The last legislature authorized the establishment of a juvenile court for Allegheny County, of which Cumberland is the county seat. One of the discussions of the conference dealt with the difficulties surrounding the work of such a court with a jurisdiction extending over some fifty or sixty miles of territory. As a result of the conference it is probable that a state-wide housing law will be presented to the next legislature, that all acute cases of insanity will be transferred from the local almshouses to the state hospitals and that a branch of the Maryland Children’s Aid Society will be established in Cumberland. COMMUNITY MACHINERY IN THE SOUTH Three distinct social agencies have been recently developed in Birmingham, Ala., from one association, the Boys’ Club and Children’s Aid Society. They are the Juvenile Court with its probation system, the Children’s Aid Society and the Boys’ Club proper. The story of these changes is expressive of the development of social organization in the southern cities. The parent society has for several years been one of Birmingham’s most vigorous efforts toward the betterment of the conditions affecting child life. In 1903 the Boys’ Club had just one room at the City Hall. By 1909 a New Year’s dinner and a summer camp had become regular features. Next a special reading room and shower baths were added. Children’s aid work was then undertaken more systematically. Two men and one woman devoted themselves to the interests of dependent and neglected children. Probation work was also introduced, and the club has twice moved to larger quarters. It was largely through the instrumentality of the Boys’ Club that the Juvenile Court was established in October, 1912. Following the suggestion of A. J. McKelway, southern secretary of the National Child Labor Committee, in his article in the Birmingham number of THE SURVEY [6] the functions of each of the three new social agencies have been clearly defined. S. D. Murphy is the judge of the Juvenile Court and Ralph S. Barrow is chief probation officer. The present superintendent of the Boys’ Club is Burr Blackburn. PROBATION WORK IN NEW YORK That beginners in law-breaking will have the benefit of real rather than nominal probation work is expected to be the result of the recent establishment of a central probation bureau in the magistrate’s courts in New York. Heretofore each probation officer has remained in court while it was in session. His duty was to receive such cases of probation and make such investigations as the magistrates ordered. This compelled him to spend much time in court, where his duties were similar to those of a warrant officer or a court attendant. His real work, which should be that of looking up the history of law breakers and keeping closely in touch with them, had to be done after court adjourned or on occasional days assigned for the purpose.