Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/221

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

MOOT POINTS IN SOCIOLOGY 2QJ

plumb line will bore an artesian well through our conventions and theories, and pierce to the core of things."

The program herewith outlined is broad, but it is not too broad. Some will complain of omissions, but certainly no one will here discover anything that ought not to be considered by a science of society. Recently social investigators have shown a slight tendency to narrowness. Each has been sure that the center of sociology lies just where his pick-ax turns up the richest ore. This is perhaps a good sign. It means that the promised land once surveyed afar from a mountain peak by Comte and Schaffie is now overrun with prospectors. It is well, how- ever, for each of us occasionally to climb out of his gulch, inspect the nuggets his brethren are finding, and from some commanding point realize how vast are the dimensions of this

new El Dorado.

EDWARD ALSWORTH Ross. THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA.