Gives the text of the resolutions adopted by the International Congress of Public and Private Charity, held in Copenhagen in August, 1910, concerning international agreements for the adequate charitable relief of needy persons of foreign nationality; history of this question at the earlier conferences of Geneva, Paris, and Milan; special attitude of the French delegation towards the project; and discussion of certain phases of the subject.

Statistics

(Abstracts by A. A. Young)

BENINI, R. Ancora sul coefficiente per calcolo della ricchezza privata. Giorn. d. Econ., Dec., 1910.

Controversial, dealing with the methods of estimating the average value of individual holdings of landed property in Italy.

CARONCINI, A. La statistica della disoccupazione nei censimenti. Giorn. d. Econ., Dec., 1910.

Deals with the possibilities of getting information about unemployment through industrial and population censuses rather than with achieved results.

CHADDOCK, R. E. Sources of information upon the public health movement. Ann. Amer. Acad., Mar., 1911.

A useful summary account of the present status of vital statistics in the United States, with suggestions for improvements.

INSOLERA, E. Sulle curve di frequenza. Giorn. d. Econ., Jan., 1911.

Discusses Elderton's Frequency Curves and Correlation with special reference to the legitimacy of the assumption that extreme variations do not occur.

KEYNES, J. M. The principal averages and the laws of error which lead to them. Journ. Royal Statist. Soc., Feb., 1911.

An important investigation in which a general form of the law of error is developed, together with special forms leading to the arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means and to the median.

LIECHTI, G. Beiträge zur Theorie der Intensitätsfunktionen. Zeitschr. schweizerische Statistik, No. 5, 1910.

PARMELEE, J. H. The statistical work of the federal government. II. Yale Rev., Feb., 1911.

Discusses the statistical activities of the Department of Agriculture and of the Interstate Commerce Commission; outlines the changes in the grouping of government bureaus in connection with the organization of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and considers the posibilities of coördination and other improvements in the statistical work of the various departments.

PERSONS, W. M. The correlation of economic statistics. Quart. Publics. Amer. Stat. Assoc., Dec., 1910.

A useful resumé (mathematical) of work in this field, together with some new applications.

SMITH, R. H. Distribution of income in Great Britain and incidence of income tax. Quart. Journ. Econ., Feb., 1911.

A "law of income distribution" is deduced by means of mathematical interpolation from Mr. W. H. Mallock's recent estimates. The possibility of raising a determinate amount of revenue by means of smoothly graduated progressive rates of taxation is illustrated. WILBUR, C. L. The census and the public health movement. Ann. Amer. Acad., Mar., 1911.

An interesting authoritative account of the efforts of the Bureau of the Census to extend and improve the registration of births and deaths and of the difficulties encountered.

WILLOUGHBY, W. F. Scope and methods of presentation of the results of the thirteenth census of population. Quart. Pub. Amer. Stat. Assoc., Dec., 1910.

The most important innovation consists in bringing together all the information given for a particular county.

YOUNG, A. A. The census age question. Quart. Pub. Amer. Stat. Assoc., Dec., 1910.

Maintains that asking the date of birth insures more accurate age statistics than can be obtained by merely asking the age at last birthday.

YOUNG, A. A. Mr. Mallock as statistician and British income statistics. Quart. Journ. Econ., Feb., 1911.

The conclusions and methods of Mallock's The Nation as a Business Firm are compared with those of various estimates submitted in 1906 to the parliamentary committee on the income tax.

NOTES

THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION. An explanation of the change in type on the cover page of the current issue is due the readers of the REVIEW. The general title of the publications of the Association is "Bulletin of the American Economic Association," and the "Bulletin” will carry a serial number. The "Bulletin" includes the AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, which appears four times a year, the Papers read at the annual meeting, and the Handbook. As the "Bulletin" is the inclusive title of all the publications, it must, in accordance with postal regulations, appear in a type appropriate to such preeminence.

The following table shows the distribution of the membership of the American Economic Association on April 20, 1911:

In addition to the above membership there are 195 subscribers,

making a total of 2012. Between February 1 and April 20, 372 new members joined the Association, giving a total of 376 additions since the annual meeting.

It is hoped that members will carefully study the foregoing table and assist the secretary in securing members in those sections where the Association is not as yet well represented.

The executive committee of the American Economic Association has selected Washington as the place of the next annual meeting, to be held December 27-30. The Hotel Raleigh will be the headquarters of the Association.

The International Congress of Hygiene and Demography has been invited by the Congress of the United States to hold its Fifteenth Session in this country and will convene at Washington under the honorary presidency of President Taft September 23, 1912. Previous sessions have been held at Geneva, the Hague, Vienna, London, Budapest, Madrid, Paris, Brussels and Berlin. More than a score of foreign countries have already accepted the invitation of the United States to be represented at the Congress. The Congress will be divided into nine sections, among which are to be noted the sections on Industrial and Occupational Hygiene, Hygiene of Traffic and Transportation, and Demography. In connection with the Congress there will be an exhibition of state, municipal and volunteer work in public health and vital statistics. This exhibition will be under the charge of Dr. J. W. Schereschewsky of the United States Public Health Service. The general arrangements for the Congress are being made under the auspices of the Department of State. Dr. John S. Fulton, SecretaryGeneral, will be glad to furnish fuller information. The executive office at present is in the Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. The right to attend the sessions of the Congress and to receive a set of its publications may be obtained by qualified and interested persons on the payment of five dollars.

Hon. W. Pember Reeves has been appointed chairman of the section, Economic Science and Statistics of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which meets at Portsmouth, August 30.

The United States Government designated five delegates to attend the annual General Assembly of the International Institute of Agriculture which was held at Rome beginning May 14. The delegates were: David J. Foster, House of Representatives; Charles F. Scott; Edgar R. Champlin; Victor H. Olmsted, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Agriculture; and E. Dana Durand, Director of the Census. This Institute is established by treaty of approximately forty-five countries. Important questions concerning changes in the method of preparing monthly international crop reports, which were already begun in 1910, were discussed; also propositions concerning the future establishment of monthly reports regarding exports, imports, and consumption of agricultural products.

At the third annual meeting of the North Dakota Tax Association

held at Bismarck, N. D. during the last week of January, 1911, President Frank L. McVey and Dr. James E. Boyle, of the University of North Dakota, read papers. The latter was elected president of the Association. Although the Association is but young, it has succeeded in securing the creation of a "permanent non-partisan Tax Commission" for the State of North Dakota. Owing, however, to lack of state funds, the act does not take effect until July 1, 1912.

In connection with the annual meeting of the Michigan Academy of Science, the Section of Economics held three sessions, on March 31 and April 1, 1911. The following papers were presented: "The Theory of the General Property Tax in Michigan," by Professor Wilbur O. Hedrick, of the Michigan Agricultural College; "The Significance of Wages in the Present Labor Problem," by Professor Edward M. Arnos, of Olivet College; "Scientific Management," by Professor Edward D. Jones, of the University of Michigan; "Is the Prevailing Teaching of the Law of Diminishing Returns Justified?" by Professor Herbert A. Miller, of Olivet College; and "Recent Developments in Railway Regulation," by Professor Henry C. Adams, of the University of Michigan. Professor Smalley of the University of Michigan, was reëlected vice-president of the academy in charge of the Section of Economics.

The Thirty-Eighth Conference of Charities and Corrections will meet in Boston June 7. Especially to be noted are the meetings of the session devoted to "Standards of Living and Labor." A report from the Committee on Minimum Wage Boards will be presented, with addresses by Louis D. Brandeis on "Standards of Provision for Old Age," and by Paul U. Kellogg on "Occupational Standards."

The Fifth International Conference on State and Local Taxation under the auspices of the International Tax Association will be held at Richmond, Virginia, September 5-8, 1911. One of the important subjects to be discussed is railroad taxation. There will also be presented the reports of committees appointed at the last conference on various subjects, as, Taxation of Financial Institutions, Taxation of Manufacturing Corporations, and Substitutes for the Personal Property Tax. While the voting power at these conferences is restricted to the delegates appointed by the governors of states and the presidents of universities, all persons interested in taxation are cordially invited to attend the sessions, and are welcome to take part in the discussions. The Association will be glad, also, to receive suggestions as to speakers and subjects for discussion. Information in regard to the conference and programs when issued, will be sent on application to the corresponding secretary, A. C. Pleydell, 29 Broadway, New York.

The Tuck School of Dartmouth College announces a Conference on Scientific Management, to be held at Hanover October 12-14, 1911. Addresses will be delivered by Messrs. Frederick W. Taylor, Henry L. Gantt, Harrington Emerson, Frederick A. Cleveland, and others. There will be round table conferences on scientific management in several different branches of business.