Public Intelligence. by Seba EldridgeReview by: George A. LundbergJournal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 31, No. 194 (Jun., 1936), pp. 423-424Published by: American Statistical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2278581 .

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* REVIEWS 423

Observations." The somewhat heterogeneous contents of these chapters include the discussion of such subjects as index numbers, mortality tables, time series analysis, correlation, and, finally, three short but very sug- gestive studies in economic dynamics.

Built on rather conservative, one might say classical, lines, the work does not contain any reference to the recent developments in the theory of sampling.

Professor Vinci carefully avoids the use of infinitesimal calculus. Thus the majority of his mathematical proofs is given in a somewhat lengthy form of algebraic developments. In a few instances, where this method ceases to be useful, the argument is interrupted and final formulae are pre- sented without formal proof but with appropriate interpretations.

Although every opportunity is used by the author to derive the empirical examples from the realm of economic phenomena, a very large part of his factual material is still drawn from the traditional fields of biometrics and demography. Numerous bibliographical notes and an extensive index make of Felice Vinci's Manuale a valuable reference book.

Filippo Virgilii's Statistica is a very elementary introduction expressively written along the lines of the "official program" for use in technical schools. A large part of this diminutive volume is given to a discussion of the nature of statistical science and of the general principles of induction. In the follow- ing methodological chapters the space is equally divided between an ex- position of elementary principles of tabulation and classification of primary data and explanation of fundamental properties of the main statistical constants. The rest of the book is devoted to what might be called an abbreviated statistical abstract, a quantitative description of the economic, social, and cultural life of Italy.

WASSILY LEONTIEF Harvard University

Public Intelligence, A Study of the Attitudes and Opinions of Voters, by Seba Eldridge, Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas. Humanistic Studies. Vol. V, No. 1. 1935. 101 pp. $1.00. Twelve hundred fifty questionnaries on the League of Nations, the tariff,

and compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes were circulated, chiefly in Kansas, during the years 1924-1927. The questionnaire was in the form of a true-false test, and scores of political intelligence were assigned on the basis of the agreement of the voters with the consensus of informed opinion on the issues covered. The data were subjected to detailed and competent statistical analysis, the nature of which will be apparent from a brief sum- mary of some of the principal results.

"On a true-false test assumed to represent a fair measure of political in- telligence, a mean score of 21.4 (on the basis of 100 as perfect) was obtained by the group of 1250 considered as a whole; 24.4 per cent of this group had scores of 50 or above (the assumed index of civic competency); while 20.4

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424 AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION*

per cent received negative scores, indicating that voters had to this extent been conditioned to a larger number of erroneous than of valid opinions on public questions" (p. 88). Although there is no pretense that the sample is either adequate or representative for the country as a whole, there is con- siderable probability of its representativeness for each of the occupational groups included. The fact that professional workers are greatly over-repre- sented, whereas farmers and housewives are under-represented, suggests, however, that a representative sample would show very much worse results than those indicated above. Professional people averaged highest; farmers, non-manual workers, and business proprietors lowest. Housewives and manual workers occupied an intermediate position. No important differ- ences on the basis of sex were observed. Schooling above high school is positively correlated with political intelligence. Reading of daily papers is of doubtful significance, but political intelligence is directly and signifi- cantly associated with the number of magazines read regularly, especially when the magazines are the better liberal journals. Multiple and partial correlations show magazine reading to be second in significance only to college education among the measurable factors. Age is found to be of no significance when other factors are held constant. Spatial, occupational, and partisan mobility are found to be positively associated with political in- telligence.

The general significance of this excellent monograph lies perhaps chiefly in the methodological transition which it represents and which has been carried still further in the recent work of Thurstone and Gosnell. These hundred pages are of more scientific relevance and value than the last dozen volumes I have seen on the same subject by conventional political scientists. Especially praiseworthy is the author's detailed account of his methods and his recognition of the limitations of his study.

GEORGE A. LUNDBERG Columbia University

Analisi di Statistica Economica, by Libero Lenti. Milan: Casa Editrice Aracne. 1934. 166 pp. Lire 15.

As the author points out in the preface, the volume under review is pri- marily descriptive in character. Its main purpose is to present a discussion of some of the significant statistical sources, materials, and techniques which may be used to advantage in a study of Italy's economic life during the post- War period. The materials contained in his book, Dr. Lenti suggests, will probably be used by him at some later date as a basis for a more comprehen- sive and detailed investigation in this field.

The volume begins with a brief introductory discussion of the techniques evolved for the description and measurement of economic phenomena and with a short critical analysis of some of the better known methods of eco- nomic diagnosis and of economic forecasting. This analysis is followed by

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