This booklet discusses what 1,038 U.S. cities are doing for the health of school children. The first part discusses medical inspection, including the history of medical inspection, administration, and kinds of medical inspection. The second part covers hygiene of the school room, including outdoor recesses, individual drinking cups and sanitary fountains, modern methods of dusting and sweeping, and instruction in alcohol, tobacco, tuberculosis, and first aid.

This booklet presents the report of the Committee on Lock-ups, Municipal and County Jails, of the American Prison Association on United States prisoners boarded out by the federal government. It discusses the origins of the boarding-out system, congressional action, three U.S. penitentiaries, federal reformatories, U.S. prisoners boarded out, the difficulties of reforming the county jail system, jail from the prisoner’s point of view, and suggestions for grand jury surveys of conditions under which federal prisoners are kept in county jails.

HASTINGS L. HART was the chairman of the committee of the American Prison Association and consultant in delinquency and penology at the Russell Sage Foundation.  

This booklet presents evidence indicating that social work salaries are too low for the development of social work as a profession. It includes diagrams presenting results of a study conducted by the Russell Sage Foundation that aimed to trace the course of salaries in social work over the period of rising prices and wages during and just after World War I and through the subsequent period until 1926.

RALPH G. HURLIN was director of the Department of Statistics of the Russell Sage Foundation.

This article from The North American Review, though not published by the Russell Sage Foundation, was written by RSF’s founder, Margaret Olivia Sage, and thus may be of interest to scholars. The author argues that privileged women have a duty to help others and that recent changes in women’s education have expanded their minds, thus allowing them to make greater contributions to society.

MARGARET OLIVIA SAGE founded the Russell Sage Foundation in 1907.

This booklet presents the result of a study of play for children in institutions presented in a series of five conferences at the invitation of the State Board of Charities of New York. It discusses the function and value of play as well as requisites for play and the adaptation of play for various age groups.

ROBERT K. ATKINSON was a researcher who studied children’s institutions in the United States.

This article from The Psychological Clinic, reprinted in the same year as a booklet by the Russell Sage Foundation, discusses school overcrowding in the lower grades. It examines whether the schools are overcrowded with children who should have passed on to the upper grades and how much money is expended on these students each year.

LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.

This booklet discusses schools in the North and Lowland South known as “mountain mission schools” as distinguished from public schools and from well-endowed private schools. After describing the character of these schools, it describes how these schools can have a positive impact on generations of people in the region.

JOHN C. CAMPBELL was the secretary of the Southern Highland Division of the Russell Sage Foundation.

Energy serves as the lifeblood of our daily experiences. It permeates virtually every aspect of our existence, facilitating nourishment, safety, and productivity. When affordability threatens energy’s availability, a family’s living situation can become untenable—too cold, too hot, too dark, and too often, unhealthy and unsafe. In Powerless, sociologists Diana Hernández and Jennifer Laird reveal the hidden hardship of “energy insecurity” – the inability to adequately meet household energy needs.

Approximately one in ten households in the U.S. are energy insecure and four in ten are at risk for energy insecurity. These statistics alone do not convey the acute pain of utility shutoffs, or the relentless toll of chronic energy hardships marked by difficult choices and harsh living conditions. Drawing on survey data and interviews with one hundred energy-insecure individuals and families, Hernández and Laird detail the experience of energy insecurity. Individuals and families suffering from energy insecurity endure economic hardships, such as difficulty paying utility bills, utility debt, and disconnection from utility services. They also struggle with physical challenges, such as poor housing conditions and poor or dysfunctional heating and cooling systems. They are often forced to make difficult choices about what bills to pay. These decisions are sometimes referred to as “heat or eat?” choices, as families cannot afford to pay for heating and food at the same time. Energy insecure individuals and families employ a variety of strategies to keep energy costs down to avoid having to make these hard choices. This includes deliberate underconsumption of energy, enduring physical discomfort, and using dangerous alternatives such as open flames, ovens, or space heaters to try to maintain a comfortable temperature in their home. To be energy insecure is to suffer. Despite the heavy toll of energy insecurity, most people confront these difficulties behind closed doors, believing it is a private matter. Thus, the enormous social crisis of energy insecurity goes unnoticed.

Hernández and Laird argue that household energy is a basic human right and detail policies and practices that would expand access to consistent, safe, clean, and affordable energy. Their proposals include improving the current energy safety net, which is limited and often does not serve the most energy insecure due to stringent program requirements and administrative burdens. They also suggest redesigning rates to accommodate income, promoting enrollment and expansion of discount programs, reforming utility disconnection policies, improving energy literacy, and ensuring an equitable shift to renewable energy resources.

Powerless creates a comprehensive picture of the complex social and environmental issue of energy insecurity and shows how energy equity is not just an aspiration but an achievable reality.

DIANA HERNÁNDEZ is an associate professor of sociomedical sciences, Columbia University

JENNIFER LAIRD is an assistant professor in the department of sociology, Lehman College