penny received and spent and where irregularities are dis-
covered penalties may be enforced.
The Univbrsity
There is only one institution in the whole of South Africa with
power to confer university degrees. Before the University of the
Cape of Good Hope was incorporated by special act of Parliament
in 1873, the work of examination was entrusted to a Board of PuUic
Examiners. In the year 1879 a Royal Charter was granted by Queen
Victoria declaring that the degrees to be conferred by the University
should be entitled to the same rank, precedence and consideration as
the degrees of any University of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland. Five colleges of university rank are affiliated
with the University in Cape Colony, one in the Free State, the
famous School of Mines in the Transvaal, and other schools in other
provinces. All examinations are conducted under the supervision of
the University Council and all diplomas and certificates are issued
by the University. The work for the various degrees may be taken
in the affiliated colleges and the students of these colleges are classed
as internal students of the University. The syllabuses of die Uni-
versity examinations are drawn up by the University Coimcil the
President of which is the Pro-Chancellor, Dr. Muir. The present
King of Great Britain accepted the position of Chancellor of die
University from which he holds the degree of LL.D. The oldest
University College in the country is the South African College
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The Schools of South Africa 363
rituated in Cape Town. It is more than eighty years old and from
it most of South Africa's prominent men have graduated. The Nor-
mal Colleges are not classed as University Colleges but under a
recent order an arrangement has been made by which a student in
the Normal may take work in conjunction with the University
course and thus secure his teacher's diploma and the university degree.
The College in Cape Town has been recognized by the Union Gov-
ernment as a Training College for the Union Government Teachers
First Class Professional certificate. The Ti Certificate as it is
called is required by all high-school and imiversity teadiers and pro-
fessors. To help needy and deserving students various scholarships
have been founded in the different colleges by city corporations, pri-
vate donors, and the general public. The blue-ribbon scholarship
is a travelling scholarship granted to the student who attains to the
first place in the B. A. final examination providing he is willing
to accept it. The scholarship is worth $1,500 per annum for three
years and enables the holder to enter some university in Europe or
America for graduate work. He must report progress to the Uni-
versity from time to time, and at the end of three years surrender
the scholarship to the next candidate. At the present time the Uni-
versity confers the degrees of Doctor of Literature, Doctor of Science,
and Doctor of Laws, Master of Arts and Master of Science, Bache-
lor of Divinity, Bachelor of Arts in Literature or Science, Bachelor
of Science in Agriculture, Engineering, Mining and Pure Science,
Bachelor of Laws, and grants Certificates in Law, Land-Surveying,
Mining, and Music. In the educational report to the legislature for
the year 191 1, the following statement appears: "To many people it
will come as a surprise to learn that the Cape has a larger proportion
of its population pursuing a college course, i.e., a course beyond
matriculation than even the most advanced parts of the United States.
Further, our Cape students who go abroad do well and make them-
selves respected. The average Cape student abroad appears therefore
to be better than the average student to be found there." Statistics
are given in support of this statement from the records of universities
in Scotland, England, Holland, Germany, and America.
The Rhodes Scholarships are the product of Soudi Africa and
the gift of that famous British South African to the world. South
African money coupled with Oxford scholarship made the gift pos-
sible. Rhodes was a great' Empire-builder during his life time and
as the years go by he will be re-discovered as continuing in the edu-
cational world the counteipart of the great work he did in the
physical world. The South African Rhodes Scholarships are offered
upon peculiar conditions, differing from those holding in any other
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364 The Quarterly Journal
country. The four scholarships given annually are restricted to
pupils in only four of the South African schook* and it frequently
happens that the scholarships are therefore awarded to students who
have taken only a second or even a third class in the University
examination. This lowers the average of the Cape as compared with
other nations. One striking advance in University work is foimd
in the development of the School of Mines and the College of Agri-
culture. Fifteen years ago nearly all the mining engineers in South
Africa came from the United States, but now nearly all the men on
the mines are graduates of the South African University. Farmers'
sons now take the courses in the Agricultural College, the entrance
examination for whidi is the same as for all the other colleges, and
when the work is complete they may graduate with a degree which
is the equal of the B. A. Where any missionary society or church
has an institution doing work in higher education, as for the B. D.
degree, grants are given by the department as to the other colleges.
The government has no interest as such in denominational work, but
it has an interest in the education of its people, and will pay for
educational work well done. In order that the standard of all work
may be maintained the government refuses to license anyone to con-
fer degrees or to grant certificates, corporate or individual. That
is the prerogative of the State acting thru the Education Depart-
ment, the University Council, and the Senate.
It will be said, of course, that the comparativdy small popula-
tion of South Africa makes possible what larger peoples could not
attempt. The answer to that is that usually the smaller peoples
are far more individualistic and pugnacious in standing for their
parochial rights unmindful of the vast possibilities of growth, con-
tact, and the divine fellowship of nations. Yet we have here an
experimentation upon a liberal scale of a method of education which
bids fair to take its place speedily with the most cultured and ad-
vanced, and with such vitality and momentum as to suggest that it
will eclipse the older systems and take a rank apart by itself to
which the older systems may need later to conform. For it must
be remembered that South Africa is a new land in the modem sense
of the word. It is not many years since it came into permanent
contact with the outside forces. With our present-day facilities for
travel the travd-loving Africander, and he does love to travel, has
brought the life of nations into the life of his own land and so the
Africander is finding a place among the peoples of the Old and the
New Worlds. The world then has become an open door to this
son of the sun, and having the means at his di^H>sal he marches
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The Sshools of South Africa 365
thru the world with an open mind to enrich himself and his State
with the new knowledge springing up everywhere. Germany, Hol-
land, Britain, and America in particular, have opened their doors to
him and he has not been slow to avail himself of the best he can
find in these lands. Having made and appropriated the discovery
he returns to his native soil to reconsider his system of education,
to reconstruct here and there, to bani^ some things, to stretch others
and in short to find a fitting place in his unified system for every
good new diing the world has given him. South Africa is in a sense
a nation at school and putting into her own school system all the
latest devices, helps, advantages, courses, and enthu^asms it will stand.
Sometimes the system is strained almost to the breaking point, but
the natural geniality of the people and a firm determination to toler-
ate only the best, gives the system the necessary and sufficient elas-
ticity and adaptability.
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"FREE"
Vera Kblsby,
' Instructor in English, Unhersiip of North Dakota
Characters
John Mann — a brutal, greedy farmer
Mary Mann — the wife whose spirit he has broken
Ruth Mann — the daughter who refused to share the same fate
Tim — the fate
SCENE I
'TpHE SCENE is laid about the kitchen door at the side of a
-^ ramshackle farm house. The yard is littered with parts of old
wagons and machinery. Beside the door stands a bench, upon and
about which are several milk pails. A muddy, swirling river runs
by the front of the house; parallel with it is the driveway to the
bams, A narrow path from the back door also leads to the bams.
It is late afternoon of a unndy, autumn day. The sun, sinking
beyond the vast fields of stubble and freshly plowed ground, gleams
thru the dust clouds like an angry and inflamed eye.
A moment after the curtain rises, Ruth Mann comes heavily
up the path. She is blown and dirty, ungainly, and roughly dressed.
Her hands and feet are large and awkward as a man's. A face appears
at the kitchen window. Then Mary Mann, timid and colorless,
hurries out with kettle of hot water and begins to scald milk pails.
Mary
"Plowin' done?"
Ruth
"No."
Silence
Mary
Looks at her anxiously
"But Dad said—"
Ruth
Dully
"Yc9— I know."
Mary
"You— you ain't sick, Ruth?"
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Free 367
Ruth
"No, I ain't sick, Ma." {Looks up) "Jii»t thinkin', that's alL"
{SUent a moment) ''Ma, what's the differenoe between us and
animals?"
Mary
-Why— why Ruth—"
Ruth
"There ain't no diflFerence. Look at our horses — ^we work and eat
an' sleep same's they do. They get more care, that's all. An', Ma,
when we get so's we can't work, don't you ever think but what
we won't be turned out like old Jennie — to die."
Mary
"You mustn't think such things, Ruth."
Ruth
"How can I help it? It's true, ain't it? That's the reason I came
in early. I got to thinkin' as I followed the horses up one furrow
and down the next that we're just like them. An' I decided I was
goin' to be different."
(Her eyes grow starry. She leans forward, gazing up eagerly
at Mary.)
"Do you know what's tonight?'
Mary
"No-o.'
Ruth
Rises in her intentness
"It's the night when the full moon comes swinging up over them
trees, turnin' everythin' to gold — ^the stubble and the river — (Softly)
— an' when it comes up so gentle like, it just calls somethin' in me — "
Mary
With a frightened cry
"Ruth!— Oh, my girl!"
Ruth
Looks at her for a moment puzzled; then she pats Mary's
shoulder awkwardly,
"I'm all right, Ma. Don't be scared. There don't seem to be
nobody to understand, that's all. I just thought, maybe — "
(Breaks off hopelessly)
"Anybody bin here?"
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368 The Quarterly Journal
Mary
"Tim— haulin' smd."
(Mary loeks up at Ruth, whose face has become set, and tries
to speak in a conversational tone)
"Seems if he was goin' to have a fine house. No mud floor in his
cellar, he says, but hard sand. An' he's goin' to have a real dstem,
too, with a pump."
Ruth remains silent
Mary
"Can't you think about him a little, Ruth ? Pa wants — "
Ruth
Turning in a flash
"That's it! That's it! Pa wants it. He'd mate me like he does
his cattle, to help himself. Then the two farms 'ud be joined and
he c'ud tell Tim how to raise his hogs — ^as if that wasn't the only
thing Tim knows now. But do you want it. Ma, reely? Tim's
just like Dad. Do you want me to live a life like yours?"
Mary is silent; she turns her face from Ruth
Ruth
"Think of your life, Ma. I — I've watched you bein' crushed day
after day until you ain't got no more spirit than — than Shep here.
He's learned to go for the cows and keep out of sight when he ain't
no use. That's like you are. That's like what I'd be! — ^Animals,
that's what we are. An' now you'd marry me to Tim. Marry. — "
{She makes a gesture of despair — har voice rises)
" — to fetch an' carry when he wants somcthin' — to keep out of his
way when he don't."
Mary puts her hand on Ruth's arm to quiet her, Ruth hushes
it off
Ruth
"To raise his hog3 like children, and his children like hogs!"
{She laughs shrilly, picks up the milk paik and starts down the
path; turns back — )
"But I ain't goin' to be no hog-raiser! I— Fm goin' to be FREE!"
{Exit)
Mary stands gazing after Ruth, her expression and attitude
gradually becoming more hopeless.
John Mann enters from front road. Mary jumps, startled at
the sound of his heavy footsteps behind her.
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Fr€e 369
John
Looking down path
"That Ruth?"
Mary
"Yes."
John
"What's she laughin' at?"
Mary
"Nothin'— just jokin'."
John
"Plowin' done?"
Mary
"Not— quite."
John
"Not quite — and jokin'. FU learn her it ain't no joke."
Mary
Breaking in hurriedly
"Tim was here today."
John
"What for?"
Mary
"Haulin' sand. He says you'd ought to put a fence in along the
road there in front — the bank's dangerous. It's most a straight fall
to the river now."
John
Laughs
"Guess I know when to put up a fence. Say anythin' else?"
Mary
"Yes. He's comin' over tonight; says you ast him."
John
"Saw him in town last night He says Ruth won't look at him.
I'm goin' to settle the whole thing tonight"
Mary
Timidly
"But, Dad, Ruth don't like him!"
John
Looking at her in amazement
"What's that got to do with it? Think I'm goin' to support her
all her life?"
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370 The Quarterly Journal
Mary
"She does the work of two men."
John
"Say, what's got into you? You act as if you didn't think it was
lucky that some man wants her at all. FoUerin' the moon the way
she does the whole country thinks she's — "
Mary
Shrinking away from him
"Don't, Dad, don't!"
John
Deliberately
" — crazy! And whose fault is it? Yours, an' you know it. You
encourage her — make her think she's abused. But there'll be no
moon gazin' nor moon foUerin' when she's married to Tim. An'
mind you don't tell him she come in early tonight. She'll marry
Tim, and that's the end on it."
Enters kitchen, slamming door
Mary sinks down on step. Hopelessness, failure, are written
in every line of her shrinking form. Shep slinks around the comer
of the house and puts his head on her hand. She starts to push him
away but draws him back. Motionless, she sits staring at cringing
dog.
SCENE II
The same setting as Scene I, but some time later. The first
glow of the moon is appearing over the trees at the right. The
wind is rising, and increases thruout the scene. Ruth's emotion
seems to rise and fall with it.
Ruth comes slowly out of kitchen door, shuts it^ and leans agatnsi
it, closing her eyes. Her weary form and face show the result of
physical and mental struggle. When she opens her eyes, the first
glint of moon is appearing.
Ruth
"I can't go tonight, moon. Hell be watchin'. He says I got to
marry, and the man is comin' to see about it. — Oh, it ain't fair — it
ain't fair! — ^An' we were goin' to the city, weren't we — to see pretty
ladies and dresses and homes."
(She looks down at her own dress and sees her roughened hands.
She holds them out in front of her and looks at them, then
up at the moon.)
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Free 371
"Look at them — look at them, red and big as a man's. Maybe it's
a good thing I can't go with you — ^you'd be ashamed of me. But
you know it ain't my fault — you know I ain't had a chance. I ain't
had clothes nor school to make me look decent or talk decent. I
ain't had nothin', moon."
(She sinks down on step and is silent. At times her hands work
nervously.)
"An' now they're goin' to marry me — an' to Tim! I cu'd stand
everythin' else but that. I'm willin' to work, I've done it all my
life, but — I can't do this — I can't! I can't! He ain't a man. He's
a hog-raiser. An' that's what I'd be — that*s what I'd be."
(She buries her head in her lap; her hands clench; her body
writhes in mental agony. Suddenly she looks up; hope
flashes across her face.)
"Take me with you, moon. Give me my chance. I know now that
the other times were only foolin', you didn't really take me. I just
followed. I always was brung back and people said as I was crazy.
They didn't understand, that's all. I was just lookin' for my chance.
But take me with you, really — out of it all!"
{Carried away by the idea, she slips from the step to her knees,
her arms stretched out to the moon,)
"Take me away. Oh, take me away and give me my chance!"
She remains with arms outstretched, gazing eagerly as if await-
ing some sign. At length her arms drop, but her eyes never leave
the moon. Gradually hope leaves her face. She sinks lower and
lower, then falls face downward upon the ground.
The moon swings clear of the trees, throwing a broad shaft of
light from the door to the river. At the same moment the wind be-
comes absolutely still.
Slowly Ruth sits up. Her face, at first devoid of all expression,
becomes radiant. Slowly she rises; wonderingly her eyes trace the
broad moon path to the river. She turns to the moon as to a friend
and smiling, follows the path.
As she reaches the road Tim arrives at the same spot, but draws
back at sight of Ruth with her weird, fixed smile. Fascinated, he
watches her cross the road and stand upon the edge of the bank
Tim
Advancing a step
"Ruth!"
Suddenly comes a shrill, taunting scream of wind, then a shriek
of maniac laughter. Ruth steps forward. Tim stands dazed, look-
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372 The Quarterly Journal
mg at the spot where she stood. He turns toward the homse. Then
his dull face shows comprehension; he dashes for the kitchen door
and pulls it open.
Tim
"Ruth! Ruth! The river!''
John and Mary appear m doorway. John follows Tim to
the river bant. Mary sinks down on the step in much the same
attitude as at the close of Scene I. Gradually she stands erect. Hope-
lessness is refUcted no longer in face or bearimg. Her shoulders go
back; her eyes shine in the moonlight.
Mary
"She's Freer
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Book Reviews
Economics of Business: Frank L. McVby, President of the
University of North Dakota. No. 2 in the Series on Modern
Business, Joseph French Johnson, Editor. Alexander Hamilton
Institute, New York, 1917. XVI+346 pp. Price, $1.75.
One of the most distressing things that we who are interested
in business training have to encounter is the impatience of the aver-
age business man or student in business courses with what they call
"theory." The result of this attitude on their part is reflected all
too clearly in some of the unsound economics preached by editors
and commerdal associations in connection with our present effort to
get the nation on a war basis. Any economist, then, who can get
the business man's point of view and set forth the fundamental
principles underlying economic activity in such a way as to hold his
attention and show him the relation between these underlying prin-
ciples and his own interests is well in the way to become a national
benefactor. And it seems to me diat Dr. McVey has come mudi
neare rto accomplishing this than any one else who has yet attempted
die task.
In this little volume. Dr. McVey covers substantially the same
field that is covered by any of the modern writers on general econo-
mics, and embodies in his discussions, it seems to me, the sanest of
modem theory. But his exposition of fundamentals, in addition to
being thoroly sound, has certain other merits of great significance in
a work of this type. Not the least of these is that in introducing
the reader to die rather formidable terminology carefully built up
by professional economists, seemingly to prevent the layman's break-
ing in, his definitions are clear-cut, stript of all unnecessary verbiage,
and couched in terms which mean something to the intelligent reader
who has had no formal training in economics. Also, in enunciating
the fimdamental principles, the author's emphasis and application is
very strongly on the side of the practical and the concrete. No pro-
position advanced is allowed to remain in the reader's mind as hazy
and abstruse theory, but each one is nailed down, so to speak, by set-
ting forth its relation to present-day conditions.
I cannot too highly commend the aptness of the illustrations,
drawn from present-day conditions. It must surely increase the
reader's confidence in his audior to realize that he is not attempting
to expound some out-worn doctrine which has no present application,
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374 The Quarterly Journal
but is writing with a clear view of the economic organization of
society as it now exists. This merit is perhaps most conspicuously
present in the chapters on Money; Credit; and Money, Credit, and
Prices ; and again in the chapter on International Trade and Foreign
Exchange, and the one on Commercial Policy. These five chapters,
Niunbered VIII to XII, inclusive, might well be read with a regard
to present conditions, not only by every business man, but by every
other intelligent citizen. The author not only brings the working of
certain tendencies absolutely down to date, but also points out how
they are likely to operate during the next few years — always a risky
thing to do, but worth while even if it does go wrong.
This work, then, is not only sound economics, but has the point
of view and the emphasis that will make it valuable and give it an
appeal to the student of business, who has little time for abstract
theory of any kind. The discussions are brief, and while they will
not make of the reader a profound economist, they are calculated to
get a hearing, and introduce the "hard-headed" business man to a
body of fundamental principles, a knowledge of which will in the
long run cause his "hard-headedness" to be much more effective.
A. C. Hodge
Department of Economics,
University of Minnesota
Social Environment: George R. Davies, Assistant Professor of
History and Sociology, University of North Dakota. National
Social Science Series, Frank L. McVey, Editor. A. C. McClurg
and Company, Chicago, 1917. VIII+150 pp. Price, 50c
The author's thesis is to show the limitations of the biological
interpretation of the principles of evolution as applied to human
society. Society is "primarily a spiritual rather than a biological
reality." Of course, this is not a new conception. It is indeed the
working aim of the leading sociologists of the present time. How-
ever, the author has made a contribution of merit to the literature
treating this central problem of social evolution. His diction is
forceful and his general argument is convincing.
After making a clear statement of the biological point of view,
the development of the theory of evolution is traced thru English
thought and social practise. The industrial revolution, the doctrine
of laissez faire, and the theory of Malthus preceded and reinforced
the theory of evolution enundated by Darwin, and the theories of
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Book Reviews 375
Darwin, "though apparently remote from practical considerations,
swing back to reinforce commercialism."
England emphasized the economic aspect of the survival of the
fittest, while Germany went a step farther in emphasizing the politi-
cal aspect. In England the doctrines of laissez faire, competition,
the sacredness of contracts, and the rights of property were limited
to the struggles of individuals, or at least to competing groups widiin
the nation, while Germany in her thought and practise has carried
these doctrines out to their logical conclusion in the struggles of
nations.
Over against these theories and forces of the materialistic sur-
vival of the fittest are set die forces of idealism. While Adam Smith
and Ricardo, Malthus and Herbert Spencer applied the biological
interpretation of evolution to social affairs an idealistic reaction de-
veloped in English literature as seen in the writings of Carlyle,
Wordsworth, Matthew Arnold, and Tennyson. Eventually the "net
of social environment binds the natural egoism to the service of the
family, the nation, and the world, setting at last to the strongest a
limit to his selfishness, so that a Saul becomes a Paul, a robber baron
becomes a people's king, and a financial adventurer becomes the
founder of a new economic order. And as yet the titanic forces of
world socialization, clashing in their conflicting currents, have only
begun their work."
The author uses the statistical method of the eugenists to show
that favorable social conditions produce successful men listed in
"Who's Who in America" and in "Who's Who in Science," as well
as heredity. He shows a direct correlation between the habitations
of noted men and the more densely populated centers of the United
States. He attempts to answer the criticisms of the eugenists that
the existence of noted men in the popular centers is due to the migra-
tion of strong men to places offering greater social opportunities.
The author points out that on the whole, if there is any migration,
the movement of noted men in contrast with the usual drift of popu-
lation is away from rather than toward the densely populated cen-
ters. His argument against the eugenists criticism seems to be un-
necessary, for if it is true that noted men are attracted to the densely
populated centers such a fact is in favor of the contention that a
certain density of population is important in developing strong men,
for altho the initial impulse to migrate to die densely populated cen-
ters may be due to superior heredity, it could also be argued that the
favorable interaction with society is necessary to develop the poten-
tially strong man into the actual. If, on the other hand, the poten-
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376 The Quarterly Journal
tially strong man migrates on the whole more awi^r from dian to
the densely populated centers, as the author suggests, it would seem
that the ^arsely settled portions of the country may not at least be
inimical to certain stages of the development of the strong man. But
die weakest part of the author's statistical argument consists in his
reliance upon ''Who's Who in America" as the basis of his study.
The author's own contention that the materialistic standards of the
time do not correspond to the true standards of idealism, would seem
to require that the successful man should be re-defined. If this were
done, ''Who's Who in America" would undoubtedly need much
revision.
Altho I cannot subscribe to the author's statistical argument,
I do find myself in complete agreement with his point of view and
with his general exposition of the problem. "Social Environment"
is a volume well worth the careful perusal of students of the social
sdences.
H. G. Lull
Department of Education,
Kansas State Normal Sdiool
A History of the Family as a Social and Educational Insti-
tution: WiLLisTiNB GooDSBLL. XIV+588 pp. The Mac-
millan Company, 191 5. Price, $2.00.
This is one of a series of volumes being published by the Mac-
Millans and edited by Paul Monroe under the title of "Text-Book
Series." The name of the series reveals their general purpose and
the object of this particular number. The study of the family has
become importilnt in universities and there has been no really com-
prehensive, yet somewhat brief text covering that institution in its
genetic and current problematical aspects. Consequently a volume
promising to embrace these features is highly welcome.
Dr. Goodsell's work treats the origin of the family quite brief-
ly, its forms among present primitive peoples, the Hebrew, Greek,
and Roman types of the patriarchal family, the influence of early
Christianity on marriage and family custom in the Roman Empire,
the family during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the 17th
and 1 8th century English family, that of the American colonies, the
Industrial Revolution and its effect on the family, the family during
the 19th century in England and America chiefly, the present situa-
tion, and current theories of reform. Twelve of the fourteen chap-
ters are devoted to the historical phases of die domestic institution,
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Book Reviews 377
altho the consideration of the influence of the Industrial Revolution
introduces the student to the rise of some of the current problems.
In the estimation of the reviewer, the volume would have been more
valuable as a text that is intended not only to bring the student
face to face with the interesting and grave situations now confront-
ing the modern marital institution but by means of a comprehensive
consideration of facts and principles points out the avenues to con-
structive reform, had it dispensed with some of the historic material,
notwithstanding its interesting presentation, in favor of a larger cur-
rent study.
Aside from this criticism of proportions, there is little that is
objectionable in the volume and much that is commendaUe. The
genetic and historical portions are well worked out and furnish an
excellent survey of the rise and development of die family. The
himdred pages devoted to current marital conditions and to their
improvement are well balanced studies. The author shows that he
is familiar with tendencies and theories. He is alert in discovering
real evils and constructive in pointing out their remedies. He dis-
cards the proposed cures of radical socialists and feminists, as well
as the traditional ones of dieological and bio-sodological conserva-
tive8> and espouses those of the progressive bio-sociological students.
Constructive reform can be successful ultimately only as it is based
on educative processes. Enlightened opinion in turn may success-
fully operate thru legal regulations. To reverse the order does not
bring a large mesure of relief and may result in positive injury.
In the hands of capable instructors who make extensive use of
current collateral reading, this text will do much toward making
young men and women intelligent about the home and its problems
and to promote a healthier social state.
John M. Gillbttb
Department of Sociology,
University of North Dakota
Ancient Times: A History of the Early World: James
Henry Breasted. XX+742 pp., 8 Colored Plates, 37 Maps.
Ginn & Co., Boston, 1916. Price, $1.60.
Ancient history has come to its own. The former discipline
that comprised the traditional epitome of Greece and Rome with a
smatter of Semitic and Egyptian peoples has been passed to the
Museum. In those palmy days the Philistines, inferring from
Gdiath ( !), were a heavy, brutal folk, the Hittites were a lost
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378 The Quarterly Journal
empire, the Nile-dweller was a stranger to humor, Crete was merely
a rock in the ocean, and over the heart of Asia rested the deathly
quiet of the ages.
Nous avons tout cela changes! Now we have Meyer, Myres,
Rogers, Sayce, Jastrow, Hogarth, Evans, Koldewey, Justi, Breasted,
Reisner, and time would fail to enumerate them all! Then there
are "Funds," Academies, and Gesellschafts galore. In his Men of
the Early Stone Age Osborne has blazed a trail from France to Java
and, standing on his shoulders, Grant has given us The Passing of
the Great Race. If the schoolmaster of the generation past were
to open the text of today, he would surely break his bread in humility.
Dynasties synchronize, kings drop a millenium in a day, and nations
long forgotten step out into the round. If one would escape ennui,
let such an one study Ancient history.
In his Ancient Times Breasted has summed up for class use the
progress of antiquity in the light of recent discoveries, the present
volume representing an enlargement of his work in Robinson's"Oii/-
lines of European History. The preface gives the reader his cue:
"The bulk of the space has been devoted to the life of man in all its
manifestations — society, industry, commerce, religion, art, literature.
These things are so presented as to make it clear how one age grows
out of another, and how each civilization profits by that which has
preceded it."
Egypt and the Orient receive their fair share of the discussion,
220 of a total of 715 pages. Himself a veteran explorer and de-
cipherer of inscriptions. Breasted has made full use of the marvelous
revelations of excavations and discoveries of the last twenty-five years.
There is a new spirit in our modern work, crude as it may be. Thus,
as it were to check up data, the thrifty Danes have taken pains to
verify the hewing out with stone implements of a log-house — "The
entire work of getting out the timber and building a house was done
by one mechanic with stone tools in eighty-one days." At Wangcn
the stumps of the piles whereon once rested a lake village have actu-
ally been counted and their number was 50,000. The earth has
been combed for the slightest evidence. Thus Dechelette (a sacri-
fice to the world war) has preserved a vertebra of a late stone age
man with a flint arrowhead sticking thru it. From Egypt have
come bronze or copper beads, so small as to render threading them
almost a microscopic process. From Babylonia we have bead-like
cylinders whose inscriptions call for microscopic reading. Marvelous
were their works! A tombstone from the late Stone Age, 65 feet
high and 300 tons in weight ; an obelisk from the time of Hatshepsu
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Book Reviews 379
of 1000 tons weight; stones averaging two and one-half tons quar-
ried, transported miles overland and down the Nile, then boosted
and piled 500 feet up in the air; temples whose precincts would
dwarf a cathedral and whose columns would carry a full company
of soldiers on their capitals. There are legal codes four thousand
years old, still stepping-stones in the history of law ; a sanitary code
that would bring our North Dakota towns to attention; arts the
like of which modern man has not dreamed.
But the book! Profusely illustrated, each cut and diagram is
accompanied with a description that makes die drawing an integral
part of the text. There are numerous plates made of the monu-
ments, that serve better than any odier method, to give a student a
correct impression of this class of sources. Elegant colored plates,
moreover, reveal the beauty of the art of Semite, Eg3rptian, and
Greek — sometimes well-nigh as incredible as the tints of a sunset.
A ccHnplete set of maps and sequence maps enable the student to
synchronize events and to trace political progress thruout its varied
changes. A multitude of photographs of objects of daily manufac-
ture further illiuninate die story, and a clear, forceful style points
the story and drives it home. It may be added that the text is so
paragraphed, the paragraphs and side-titles so niunbered, and the
subject-matter so thoroly indexed as to put the material at the hand
of teacher and student.
The book closes with the age of Constantine, a final chapter
bridging over into the next period — "The Triumph of the Barbar-
ians and the End of the Ancient World."
A better text for the class-room or the independent reader is
not in the market and the present text is worthy of a place iii every
library.
W. N. Stearns
Department of Religious Education,
Fargo G)llege
The Holy Scriptures According to the Masorbtic Text: A
New Translation — with the aid of previous versions.
The long expected Jewish translation of the Old Testament has
arrived. 1136 pages in large, clear type, with preface giving history
of the enterprise. The work set on foot in 1892 was continued
under the general direction of Doctor Marcus Jastrow until 1901.
In 1903 the book of Psalms was published. The death of Doctor
Jastrow was followed by the appointment of a new conmiittee under
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38o The Quarterly Journal
the chairmanship of Rabbi Schcchtcr. This committee of seven —
equally representative of the three great Jewish Seminaries of the
country, likewise of the Jewish Publication Society of America and
the Central G)nference.of American Rabbis — with Professor Mar-
golis as Editor-in-Chief and Secretary to carry the laboring oar —
brought their labors to a close in the final vote of the last meeting
of the Board, October-November, 19 15.
''The present translation is the first for which a group of men
representative of Jewish learning among English-speaking Jews
assume joint responsibility, all previous efforts in the English lan-
guage having been the work of individual translators. It has a char-
acter of its own. It aims to combine the spirit of Jewish tradition
with the results of biblical scholarship, ancient, medieval, and
modern. It gives to the Jewish world a trandation of the Scrip-
tures done by men imbued widi the Jewish consciousness, while the
non- Jewish world, it is hoped, will welcome a translation that pre-
sents many passages from the Jewish traditional point of view."
The English reader is reminded, as he opens the volume, of the
Jewish classification of the books — the correct one, by the way. Thus
the list of Prophets begins with Joshua and concludes with the
Twelve— the Minor Prophets. The terms ''Earlier" and "Later"
Prophets as well as "Major" and Minor" have been well-nigh for-
gotten by some of us. The "Writings" (Hagiographa) include the
balance of the books from Psalms to Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah.
Further, the version is superior to the English in the poetical
rendition of such books as Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Malachi, and the greater part of Isaiah. But
the field song in Genesis 8 :22 still appears in prose form.
Departures from familiar phraseology abound:
"He guideth me in straight paths for Hb name's sake."
For the Lord regardeth the way of the righteous;
But the way of the wicked shall perish."
"Happy is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of
the wicked,
"Nor stood in die way of sinners,
Nor sat in the seat of the scornful."
"Why are the nations in an uproar?
And why do the peoples mutter in vain?"
"But wild-cats shall lie there;
And their houses shall be full of ferrets."
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Book Reviews 381
Often the reader would expect a more radical departure, as in:
"For it is precept by precept, precept by precept.
Line by line, line by line ;"
''But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth."
Of ttimes improvement is apparent :
"My breath is abhorred of my wife,
And I am loathsome to the children of my tribe."
"That wherein he trusteth shall be plucked out of his tent f'
"ShaU mortal man be just before God?" (R. V. "Shall
mortal man be more just than God?")
"The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven men that give wise answer."
"A wise son maketh a glad father ;
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother."
"Thou turnest man to contrition;
And sayest: Return, ye children of men."
The work is based on the texts of Baer and Grinsburg.
Time and use must be allowed before the scholars can give us
the final word, but we can safely pronounce the present work as
worthy a place among the great English versions, the work of a
devoted scholarship in the interests of a race, a worthy successor,
let us hope, to the Septuagint.
W. N. Stbarns
Department of Religious Education,
Fargo College
Rest Days: A Study in Early Law and Morauty: Hutton
Webster. XIV+325 pp. The Macmillans, New York, 19 16.
Price, $3.00.
This erudite volume is the outcome of the expansion of a mono-
graph on the same subject which appeared in die University Studies
of the University of Nebraska in 191 1. The author tells us in the
preface that during the five years since then he has found no weighty
reasons for modifying the earlier results.
The underlying assumption of Rest Days is that "the great
institutions of modern civilization have their roots in the beliefs and
customs, and often in the superstitions, of savage and barbarian
sodety." (p. vii). It was the author's task to collect ethnological
data to establish diis proposition relative to a restricted sphere, name-
ly that of rest days. That he has done this thoroly and schcdarly.
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382 The Quarterly Journal
the exhaustive array of facts and the citation to a great array of
authorities evinces.
In the lastroducdon, nroiessor Webiter tf eats of the niiture of
tabus, their connection with abstinence and quiesence, and their origin
ammggt very primitive peoples. The tabu is the tap-root oi Sabba-
tarian regulations and such regulations, therefore, are the product of
superstition or fear of preternatural agencies, rather than of reason.
Tabus are communal and individual, the former being the outgrowth
or readaptation of the latter. Tabus calling for abstinence and rest
arises out of beliefs that persons and things are "considered danger-
ous, mysterious, abnormal, uncanny, awful, — ^because they are felt to
be potent for weal or woe in the life of man." Classifying pheno-
mena, die primitive mind arrives at the conception of pollution and
sanctity. G>rpses and murderers are unclean ; chiefs and kings, being
superior, are sacrosant or holy. Penalties for infringing tabu regu-
lations are rigidly enforced.
The idea of tabu enters into and is disciist in the course of the
succeeding chapters: — I, Tabued Azys at critical periods; II, Tabued
days after death and on related occasions; III, Holy days; IV, Mar-
ket days; V, Lunar superstitions, and festivals; VII, The Babylonian
"evil days" and the shabattum; VIII, the Hebrew salAath; IX, Un-
lucky days; Conclusion.
Especially interesting chapters are those dealing witth "lunar
superstitions and festivals," and "the Hebrew Sabbath," because the
explanation of their origin accounts for so many phenomena of our
Western civilization. The moon was probably the first celestial ob-
ject to attract marked attention and this notice was imiversal. It
was early believed to exercise a grave and magic influence on himian
afFairs, on vegetation and crops, and on terrestrial matters generally.
Conesquently ,observances and rest periods of various kinds grew up
in connection with its appearances, changes and phases. Also, its
phases came to be the mesurc of, first, the month — from full moon
to full moon — and, later, of the week and the year.
Dr. Webster rejects the various theories seeking to account for
the institution of the Hebrew sabbath by borrowing from Egypt or
Babylonia. Rather, the sabbath arose as a full moon observance,
the "festival of the new moon" of the Jews. Later, the term sab-
bath came to be applied to every sevendi day, a similar change being
noted among many other peoples. It is held that the Hebrews and
Babylonians derived their somewhat similar new-moon and full-moon
from a common Semitic antiquity.
Full bibliographical citations aj^ear in connection with the text
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Book Reviews 383
in the footnotes. A complete index makes the volume available as
a reference work. Dr. Webster apparently has proved his thesis,
and in doing so has demonstrated that, like other great social insd-
tudonSy rest dajrs were not created or given outric^t, but evolved
out of still more primitive institutions. In doing so he has put the
world of scholarship deeply in debt to him, not only for the thoroness
of execution but also for the purity and excellence of diction.
John M. Gillbttb
Department of Sodology,
University of North Dakota
An Introduction to Social Psychology: Charlbs A. Ell-
wooD, Professor of Sociology in the University of Missouri. D.
Appleton and G)mpany, New York, 19 17. XVI4-344 pages.
Price, $2.00 net.
In this very useful work Dr. EUwood has succeeded in organ-
izing into convenient form for class room use a wide range of data
bearing on social psychology. He recognizes society as humanity
viewed from the standpoint of its reciprocal relations. He does not,
however, limit his discussions, as some authors have done, to the
plane of mental interaction, but extends it to include a consideration
of the biological substratum of instincts, and the adjustments to the
physical environment. The work is thus in practical efiFect a sociol-
ogy, with the center of attention the mental interactions.
A part of the book worthy of special comment is the discussion
of the subject of social change. This subject is taken up under the
two headings of normal conditions and abnormal conditions. The
discussion of change under abnormal conditions is a lucid account
of the causes and typical course of social advance thru revolutionary
action. It is shown that the aristocracy, or administrative class, is
in a position to check the perpetual readjustment process in society
which is the necessary condition of progress. When an aristocracy is
especially obstructive the forces of progress will be likely to burst
out destructively and establish a new equilibrium. On the other
hand if the aristocracy yields, readjustment may be secured without
the waste and danger of civil war. Normal progress, therefore, in-
volves a continuous process of readjustment, in which the respon-
sibility rests mainly upon the administrative aristocracy.
It is doubtless unavoidable that in a more or less conventional
summary of a wide range of knowledge many profound problems
should be passed over lightly, or settled merely by phrases. An ex-
ample of this tendency appears in such statements as that certain
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aiSi The Qmarierlr i^umal
iQi^lMqjdv^. acti^iliesii eoierg^ becauMi of socvml valuc» m»i thai tb«
PMMOt iotelkctnal ca^acilQr o£ lOflfi eoM^gM a«t a result of ioi^csFOuy
steuggjo. Issue might be takea on the same groua<i» wkh the goat
QHMion of. social evolutioa. as. merdy developed aaimal afl0ociatieo>
the former growing ou^ oi the latter graduaUy without w^ osiyste-
mua leai>& What greater nys^ry could there be thm the aggear-
ance of self-consdouaoess. as the medium ia which the acfaieveiBeiUbB
of society are developed and transmitted ? Doubtless self-consdous-
ness grew out of the instinctive life, which hm its rationality also^
but the profound change thru which the pre-human became human
by the clarification of consciousness into the beginnings of intellect,
seems to deserve more elaboration than is given to it.
The book will undoubtedly find its way into many college
classes, and will be welcomed to a place beside Dr. Elwood's. other
excellent works.
G. R. Davibs
Department oi Sociology,
University of North Dakota
Tmb American Country Girl: Martha Footb Crow. VIt+
367 pp. Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York, 1915.
A book of this nature is difficult to review because it is not a
^tematically scientific treatise and because it possesses a certain in-
tangible worth that evades descriptive formulation. In sayitig this»
there is no desire to impeach the value of the work, for inched it
seems, to be a most instructive and wholesome volume. It contains
much useful information for the country girl and those interested
i& her, is permeated with good sense and advice, and is written ti» a
ffesb, charming style.
Altho the volume is not divided into parts formally^ the fij!st
portion is devoted to a portrayal of conditions under which rural
girls and young women Uve. The material for the diapters wfaicfa
dits. section includes was obtained by means of a questionnaire sent
to hxTDct girls all over the nation and by an extensive correqKMideace
with them. Excerpts, from letters detailing daily programs of their
work on the farm, their passtimes, recreation, social advantages and
disadvantages, and reflecting their opinions about their lot, constjtuto
the larger portion of the contents and gives riie reader a very vivid
aad r^distic impression*
The remaining twenty chapters concern themselves with various
phases and problems of country home-keeping, setting forth the ideab
and virtues which should obtain and giving nmdi pertinent, up-tor
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Book Reviews 385
date information about how to obtain nfcetsary |>en(mal and material
equipment. The authoress believes in the application of the efficienqr
S3rstem to the management of the household, to the treatment of foods
and to the care of health. She also belieres in the cultivation of the
cultural and recreational features of \xit. The development of
pageantry as a community resource is reconunended. She takes pains
Id show how all these objects may be realised in and connection with
die farm home.
Because of its concteteness, vividness, wholesomeness, and usual-
ly sound judgment. Miss Crow's work deserves a wide use by farm
girls and by tfieir parents. It would prove an exodlent guide to
and foundation for the year's work of a farm woman's study dub.
JOHll M. GlLLBTTB
Department of Sociology,
University of North Dakota
Thb Psychology of Citizenship: Arland D. Wbeks, Profes-
sor of Education in the North Dakota Agricultural College. A.
C. McQurg & Company, Chicago, 1917. 152 pp. Price, 50c
This book is one of the National Social Science Series, edited by
President Frank L. McVey, and is based upon a series of articles
by Professor Weeks in the American Journal of Soriolopy. It is an
excellent study in social psychology and will undoubtedly attract as
much attention as the articles from which it has grown. The at-
tractiveness of the text matter is owing to the fact that it is not
written from the usual academic angle. The tone of the bode re-
minds one of the expressive statement Professor Weeks made in one
of the articles referred to: "It was never easier for a simpleton to
live."
Specifically, Professor Weeks show that civil society makes lit^
tie demand upon intelligence as against the supreme dtnuuid it should
make. The definite aiuse is a round of forces consisting of a social
inertia that prompta a fitting type of social suggestion that in turn
accderates the aforesaid inertia that prompted it This dtde of
events tends to decerebrate die mass of cidzens. The writer offers
an excellent remedy: The entire publicity of dvic transactions, and
the more frequent submission of "issues" to the electorate instead of
"candidates." This would prompt greater conscious citizenship and
dvic intelligence.
JoMK W. Todd
Department of Paydiology,
University <A North Ddoom
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University Notes
The Unhrertity end Like other universities and colleges, the Uni-
•*■• ^^ vcrsity of North Dakota has been aflEeacd in
it swork, student body and faculty by the war situation. The call
for men to enlist in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and the
needs for increased labor on die farms of the state resulted in one-
third of the men of the student body withdrawing from the Uni-
versity. Four members of the faculty have entered the service of
the government in various edacities. Professor A. Hoyt Taylor of
the Physics department is now Superintendent of Radio Communi-
cation at the United States Naval Station at Great Lakes, Illinois.
Messrs. Stephenson, Park, and Shriver are with the Training Corps
at Fort Snelling and St. Louis. The Governor has appointed on
the State Council of Defense Dean E. J. Babcock and Professor
J. M. Gillette. Professor E. F. Chandler has been appointed Direc-
tor of Boys' Work in this state in so far as it is associated with the
State Council of Defense. The President of the University is a
member of the Advisory Commission on Education and Engineering
of the National Council for Defense.
The University has also established other relationships and is
rendering service in many directions thru its organization and the
members of its faculty.
In cooperation with the Intercollegiate Intelligence Bureau, the
University Bureau of Public Information has been working with the
Alumni and providing that Bureau with inforamtion regarding
alumni who would be available for service in the forces of the United
States There have been sent out from the President's office several
publications relating to the war, one in particular addrest to the
school superintendents of the state on some matters of special im-
portance to them at this particular time.
Among the women Red Cross work has been organized by
members of die local Red Cross Association in Grand Forks. This
work has been undertaken enthusiastically and promises good results
during the coming year.
The University has shown its loyalty to the government in the
subscriptions that have been made to the Liberty Loan. The amount
subscribed by members of the faculty reached the sum of $8400.
The management of the University Commons is endeavoring
to meet the advance in prices due to the war situation by planting
a considerable acreage to potatoes and vegetables for the supply for
the coming winter. The University has also offered the use of land
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University Notes 387
and prepared it for members of the faculty who care to put in gardens.
Late in Mardi the University called for volunteers for training
in military tactics and about 160 men answered the call. They were
placed under the direction of Professor F. L. Thompson of the de-
partment of Physical Education, who was assisted by a group of
students who had had experience in the National Guard and in
military schook. The squads progrest rapidly during the remainder
of the semester until the work was broken up by the withdrawal of
the men to the training camps.
While a good many of the student body have accepted service
in the armed force sof the United States, and will continue to do
so from time to time, the outlook for the coming year indicates that
the registration will not be much smaller than for the present year.
Probably the increase in student attendance which has taken place
each year will not be kept up, but under the circumstances this is
as would be expected. It is hoped that the University will be able
to maintain all its departments and its organization without deteriora-
tion. It is the view of the University that this should be done at
all costs, since the demand for men and women who are educated
and trained will be greater than ever, not only during the war,
but after.
The Students end The young men of the University in common
the War ^^j^ ^^g^ ^f other higher institutions of learn-
ing have felt the call of the Great War, and many of them have
left to engage in actual military service or to take up other tasks
made necessary by the unusual conditions. The University authori-
ties have tried to meet the situation in a really patriotic spirit.
While realizing that the calls from without were pressing and
worthy, they have still felt that in most case sthe best course for
yoimg collegians to adopt is to continue their regular work, thus
equipping themselves as thoroly as possible for the great tasks which
are certain to confront our country after the war is vore. Young
men have accordingly been urged to finish their year's program if
possible, and a great majority have done so. Regular university
work has therefore not been interrupted to anything like the extent
that it has been at some other institutions.
At the same time it has also been recognized that some of the
young men have special duties to their country which should be
heeded. The work of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps has
called particularly for young men with intellectual training and
power of leadership. To this call three of the younger members
of the faculty and many students have responded. Similar calls have
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388 Th0 Quartmtlf Journal
cpme from the nidio service, tbe tir lervict, and the Paymasten'
mi QuartcraiMers' d^^anaifats. Oth«r$ of our jrovng mco were
alrouly enrolled in the aiUitia or the wmtl rcaerve. Calb fron
these were, of course, peremptxMry.
Again, here ia North Ddcota, another duty Ivirdly less im-
perative than that of actual military service has been repeatedly
emphasiaed. This is the duty of increasiag die food supply. The
world is threatened with a famine. Even here in America the need
is evident. Many of our young men have therefore felt that it was
essential that they should get beck to the farm to increase die acreage
and thus to help in America's great tad: of feeding our allies. Tbe
University has recognized that this is indeed a truly patriotic work,
and accordingly the Administrative Committee^ to whom die matter
was entrusted, have excused something like one hundred young men
for this purpose. About fifty were excused for actual military ser-
vice. The details in regard to the granting of the excuses are thus
summed up by the Committee:
1. Students who have enrolled in actual military service have been
granted credit as follows:
(a) Each instructor has been asked to assign a mark for the
work done and to indicate the amount of work which can be
credited in hours.
(b) All students who receive a mark og 78% or above are
to be given a standing of 78% for the number of hours indicated.
(c) Students receiving less than 78% are to be given credit
only for the grade reported.
(d) In case a student is in good standing in all his subjects
the G>mmittee will assign a sufficient amount of "war credit"
at 78% (to count on free elective work) to bring up the total
credit earned to the total number of hours for which the stu-
dent is enrolled.
2. Each petitioner desiring to be excused to take up agricultural
work (with a few exceptions because of fecial circumstances)
has appeared in person before the Committee and stated his
plans and purposes.
3. Each petitioner has been required :
(a) To present a letter from his father or other responsible
person indicating that there is a real call for his services and
definite work for him to do.
(b) To send to the Registrar, on or before June 10^ an
affidavit containing a full statement of his activities to that date.
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Umveniif Notes 389
(c) To send to the Rej^istnu', between September 15 and
30, a second affidavit widi a statement of his actirities from
June 10 to date. (In the case of Seniors, however, this second
affidavit is not required.)
(d) To furnish die names of two responsible witnesses who
can, if necessary, testify as to the work done.
If all the above named conditions are satisfactorily complied
with, the Committee has agreed to give credits to all students
in accordance with the same plan at outlined above for those
engagbg in actual military service, but, except in the case of
Seniors, such credit is not definitely assigned until next October
and then only in case all die requirements named are fully met.
The athletic activities of the University of
North Dakota for the current season have been
necessarily somewhat restriaed due to die withdrawal of men for
war service. In baseball all games widi other institudons were ca&-
odled, and only the campus league gymcs were idayed, the winner
being the Sigma Chi teanx In track athletics a team was sent to
Northfield, Minnesota, where it oompetttd with teams from Carlton^
Soudi Dakota State, and St. Olaf Colleges. The meet was won by
Carlton CoUege, with North Dakota second. The Hi^ School
Conference track meet, held as usual at the University, was this year
particularly successful. Twenty-six schools competed, sending in all
one hundred and fifty contestants. First place was won by Pembina
High School, with Langdon a dose second ,and St. Thomas third.
As to the athletic program for next year, it has been decided to
carry out the football schedule and the other usual activities so far
as die circumstances of a decreased enrollment will permit.
Much of the attention ordinarily given to athletics was diis
year given to military training. A company of one hundred and
sixty men was organized for drill and work was regularly continued
until Registration Day, June 5. On this occasion the University
participated in a civic demonstration, the military training company,
accompanied by the student body and faculty, marching in the parade.
Tho the numbers had been considerably decreased at this time by
withdrawals for war service, about seven hundred members of the
University participated. One of the addresses of the day was de-
livered by President McVey. The total number of students who
have left on account of the war is one hundred and seventy-six,
uiduding twenty-four from the Model High School. Of this num^
ber fifty-two have entered the United States service, the larger num-
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390 The Quarterly Journal
bcr going to the officers' training camp at Fort Snelling, Minn., and
one hundred and twenty-four have left for work on the farms.
Gommenocmeiit As noted elsewhere, owing to general conditions,
the commencement exerdses were somewhat
shortened this year, Class Day, Alunmi Day, and the Qwnmence-
ment dinner being omitted. Notwithstanding the omissions, how-
ever, the commencement season was very successful and very in-
teresting.
The Baccalaureate Sermon was given by the Very Reverend
John P. Tyler, Bishop of North Dakota, on Sunday afternoon to a
large gathering. A good old-fashioned sermon, it was, given with
vigor and conviction. Commencement proper followed on Monday.
A much-needed and very-welcome shower prevented the usual parade,
but, aside from that, all went as usual. The Commencement Address
was given by Dr. Irving Fisher of Yale University who spoke most
earnestly from a great fund of information and out of most vitally
interesting experiences on "Public Health in War Times." A real
message it was and made a deep impression on the large audience.
After the address came the conferring of degrees, the making of
announcements, and the general partings of the year. As indicating
the continued growth of the University the numbers receiving de-
grees and certificates is suggestive:
Graduate Department
Master of Arts 8
Master of Science 3 11
College of Arts
Bachelor of Arts 66
Bachelor of Science 3 69
School of Education
Bachelor of Arts and Diploma in Teaching 37
Teacher's Certificate (two years of college work) -63 100
College of Engineering 7
College of Law 18
School of Medicine
Bachelor of Arts and Certificate in Medidne (two
years in Medidne) 13 218
The 800k And The year has been devoted entirely to the stag-
Batkin Sooiety j^g and acting by members of the Sock and
Buskin Sodety of a series of original one-act plays written in the
regular English courses offered by the University on The Technique
of the Drama. Of the twenty-eight pla5rs written, eleven have been
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University Notes 391
staged. Some of the titles will be suggestive of the native quality
of the materials. Back on the Old Farm is a play of North Dakota
farm life, portraying the futility of false education in the actual
problems of the country. Me and Bill, a play of the Sheep Coun-
try, centers in the tragic loneliness of the life of a sheep-herder of
the great plains. Wanted, a Farmer, a farce, was suggested by the
visit of an excursion party of North Dakota bachelor-farmers to the
Chicago Live Stock Show last winter. Lonely Hearts is an Easter
play of the prairie pioneers, and Sold is a tragedy of farm life based
on the author's observations of the bartering in marriage in a colony
of Russian-Germans in Morton County, North Dakota. These are
sufficient to suggest the originality of the work, and to indicate the
b^nnings of a vital drama coming out of our own land.
The Society has also established an effective laboratory for stage-
craft. An alcove of the attic of Woodworth Hall has been converted
into a workshop for making stage devices and for scene-painting —
the scenes, settings, costxmies, and make-up, all the work of student-
amateurs. An adjustable stage has been constructed in Woodworth
Auditorium, with a complete set of scenery and an adequate lighting
system. The tour of the state this year, by our University amateur
players with three original plajrs, served not only in giving the people
of the smaller towns wholesome dramatic performances but, more
than this, it has demonstrated to them that their own life is ade-
quate material for literature — that it can be effectively formed into
genuinely native drama. Mention should be made in this connec-
tion of the encouragement given to original dramatic composition
by the prizes offered this year for the first time, by Dr. J. G. Arne-
bcrg of Grand Forks, a former student of the University.
During this year the work of prominent alumni has extended
the ideals of the Society in communal work well beyond the borders
of the campus, the most unique contribution being that of Miss
Mattie Crabtree, who graduated from the University last year.
Under her inspiring leadership the Sock and Buskin Society plan of
co-operative authorship has been further developed in the historical
Pageant of Dickey County "written in collaboration by twenty mem-
bers of the community" and staged at Ellendale, June i, 1917, by
the people, representing all parts of the county.
Aoadomy of The 1917 meeting of the North Dakota Academy
Soienoo ^f Science was hdd at the University during tfie
first week of May. An unusually full and suggestive program had
been arranged and very interesting sessions were held. The pro-
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392 The Ouarigrif Journal
gram is here giivien at arraiifsd, in full, a» t5rpical of die
programs of the Academy:
President's Address . - A. Hoyt Taylor (University)
1. Population Condition in Small Towns of the United States
- - - - John M. Gillette (University)
2. A Statistical Study of the Errors in Amateur Photography
- E, B. Stephenson (University)
3. The Relation of Temperature to Com Production in
North Dakota . R. C Donc^e (Agri College)
4. The Effect of Maure Upon the Composition of Com
J. W. Inoe and R. F. Beard (Agrl College)
5. On die Relation of a Fungus to the Flowering Plant
Thismia - - Norma E. Pfeiffer (Univeraty)
6. Plant Associations of Owego and Shenford Townships,
Ransom County, North Dakota
- - - - Reynold Shunk (University)
7. Parasitic Anaphylaxis
L. Van Es and A. F. Schalk (Agrl College)
8. (a) Calculation of the Percentage of Intermediate Ions
and Other Constituents in Solutions of Higher Type
Salts, (b) The Relationshi pof Solubility Curves
of Higher Type Salts to Their Theoretical Limiting
Curves . - W. T. Pearce (Agr'l College)
9. Neutralization Curves of the Phosphoric Adds, determined
with the Hydrogen EHectrode G. A, Abbott (Univerrity)
10. The Production of Hydrochloric Add in the Stomach
H. E. French and H. Engh (University)
11. The Effect of Water on EKgestion in the Stomach
- « - - C. E. King (University)
12. The Staleness of Bread . W. L. Stockham (Agr'l College)
13. Informal Discussion. How may Sdentists of North
Dakota best contribute to the National Welfare in the
Present Emergency?
14. Observations on the Hibernation of the Ground Squirrel
(Citellus Tridecemlineatus) G. E. Johnson (University)
16. The Geological Map of North Dakota
A. G. Leonard, (University)
17. (a) Flood Control in the Red River Valley (b) The
Pierre Shale Escarpment Myth of the Coteaus
Herbert A. Hard (Agr'l College)
18. The Gasoline Situation . William J. Leenhouts (University)
19. The Characteristics of the Antler Tornado (Photographs
by W. H. Wegner) « Howard E. Simpson (University)
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Umversky Noiex 39(1
I iM^ The anaogjemeots for feUcMPshipft and schokx^
shipa. adopted some jmn agpi by the governiiig
body of difr Univeisity of North Dakota are still in operadoa. The
plan provides as follows: i. Three general fdlowships yieldtfig
$500.00 eadi and available ia aivje^ of the colleges of the Uoivcrstt]^
a^ One industrial feUowship in the School of Mincs^ yteldtng
$4OOJ0O, and 3. Three general scholarships yielding $150.00 each
and available in any of die colleges of the UntversiQE.
This year there were many ai^cants from graduates of our
own and other institutions. From the number the foQowing wece
recommended by the University G>uncil and appointed by the Board
of Regents:
Ludla Jemima Hall, B. A. (University of Nordt Dakota,
191 7) Fellow in History.
Beatrice Okon, B. A. (University of North Dakota, 1909)
Fellow in English.
Lloyd Bertram Tendick, B. A. (University of North. Dakota^
1917) Fellow in German*
H. Everett Bowden, B. S. Beloit College, 1917) Industrial
Fellow in the School of Mines.
Earl JL Hillboand, B. A. (Kansas Wesleyan University, 192 7)
Scholar ia Education.
Joy Ridgeway, R S. (Gcinndl College, 191 5 > Scholar in
Biology.
Alfred T. Torrison, R A. (University of North Dakota, 1917)
Scholar in History.
Thm Natioaal Qtr The University of North Dakota has recently
Bank PaUowAip received gratifying recognition, both in its work
and in the personnel of its student body, by the appointment of
Messrs. Ivor C. Musgjerd and Arthur F. Shaft, members of the
class of 1 91 7, to two of the business fellowships of the National
City Bank of New York, probably the most important financial
institution of the United States. The establishment of these forty
fellowships about a year ago was an important and most commend-
able step on the part of a great conunercial institution, putting it
in line with the far-reaching business diplomacy which England,
France, and Germany have so con^cuously displayed in recent
years. The National City Bank has opened brandi banks in several
cities of Latin America and also in Petrograd. In this expansion
it found itself confronted with the lack of men trained to deal with
the new responsibilities. These fellowships were established to meet
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394 The Quarterly Journal
this lack; it is a broadminded poliqr and the universities may well
respond to this added opportunity to contribute to national progress.
The plan of appointment and service is as follows: young
men who have completed at least the work of the sophomore year,
including certain recommended courses in the social sciences and
foreign languages, — German, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Rus-
sian are specified — ^and required courses in Bookkeeping and the
Elements of Accounting, receive ^pointments to put in three months
at the Bank during the summer between the sophomore and junior
years. While there they have an opportunity to familiarize them-
selves with some phases of banking, they attend regular courses of
lectures on commercial subjects, and continue their language training
thru native instructors and by association in boarding clubs with
young men who speak the particular language of the country to
which they may be sent. The same program prevails for the follow-
ing summer vacation, and during the senior year, or at its conclusion,
they spend a period of six months for which it is expected that the
universities will grant appropriate credit toward the badielor's degree.
In the case of graduates the work is consecutive. Appointees to
fellowships thus spend a total of one year at the Bank and are
rotated thru its various departments, receiving instruction in language
and in other special branches. On completing their course they may
receive permanent appointment in the bank or allied institutions in
such lines as they seem best fitted to follow, provided their record
merits sudi invitation. The fellowships carry a stipend of $6cx)
together with a maximum travelling allowance of $150.
The appointments are made on the basis of recommendation by
the cooperating tlniversity, coupled with a full statement of the
record of the applicant and appropriate letters of recommendation.
Due weight is given to previous actual business experience. No
appointment is made without a personal interview with a representa-
tive of the Bank, and personality has a large part to do with the
selection. The National City Bank merits great commendation for
its liberal and farsighted policy, and Messrs. Musgjerd and Shaft
deserve congratulations on the opportunity thus presented to diem.
Both are mature men of character and thoro training who have had
previous business experience. Both have made their way thru the
University largely by their own efforts and may therefore be expected
to make a creditable showing for themselves and the institutions
which they represent.
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(feoo.^^-)
The
Quarterly Journal
of the
University of North Dakota
JANUARY, 1917
Volume 7 Number 2
Entered as lecond-claas matter September 16, 1910, at the Post Office
at Univenity, North Dakou, under the Act of July 16, 1894
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The College of Law
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
OFFERS:
A Three- Year Course
leading to the degree of LL. B.
A Six- Year Academic and Law Course
leading to the degrees of A. B. and LL. B.
A Seven-Year Academic and Law Course
leading to the degrees of A. B. and J. D.
THE COLLEGE OF LAW is a member of the Association of
American Law Schools. It has a STRONG FACULTY and a
GOOD WORKING LIBRARY.
For further information, address
THE REGISTRAR,
University, N. D,
The School of Medicine
University of North Dakota
SCOPE: The University School of Medicine offers to young men and
young women the first two years of medical work.
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS: Two years of prescribed collegiate
work preceded by fifteen prescribed units of high school studies.
DEGREE AND CERTIFICATE: Upon the satisfactory completion of
these two years of medical work the University grants the degree
of Bachelor of Arts and the Medical Certificate which admit to the
third year of medical colleges of good standing.
ADVANTAGES: (t)— Thoroly equipped teachers of all the subjects
included in the combined curriculum; (2) — Splendid laboratory and
library facilities; (3)— Small classes, making it possible for the
instructor to give a large amount of personal attention to each
student; (4)— -Expenses reduced to the minimum; no tuition fee,
only the semester fee of $25; living expenses very low; much car
far saved.
For further information, address
THE REGISTRAR,
University, N. D
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Announcement
THE Quarterly Journal is a periodical main-
tained by the University of North Dakota.
Its primary function is to represent the varied
activities of the several colleges and departments of
the University, tho contributions from other sources
are iivtlcomed when they are the fruitage of scien-
tific research, literary Investigation, or other form
of constructive thought. G>rrespondence is solicited.
All communications should be addrest,
Thb Quarterly Journal^
University, North Dakota.
Editor's Bulletin Board
THE October number of the Quarterly Journal
will be one of the regular political and social
science issues. It will discuss, however, but one
great subject — ^the present World War — ^tho treat-
ing it from several points of view. While the
various sub-topics have not yet been definitely
arranged nor the writers secured, the following is
a tentative list:
1. Historical Background
2. Economic Phases
3. Canada's Part
4. Woman's Work
5. The Red Cross Movement
6. Contributions of the Universities
7. Public Health
8. Educational Problems
9. Applications of Science
10. After the Close
Each topic will be handled by one thoroly
conversant with it, andl discust from a strictly
impartial point of view. An exceedingly valuable
number is assured.
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The Quarterly Journal
PUBLISHED BY
The University of North Dakota
contents
I. ART IN LIFE
Arthur Alexander Stoughton 305
II. THE NATURE OF MORAL EDUCATION
John E. Winter 316
III. THE UNIVERSITY IN THE SERVICE OF
SOCIETY
John Morris Gillette 328
IV. EMERSON AS A SOCIAL PHILOSOPHER
George R. Davies 339
V. THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THE SCHOOLS
OF SOUTH AFRICA
C. E. Coles - 35^
VI. "FREE"
Vera A. Kelsey 366
VII. BOOK REVIEWS
1. Economics of Business: Frank L. McVey.
A. C. Hodge 373
2. Social Environment: George R. Davies.
H. G. Lull 374
3. A History of the Family. WiUistine Goodsell.
J. M. Gillette 376
4. Ancient Times: James Henry Breasted.
W. N. Steams 377
5. The Holy Scriptures A^ccording to the
Masoretic Text. W. N. Stearns 379
6. Rest Days: Hutton Webster.
J. M. Gillette 381
7. An Introduction to Social Psychology.
Charles A. EUwood. G. R. Davies 383
8. The American Country Girl: Martha Foote
Crow. J. M. GiUette 384
9. The Psychology of Citizenship: Arland D.
Weeks. J. W. Todd 385
VIIL UNIVERSITY NOTES 386
BDITOIUL COMITTBB
A. J. LADD, Gborob R. Davibs
Managing Eorrot Edward B. STEPHBHton
AMISTAim
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The School of Education
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
FUNCTION: The preparation of teachers and principals for secondary
schools, superintendents for city schools, and instructors for Normu
schools and coUeses.
SNTRANCB REQUIREMENTS; Two years of work In ths College of
Liberal Arts regularly required.
DEORKES AND DIPLOMA: The degree of Bachelor of Arts and the Bach-
elor's Diploma In Teacfaing (the professional instrument which Is ac-
credited as a First Grade Professional Certificate), on the completion
of the regular four-year course of study.
Graduate courses are offered leading to the degree of Master of Arts
SPEX^IAL CERTIFICATES: In Commercial work. Domestic Science, Draw-
ing, Manual Training, and Music, on the completion of two years of
prescribed work.
MODEL. HIGH SCHOOL.: The Model High School for observation and prac-
tise in all lines of high school work Is in full operation.
GOOD SENSE: If you aim to practise medicine attend the School of Medi-
cine: if you intend to practise law, attend the College of Law; if you
would be an engineer, attend one of the colleges of engineering; and
if yon are to teadi, earoU in THS 80X00& OF BSUOATXOM.
For information, address
THE REGISTRAR,
University, N. D.
The College of Liberal Arts
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
Twenty-four departments offering more than two hundred dif-
ferent courses of study.
Specially arranged curricula for those who intend to become
social workers or to engage in one of the various lines of business, such
as banking, journalism, etc
One year in the College of Law or two years in the School of
Medicine or any of the Engineering Colleges may be elected, thus en-
abling the student to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Arts and a
Law, Medical, or Engineering degree in six years.
Graduate courses leading to the degree of Master of Arts.
For further information, address
THE REGISTRAR,
Universi^, N. D.
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The University
of North Dakota
BtTABLlSMBD IN IIGHTBBN H U N D B B D AND BIGHTY THBBB
FRANK L. McVEY, Ph. P., LL. P., President
Grand Forks Bismarck Hebron
University Devik Lake Minot
Fargo
I. Thb College of Liberal Arts offers to men and women pro-
grams of study leading to the de^^ of Bachelor of Arts which
may be begun in September of February.
n. The Schocm. of Education prq>ares for the profcsnon of
teaching in secondary and higher schools. Its graduates re-
ceive t^ degree of Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor's Piploma
in Teaching. The Model High School is maintained by the
the School of Education as a place of observation and practise.
in. The College of Law offers a three-year course and grants the
degree of Bachelor of Laws.
IV. Courses of Study leading to degrees of Mining Engineer, Elec-
trical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, and Civil Engineer are
offered in the Sdiool of Mines and the College of Medianical
and Electrical Engineering.
V. The School of Medicine provides instruction of high order
for two years in medicine based upon two years of college work.
A certificate in medicine is granted widi die A B. degree.
VI. The Graduate Pepartment presents advanced courses of
study leading to the degrees of Master of Arts and Master of
Science.
vn. The Summer Session provides college and elementary courses
for students and teachers.
vm. Extension Lectures and Courses of Study are offered I^
the University for persons otherwise unable to receive academic
training.
IX. Laboratories and Stations are maintained at University,
Pevib Lake, Bismarck, Minot, Hebron, and Fargo, Nordi
Pakota.
Information regarding colleges and departments may be obtained by ad
dreuing the Registrar of the University, University, North Dakota.
7
M
-M
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
RBPBRBNCB DEPARTMENT
This book is under no oiroumstanoes to be
tflken from the Buildtni
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