868 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
group-relationship not admitted by Gumplowicz. Facts do not sustain his theory. To be enemies races or peoples need not be strangers to each other or heterogeneous ; the bitterest enmity often exists between the groups most closely related, because they compete on the same ground and for the same things. The ethnic names quoted by Gumplowicz do not indicate different races, but simply location. In Italy the Latins, Sabines, Volscians, etc., he calls heterogeneous, but anthropological analysis shows them to be of one stock. Again, when two ethnic stocks come together they may fuse without struggle. I am a polygenist, but my polygenism is founded on such facts and laws as serve to classify in zoology. I cannot yet tell the number of human species, nor clearly their characteristics. I have tried to establish two species, the Eurafrican and Eurasian. The first extends from the center of Africa to the extreme south of Europe ; the second occupies the mguntains of central Asia and a great part of Europe, partly pure and partly mixed with the first. Study and observation along the Mediterranean show that, contrary to Gumplowicz, from one race have come very different varieties, and that groups closely akin have fallen upon one another fiercely for the dominion of the great sea. Later changes, such as those after the fall of the Roman empire and those today in Europe, are not to be regarded as struggles of races as commonly interpreted. It can be shown that France is an amalgamation of as many elements as the Austrian empire, with this important difference that there has been in France a fusion of languages as well. The sociologist must study anthro- pological data without preconceived theories, if he is to know the origin of social laws. G. SERGI, " I dati antropologici in sociologia," Rivista Italiana di Sociologia, January, 1898.
Political and Municipal Legislation in 1897. In the suffrage, legislative steps towards the adoption of an educational qualification were taken in 1897 in Del- aware, North Dakota, and Connecticut. A constitutional amendment making voting compulsory !has been submitted to the people by the legislature of North Dakota. Woman suffrage failed in Nevada ; it will soon be voted upon by the people in Oregon and South Dakota. New laws, or amendments to former laws, intended to improve the party primaries, were made in California, Wisconsin, Delaware, and Missouri. The tendency in recent years of modifying the Australian ballot system, so as to be able more easily to vote the "party" ticket, has been continued in 1897 by the acts of New Hampshire, Nevada, and Wyoming. Party lines are also strengthened by the law passed last yeai in five states forbidding a candidate's name appearing upon more than one ticket. Corrupt-practices acts were passed by Wisconsin, Missouri, and Nebraska. All of these include provisions forbidding contributions by corporations to political parties. Indiana now gives the right to any political party of " polling " before elections, i. e., demanding of citizens their electoral qualifications. A thorough- going constitutional amendment, providing for the popular initiative and referendum, has been submitted to popular vote in North Dakota. Nebraska has passed a law making this principle in local matters ; and something of the same thing has been passed in California and Minnesota. The civil-service merit principle has been attacked the past year by the " practical " politicians with especial violence. It was defeated by popular vote in Maryland. Governor Black weakened the law in New York. The legislative session in California it is proposed to divide in two sessions with an interval between. No new bill can be proposed in the second without consent of a three-fourths vote. Much legislation has taken place concerning the granting of municipal franchises, particularly tending to safeguard the granting and to prevent long grants. Pennsylvania placed a tax upon the employment of alien labor. Indi- ana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Michigan, Tennessee, and North Dakota made advances in the checking of contracting convict labor ; many states took steps in the line of the principle of parole, and indefinite sentences. Arkansas arranged for a state railroad, the state not to be financially responsible, but supported by local contributions. New, or enlarged, inheritance-tax laws were passed by Montana, Connecticut, and Pennsyl- vania. Rather radical income-tax systems were adopted by both North Carolina and South Carolina. E. D. DURAND, Annals of the American Academy for Political and Social Sciences, March, 1898.
