276 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
the "staggering blow which made ecclesiastical establishments impos- sible in America" seems to us greatly exaggerated. In smiting the Half-way Covenant and throwing the weight of his great influence against the evils it had wrought, Edwards unquestionably helped in bringing about the conditions which made the efforts of Backus and his associates in New England successful. But when the utmost has been said, the work of Edwards in establishing religious liberty was slight in comparison with that of Backus.
Aside from a few such defects as have been mentioned, Mr. Cobb's work is one of great merit, and it will receive grateful recognition as an exceedingly able and valuable history of the rise of religious liberty
in this country.
HENRY S. BURRAGE. PORTLAND, ME.
Crime in its Relations to Social Progress. By A. C. Hall. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1902. Pp. 427.
A RATHER startling thesis is announced : Society makes crime, and increase of crimes is an evidence of advancing civilization. But what the author actually seeks to prove in this very instructive and encour- aging exposition is the less sensational and more correct proposition : Society, with an advancing and more refined moral standard of con- duct, raises its demands on the individual, and brings a larger number of antisocial actions under the definitions and sanctions of penal law. Crime is properly defined (p. 10) as "any act or omission to act, pun- ished by society as a wrong against itself." When the author confuses the word " crime " with " definition " or " category" of crime, he con- fuses the issue. Thus (p. 6) : " the production of crime and criminals is one of the saving processes of nature;" and (p. 2): "the nation that persists in choosing its crimes wrongly is on the highroad to degenera- tion and decay;" and (p. 126): "Now we shall study the growth of crime and its usefulness in relation to social progress."
To the ordinary definition of crime already cited the author adds (p. 19) still another factor: "Unless it actually succeeds in punishing, often enough to make the average citizen believe offenders likely to be brought to justice, the act is not yet a crime." Selling liquor in Portland, Me., is not a crime.
The evidence on which the argument rests is historical, and the book is a very clear and strong survey of the efforts of society to attain clearer notions of the requirements of general welfare and to enforce obedience to the law of welfare.
