Professor Peabody in the Forum.

While Professor Peabody has been in Dresden he has made a careful study of German Social Reform. When he leaves Dresden he will go to Munich and to Florence where he will meet Professor Thayer and visit Palestine with him during March, returning to England in the spring.

Professor Peabody has given considerable time to the study of social reform in Germany, and February's Forum contains a long and interesting article by him on that topic. The subject of the vagrant unemployed has been of great importance in Germany. In most towns there is an anti-beggar Society, the members of which pledge themselves to give nothing to beggars. Instead of alms the tramp finds work at a station at the entrance of each town, where by chopping wood he can obtain food and lodging. But as this only served for temporary relief, the "labor-colonies" were instituted, of which there are twenty-two in Germany. They are situated remote from the towns and hence are free from all temptations. No man is forced to enter one, but by so doing he can find work there and later a situation. General Booth advocates very much the same plan in his "Darkest England." By planting these colonies in dreary regions, the soil has been greatly improved by the ploughing of the tramps. The number of colonists received at the twenty-two colonies up to October, 1891, is about 45,000. For the first fortnight the colonist serves for his food and lodging, and for the second fortnight he is credited with eight cents a day and later with thirteen cents.

The moral influence of such institutions Professor Peabody considers to be very great. Many of the inhabitants are houseless beggars, drunkards, and discharged prison convicts, - though there are men of all classes to be found. Certainly there has been a great decrease of tramps in Germany since they were founded. There are various excellent characteristics to these institutions. In the the first place they are small, - Wilhelmsdorf, the largest, having room for but two hundred colonists. The system must be limited and personal to be effective. Then they are friendly and unofficial and endeavor to be domestic. Again, most of the tramps stay but a short time and leave for some fixed occupation, though sometimes they come back preferring to be taken care of than to help themselves. Lastly the system has been expanded in various directions to meet new needs. Special colonies must be founded, some to deal with the best cases and others with the worst and less controlable.