POLAR RESEARCH

very likely that Captain Scott will be able to settle this question on his present expedition. Captain R. Amundsen left Europe on the Fram in the summer, to round Cape Horn, go north to Bering Sea and enter the Arctic Ocean for his ice-drift of several years across the Polar area. It was announced, however, from Madeira, where he touched on his way south, that he had decided to take part in Antarctic exploration during the summer season in that region and, at the end of 1911, he would start north for San Francisco to carry out his Arctic plans. He did not state the nature of his plans for Antarctic work but as he has no dogs or other draft animals for land expeditions it is concluded that he probably intended to engage in marine explorations, perhaps in the waters adjoining West Antarctica which Dr. Charcot has been the last to visit.

The third British South Polar Expedition, under command of Capt. Robert F. Scott, sailed from Port Chalmers, New Zealand, on his vessel Terra Nova, on Nov. 29, 1910, for the Antarctic. He expected to establish winter quarters near his old station at the foot of Mt. Erebus and also at King Edward VII. Land, where he expects to land a small party. Before Capt. Scott left England an agreement was made between himself, Lieut. Wilhelm Filchner, in command of the second German South Polar Expedition, which is to start in the summer of 1911, and Dr. W. S. Bruce, who will head the second Scottish Expedition, to coöperate in their work and each to explore a certain territory. Scott will endeavor to penetrate from the Ross Sea to the South Pole and across the Antarctic land mass to Weddell Sea, while Filchner will advance in the opposite direction from Weddell Sea. If they meet, certain members of each party will join the other and they will then continue their explorations independently. It was agreed that the 20th meridian west of Greenwich shall be the boundary between the German and Scottish fields of work, the Germans working west, and the Scotch east of that line. Coats Land will be the land base of the Scottish Expedition, while the Germans will endeavor to find good camping ground a considerable distance to the west.

Sir Ernest Shackleton hopes to return to Antarctica in 1912, his plan being both to circumnavigate the land mass and also to penetrate it by one or more sledge expeditions. He plans to start from Cape Adare in South Victoria Land and go westward, aiming first to trace the coast that bears the name of Wilkes Land. It is highly desirable to complete the explorations that Wilkes began and the Antarctic offers no more important field for exploration.

From a study of all that is known of the distribution of atmospheric pressure over the Antarctic area, Prof. W. Meinardus has reached the tentative conclusions that the land area may have an extent of 8,680,000 square miles and that its mean height may be about 6500 feet. If these estimates are comparatively correct, Antarctica is one and a half times as large as Europe; and the mean height of Asia, the highest of the continent, is less than half that of Antarctica. Some scientific journals of Europe say that the values Dr. Meinardus gives for the size and the mean height of Antarctica may not be far from the truth.

ARCTIC. Captain Mikkelsen and a small

POLITICAL SCIENCE

party in 1909 left Copenhagen in their ship Alabama to search for the papers and journals of the ill-fated Mylius Erichsen and his two comrades who lost their lives after completing the survey and mapping of the northeast coast of Greenland in 1907. In the fall of 1909, Mikkelsen with two companions reached Lambert Land, where they found the body of Brönlund, one of Erichsen's companions. No traces could be found of the bodies of Erichsen and Hagen. Mikkelsen's party spent the winter of 1909-10 on the coast and on March 3, 1910, Mikkelsen and Iversen started north with fifteen dogs and provisions for 105 days to explore Denmark Fjord in the hope of finding the lost records. The explorer planned, if conditions were favorable after completing his search, to travel round the northern coast of Greenland to Cape York and return home by whaler. Ten days after he left the winter camp, the Alabama was sunk in the ice and the party there were taken home in July, by a sealing vessel. Nothing has been heard from Mikkelsen, but ample supplies have been left for him and his comrades in case they return by the east coast.

In his third Arctic voyage on the Belgica, the Duke of Orleans made many soundings in the Greenland Sea, between Greenland and Spitzbergen, which so far supplemented his work of 1905 that we now have a good idea of the depths over a large part of this ocean area.

Captain Bernier, the Canadian Polar navigator, resumed his really remarkable work in Canadian Arctic waters, sailing from Quebec on the S. S. Arctic, in June, 1910, for a two years' cruise. From Chateau Bay on the Labrador coast he sailed for the northern shore of Baffin Island. He planned further to proceed to Beechy Island at the west end of Lancaster Sound, calling next at Dealy Island in Melville Sound, and then steaming to Winter Harbor on Melville Island at the entrance to McClure Strait, where he expects to spend the winter of 1910-11. In the summer of 1911, he hopes to complete the Northwest Passage to Hershel Island and finally reach Victoria, B. C., through Bering Sea.

It has been supposed for many generations that the Arctic land of Novaya Zemlya consisted of two islands, but a Russian expedition which returned from Novaya Zemlya some months ago brought the surprising information that a waterway from Cross Bay extends clear across to the Kara Sea and they have therefore shown that Novaya Zemlya consists of three instead of two islands.

One of the most interesting results of the recent explorations in Spitzbergen by Captain Dunnar Isachsen's Expedition, which returned to Christiania in September, was the discovery of a not long extinct volcano and hot springs in Bock Bay, a branch of Wood Bay in the northwestern part of the main island. The cone about 1650 feet high consists partly of lapilli and is of Quaternary Age and later than the general glaciation of the region.

POLIOMYELITIS, ANTERIOR. See INFANTILE SPINAL PARALYSIS.

POLISH CANAL QUESTION. TRIA-HUNGARY, History.

See Aus

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF. A learned society founded in 1889 for the purpose of promoting political and social science in the broad sense of the term. The society has a membership of

66

5360, of whom about 300 are residents of foreign countries. The academy issues a bimonthly publication called The Annals, of which Professor Emory R. Johnson of the University of Pennsylvania is editor-in-chief. During 1910 numbers of The Annals were issued dealing with the following subjects: January, "The New South"; March, "Public Recreation Facilities"; July, "Administration of Justice in the United States"; September, "The Settlement of Labor Disputes"; November, Banking Problems." There were also issued two supplementary reports, one in September dealing with the work of the National Consumers' League, and the other in December, entitled "The Need for Currency Reform." The Academy holds annual meetings each year, while several monthly meetings are also held. The 14th annual meeting was held in Philadelphia April 8-10, 1910. The subject selected for discussion was "The Administration of Justice in the United States." The sessions were largely attended. At the first session on Friday afternoon, April 8, Hon. John P. Elkin, Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania made an address on "General Problems Connected with the Administration of Justice." The presiding officer of the session held on Friday afternoon was Hon. James B. Dill, Justice of the Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey. Subsequent sessions were presided over by Hon. Charles P. Neil, United States Commissioner of Labor; Hon. Edward S. Stuart, Governor of Pennsylvania; and Hon. James S. Sherman, Vice-President of the United States. Among the speakers at the meeting other than those mentioned were Arthur von Briesen, President of the Legal Aid Society, New York City, Señor Francisco Leon de la Barra, Mexican Ambassador to the United States; Professor George W. Kirchwey of Columbia University, and others. Important papers were read dealing with the following subjects: "Administration of Criminal Law, Third Degree System," by General Theodore A. Bingham, former Police Commissioner of New York City; Treatment of the Accused," by Major Richard Sylvester; "Treatment of the Offender," by Homer Folks, Secretary of the New York State Charities Aid Association and President of the New York State Probation Commission; "Probation Work for Women," by Maude E. Miner, Secretary of the New York Probation Association; "Reformation of Women," by Katherine Bement Davis, Superintendent of the New York Reformatory for Women; Fallacies in the Treatment of Offenders," by F. H. Nibecker; "The Juvenile Court, Its Legal Aspect," by Bernard Flexner of Louisville, Kentucky; "Distinctive Features of the Juvenile Court," by Hastings H. Hart, Director of the Department of Child Helping, Russell Sage Foundation, New York; "Functions of the Juvenile Court," by Hon. William H. DeLacy, Judge of the Juvenile Court of the District of Columbia; "Responsibility of Parenthood," by Hon. Robert J. Wilkin, Justice of the Children's Court, Brooklyn, N. Y.; "Juvenile Courts and Probation in Philadelphia," by Hon. William H. Staake, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia; "Private Hearings, Their Advantages and Disadvantages," by Hon. Harvey H. Baker, Justice of the Juvenile Court, Boston, Mass.: "Use and Abuse of Injunctions in Trade Disputes"; "Remedies for the Administration of Criminal Law," by Samuel Unter

66

meyer, Esq., of New York City; "To What Extent are Insane Persons Amenable to Criminal Law?" by John Brooks Leavitt, Esq., New York City; "The Administration of Criminal Law in the Inferior Courts," by Hon. Julius M. Mayer, Former Justice of the Court of Special Sessions, New York City; "The Jury System: Defects and Proposed Remedies," by Arthur C. Train, Esq., New York City; Reform in Criminal Procedure," by Hon. Everett P. Wheeler, New York City; "Respect for Law in the United States," by Hon. James S. Sherman, Vice-President of the United States, Hon. Frederick C. Stevens, Member of Congress from Minnesota, and Professor George W. Kirchwey, Dean of the School of Law, Columbia University. At the session of the Academy held on December 8, 1910, the need for currency reform was discussed. Addresses were made by Hon. Nelson W. Aldrich, United States Senator from Rhode Island, Hon. Theodore E. Burton, United States Senator from Ohio, Hon. Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and Hon. George E. Roberts, Director of the United States Mint. The officers of the Academy in 1910 were: President, L. S. Roe, Ph. D., University of Pennsylvania; and Secretary, Carl Kelsey, Ph. D., University of Pennsylvania.

POLITICAL ECONOMY. Besides the present article there are a considerable number giving an account of the economic progress of the year in different lines. Under the article LABOR will be found references to fourteen special articles on as many aspects of the labor movement and labor problems. Under FINANCIAL REVIEW will be found an account of the general economic and industrial conditions of the year; a statement of Failures; of Bank Clearings; of Buildings; of Stocks and Bonds, and other items. Special articles are devoted to PRICES; SHIPPING SUBSIDIES; TRUSTS; and the TARIFF. Besides a general article on BANKS AND BANKING, there are special articles on the different kinds of banking institutions. Under TAXATION will be found a discussion of the Federal Corporation Tax; the Income Tax Amendment; the Inheritance Tax; and the principal new laws of the year. Under INSURANCE is a treatment of Life, Fire, and Fraternal insurance. The class of subjects now frequently grouped under the term Social Economics will be found under their respective titles, such as POPULATION, CONGESTION OF; JUVENILE COURTS; PENOLOGY; PROSTITUTION, (which includes the White Slave Traffic); OLD AGE PENSIONS, etc.

ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION. The 26th annual meeting of the American Economic Association was held at St. Louis late in December. The total membership reported was 1700, an increase of more than 700 in two years. The programme of the session included an address by the President, Edmund J. James, on the "Economic Sig. nificance of a Comprehensive System of National Education." A special session was devoted to the problems of "Money and Prices," at which Professor Laughlin of the University of Chicago contended that the increase in the gold supply is a relatively unimportant factor in the rise of prices, while Professor Fisher of Yale contended that it is the principal factor. Both conclusions were based on elaborate statistical data. The centenary of David Ricardo was observed by a special session devoted to the discussion of his theories. Evidence of the growing interest of economists in the subject of "Business Ac

POLITICAL ECONOMY

66

counting" was shown in a special session on that subject. "Canals and Railways," Population and Immigration," "Industrial Accidents and Industrial Diseases," "Taxation," and "Socialism" were other topics of special attention. The discussion of immigration brought out clearly the fact that the bad distribution of wealth is due in large part to the unequal distribution of men in the different ranks of society; the unskilled group in America is made enormously large both by immigration and higher birth rate of the poorer classes. The relation of races on the Pacific coast was discussed from the sociological view-point, the solution resting primarily on the question whether two physically different races can peacefully occupy the same territory on a basis of equality. One of the papers on taxation favored a State income tax; and another developed the proposition that the proportion of unearned increment not only in land values but in many forms of wealth is much greater than commonly supposed. The following officers were chosen for 1911: President, Henry W. Farnam of Yale; vice-presidents, F. N. Judson of St. Louis, Joseph French Johnson of New York, and B. H. Meyer of Washington, D. C.; secretary-treasurer, T. N. Carver of Harvard.

DEATHS. The deaths of several economists of international repute occurred during the year. Sir Robert Giffen, the English statistician and economist, was born in 1837; served as an editor on the Economist; and spent his best years as a government statistician. Nicholas G. Pierson, the distinguished Dutch economist, born in 1839, was at different times professor in the University of Amsterdam, president of the Bank of Netherlands, Minister of Finance, and Prime Minister of Holland. M. Léon Walras, born in 1834, one of the independent discoverers of the marginal utility principle, was after 1870, professor of political economy in the University of Lausanne. William G. Sumner, born in 1840, was for 37 years a professor in political and social science at Yale University. He achieved fame as a teacher, an economist and a socioloogist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Following is a classified bibliography of some of the more important books of the year. For more extended lists see The Economic Bulletin, or The Annual Library Index.

GENERAL WORKS. Conrad, Elster, Lexis, and Loening, Handworterbuch der Staatswissen schaften, vols. 2, 3, and 4 (3d ed. completely rev'd); further volumes of the Documentary History of American Industrial Society in ten volumes, edited by John R. Commons and others; Bibliography of Social Science. The Monthly Journal of the International Institute of Social Bibliography-being a complete international bibliography of books, periodical literature, government reports and public documents in every field of social science: Böhm-Bawerk (E. v.), Kapital und Kapitalzins. P. iii, Positive Theorie des Kapitales (3d ed., containing a revision of the first two books of the positive theory of capital, 1909); Grunzel (G.), Grundriss der Wirtschafts-politik (in 5 vols.), vol. iii: Industriepolitik; Philippovitch (E. v.) Die Entwick lung der wirtschaftpolitischen Ideen im 19. Jahrhundert; Smith (Adam), The Wealth of Nations, with introduction by Prof. E. R. A. Seligman (in 2 vols. of Everyman's Library); Leroy-Beaulieu (P.), Traité théoretique et pratique d'économie politique (5th ed.-4 vols).

POLITICAL ECONOMY

LABOR. Abbot, Women in Industry: a study in American economic history; Andrews (I. R.), Review of Labor Legislation, 1910, one of a number of important publications of the American Association for Labor Legislation; McClean (A. M.), Wage-earning women; National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education has issued a number of reports and studies bearing on the general subject of vocational training and on the education of workers in special trades; Rountree (B. S.), Land and labor: lessons from Belgium; Social condition of labor in Germany, being a report of a tour by British workmen published by The Tariff Reform League; Wood (G. H.), The history of wages in the cotton trade during the past one hundred years; Reports of the National Immigration Commission, have a great deal of matter bearing on labor conditions in the United States; Crosby (O. T.), Strikes—when to strike, how to strike. A books of suggestions for buyers and sellers of labor; Dawson (W. H.), The German workman; a study in national efficiency; Eliot (C. W.), The future of trades-unionism and capitalism in a democracy; Gompers (S.), Labor in Europe and America.

MONEY AND BANKING. Here should be mentioned the entire list of Publications of the National Monetary Commission, enumerated under the article on the Commission and constituting a rather complete library on these subjects; Guarantee of Deposits, being a report of the Wisconsin legislative committee on additional security for depositors in State banks; Disbrow (C. W.), An analysis of the banking and currency system of the United States, indicating the cause of periodic panics and suggesting a remedy; Ireton (R. Ē.), A central bank; Crane (W. H.), A scientific currency; Raffard (J. C.), Le mouvement de concentration dans les banques de depôt en Angleterre; Ranking (D. F.), Bills of exchange (4th ed., rev. and enl.); Wolff (W. W.), People's banks; A record of social and economic success; Brace (H. H.), Gold production and future prices; Davis (J. F.), Bank organization, management and accounts.

TAXATION AND PUBLIC FINANCE. Dawson (W. H.), The unearned increment (3d ed.) ; Good (T.), The real case for tariff reform. With facts for workmen by a workman; Ashley (W. J.), The tariff problem; Jackson (C.), Fiscal fallacies; a comparison (of Great Britain) with Germany; Wateson (J. R.), The case for tariff reform-this and the preceding three are four of many books relating to the British fiscal problem; International Tax Association, State and local taxation, a report of the 3d international conference, Louisville, September, 1909; Howe (F. C.), Privilege and Democracy in America, a study of the single tax as a remedy for monopoly and exploitation; Seligman (E. R. A.), The shifting and incidence of taxation (3d ed., rev. and enl.); Taussig (F. W.), The tariff history of the United States (5th ed., including a study of the Payne-Aldrich Act of 1909); Wright (C. W.), Wool-growing and the tariff. A study in the economic history of the United States; Chomley (C. H.), Protection in Canada and Australia; United States Commissioner of Corporations, Taxation of corporations, parts I and II covering the New England and Middle Atlantic States; Meredith (H. O.), Protection in Germany: a history of German fiscal policy during the 19th Century. This list is by no means inclusive.