progress. They meet in the kingdom of the mind—in the empire of imagination—as they discover that folk customs are similar in all nations. In the play festivals of Chicago sustained in the various small parks, the Italians, Poles, Lithuanians, and Norwegians meet each other with a dignity and freedom, with a sense of comradeship, which they are unable to command at any other time.

There is no doubt that the future patriotism of America must depend not so much upon conformity as upon respect for variety, and nowhere can this be inculcated as it can in the public recreation centers.

There are yet other arguments for recreation as a public function: I have lived for many years in Chicago in a ward which has been represented in the Common Council by an alderman who is considered notoriously corrupt. I have always been interested in his methods of procedure, and I was much startled some years ago, when Hull House was conducting a campaign against him, to be told by a wise man in the locality that such an alderman could never be defeated save by a candidate who had grown up in the ward and had a long experience in a gang. I have since learned to understand what he meant. The leader of a gang of boys gains his prestige largely through his power of obtaining favors for his followers. He discovers the alley in which they may play a game of craps undisturbed because the policeman is willing to pretend not to see them; he later finds the poolrooms in which minors may congregate undisturbed in defiance of the law, the saloons which easily and readily sell liquor to minors, or the gambling places which are protected by obscure yet powerful influences. It is but a step farther when he and his followers are voters, and he is running for office, to extend the same kind of protection to all of the men who are "faithful." They will have special privileges of all sorts given through his bounty, and he will be able to protect them from the operations of any law which may prove to be inconvenient to them. He merely continues on a larger scale the excellent training he had in the gang, and continues to utilize those old human motives-personal affection, desire for favors, fear of ridicule, and loyalty to comrades.

While the power of a politician of this type is being rapidly abridged by the establishment of civil service in cities as well as by the operations of the various efficiency bureaus, to my mind it is being broken into more rapidly from the other end, as it were, by the gradual abolition of this particular type of gang training through the establishment of public recreation centers. A group of boys will not continue to stand upon the street corners and to seek illicit pleasures in alleys and poolrooms when all the fascinating apparatus of a recreation field is at their disposal. When such a gang enters the recreation field, the leader finds that this special power of manipulation which he has developed is of no use there. The business of the superintendent of the recreation center is to see that each gang of boys is fairly treated, that the "liberty of each is limited by the like liberty of all"—to use an old Spencerian phrase. The boy who is admired is not he who can secure secret favors, but the one who can best meet those standards which boys maintain of running, climbing, turning, etc. They may seem like absurd standards to the adult, but they are at least universal standards, with the competition open to all and dependent upon personal prowess. The leader of the gang may or may not shine on the athletic field, and the boys who are there learn to resist exploitation; they come to despise and to bring opprobrium to bear upon any comrade who wishes to receive special favors either for himself or his fellows. A rude sort of justice prevails-very important, because boys who have no opportunity to put in practice such notions of justice as they have when they are boys, it is safe to predict, will not resent social injustice when they grow to be men. The opportunity which the athletic field provides for discussion of actual events and for comradeship founded upon the establishment of just relationships is the basis for a new citizenship and in the end will overthrow the corrupt politician. In fact, I see no other way of overthrowing him in a crowded city quarter where people's prejudices are easily played upon, except this openair, widespread opportunity for social intercourse when the boys are still young and full of initiative and enthusiasm. If girls were voting, I would of course say the same thing for them.

After all, a city is made up of an infinitely varying multitude,

working their way, through much pain and confusion, toward juster human relations, which are indeed the ideal political relations. These must be expressed first in social intercourse, and discussed with freedom and energy, if progress is to be made. The very size of the city sometimes intensifies this intercourse into a pathological condition, but nevertheless it is all the more necessary to put it under the direction of skilled instructors and to provide places where it may be carried on normally.

The fifteen Small Parks of Chicago, equipped with clubrooms, poolrooms, drawing-rooms, refectories, reading-rooms, gymnasiums swimming-pools, and much other social paraphernalia, are, we believe, centers in which a higher type of citizenship is being nursed. Certainly the number of arrests among juvenile delinquents falls off surprisingly in a neighborhood where such a park has been established-a negative measure, possibly, but one which cannot be disregarded. As the temple of the Greeks inspired the youth's patriotism, and as the city walls conserved but at the same time limited his imagination, so, we hope, these centers of public recreation, simply because they stand for high comradeship and intercourse, will inspire American youth to a sense of political obligation, while at the same time they teach him that the kingdom of the mind is without boundary and that he may find patriotic relationship with the youth of all nations.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF TEN

Appointed by the American Sociological Society to suggest subject-matter for a fundamental course in sociology.

To the Members of the American Sociological Society:

Your committee, appointed to ascertain what is now taught in beginning courses in sociology, and to suggest subject-matter for a fundamental course as a basis for advanced work and as a guide to teachers of sociology, beg leave to report as follows:

We believe that a general agreement upon the subject-matter of a fundamental course, and a comprehensive arrangement and unification of the material can be brought about most expeditiously and satisfactorily by a spontaneous assimilation of the best thought and experience, following discussion and the leadership of competent teachers and institutions of rank. We find ourselves in substantial agreement upon the scope of a fundamental course, but we have individual preferences in the co-ordination and unification of the material. Any detailed outline proposed by the committee would not represent the practice and convictions of all of the members, and such an outline, with the weight of our indorsement, would probably be less effective in promoting the object desired than a statement by the committee limited to giving the practice and views of individual teachers.

We therefore limit our report to presenting the fullest information obtainable on the subject in hand, believing that the dissemination of the information will lead spontaneously to whatever unity or general agreement may be desired.

We herewith present as suggestive material the views of individual members of the committee; and for additional information we refer to the digest made by Dr. F. Stuart Chapin and published in the American Journal of Sociology, XVI, No. 6, of the subject-matter of courses in sociology as reported to him

in response to a questionnaire prepared by the committee and sent to 396 institutions.

OUTLINE OF A FUNDAMENTAL COURSE IN SOCIOLOGY AS GIVEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Part I. The Socius

Heredity and environment-The hereditary factor in man and in the lower animals-Relation between society and the individual-Suggestion, including a study of unconscious control-The life of the mind is social-The life of society is mental-The social self-Hostility-Conformity, rivalry, heroworship, leadership-The social aspect of conscience-Degeneracy-Freedom. (About ten lectures.)

Part II. Social Organization

Primary groups and ideals-Growth of communication-Modern communication, its relation to democracy and to individuality-The public mind in primitive society-Modern democracy-The theory of public opinion-What the masses contribute-Democracy and distinction-Caste and open classes— The modern capitalist class-The ill-paid classes-Poverty-The nature of institutions-Formalism and disorganization-Examples of contemporary disorganization-The nature of public will-Contemporary development of public will. (About twenty lectures.)

Part III. Social Process

Social process in general-Relation to biological process-Personal competition and the theory of success-Degeneration-Group competition-The