,proofreaders         ,,mankind ,,in    
,,the ,,making   ,by ,h4 ,g4 ,wells     
,,preface   ,it may save                
misunderstanding if a word or so be said
 here of the aim and scope of this book4
 ,it is written in relation to a        
previous work1 ,anticipations1          
,footnote3 ,published by ,harper ,bros4 
and together with that and a small      
pamphlet1 8,the ,discovery of the       
,future10 ,footnote3 ,nature1 vol4 lxv4 
7#aija-b71 p4 #cbf1 and reprinted in the
 ,smithsonian ,report for #aijb presents
 a general theory of social development 
and of social and political conduct4 ,it
 is an attempt to deal with social and  
political questions in a new way and    
from a new starting-point1 viewing the  
whole social and political world as     
aspects of one universal evolving       
scheme1 and placing all social and      
political activities in a defined       
relation to that2 and to this general   
method and trend it is that the         
attention of the reader is especially   

directed4 ,the two books and the        
pamphlet together are to be regarded as 
an essay in presentation4 ,it is a work 
that the writer admits he has undertaken
 primarily for his own mental comfort4  
,he is remarkably not qualified to      
assume an authoritative tone in these   
matters1 and he is acutely aware of the 
many defects in detailed knowledge1 in  
temper1 and in training these papers    
collectively display4 ,he is aware that 
at such points1 for example1 as the     
reference to authorities in the chapter 
on the biological problem1 and to books 
in the educational chapter1 the lacunar 
quality of his reading and knowledge is 
only too evident2 to fill in and        
complete his design--notably in the     
fourth paper--he has had quite frankly  
to jerry-build here and there4          
,nevertheless1 he ventures to publish   
this book4 ,there are phases in the     
development of every science when an    
incautious outsider may think himself   
almost necessary1 when sketchiness      

ceases to be a sin1 when the mere facts 
of irresponsibility and an untrained    
interest may permit a freshness1 a      
freedom of mental gesture that would be 
inconvenient and compromising for the   
specialist2 and such a phase1 it is     
submitted1 has been reached in this     
field of speculation4 ,moreover1 the    
work attempted is not so much special   
and technical as a work of              
reconciliation1 the suggestion of broad 
generalizations upon which divergent    
specialists may meet1 a business for    
non-technical expression1 and in which a
 man who knows a little of biology1 a   
little of physical science1 and a little
 in a practical way of social           
stratification1 who has concerned       
himself with education and aspired to   
creative art1 may claim in his very     
amateurishness a special qualification4 
,and in addition1 it is particularly a  
business for some irresponsible writer1 
outside the complications of practical  
politics1 some man who1 politically1    

8doesn't matter10 to provide the first  
tentatives of a political doctrine that 
shall be equally available for          
application in the ,british ,empire and 
in the ,united ,states4 ,to that we must
 come1 unless our talk of co-operation1 
of reunion1 is no more than sentimental 
dreaming4 ,we have to get into line1 and
 that we cannot do while over here and  
over there men hold themselves bound by 
old party formulae1 by loyalties and    
institutions1 that are becoming1 that   
have become1 provincial in proportion to
 our new and wider needs4 ,my instances 
are commonly ,british1 but all the broad
 project of this book--the discussion of
 the quality of the average birth and of
 the average home1 the educational      
scheme1 the suggestions for the         
organization of literature and a common 
language1 the criticism of polling and  
the jury system1 and the ideal of a     
,republic with an apparatus of          
honour--is1 ,i submit1 addressed to1 and
 could be adopted by1 any               

,english-reading and ,english-speaking  
man4 ,no doubt the spirit of the inquiry
 is more ,british than ,american1 that  
the abandonment of ,rousseau and        
anarchic democracy is more complete than
 ,american thought is yet prepared for1 
but that is a difference not of quality 
but of degree4 ,and even the appendix1  
which at a hasty glance may seem to be  
no more than the discussion of ,british 
parochial boundaries1 does indeed       
develop principles of primary importance
 in the fundamental schism of ,american 
politics between the local ,state       
government and the central power4 ,so   
much of apology and explanation ,i owe  
to the reader1 to the contemporary      
specialist1 and to myself4  ,these      
papers were first published in the      
,british ,fortnightly ,review and in the
 ,american ,cosmopolitan4 ,in the latter
 periodical they were1 for the most     
part1 printed from uncorrected proofs   
set up from an early version4 ,this     
periodical publication produced a       

considerable correspondence1 which has  
been of very great service in the final 
revision4 ,these papers have indeed been
 honoured by letters from men and women 
of almost every profession1 and by a    
really very considerable amount of      
genuine criticism in the ,british press4
 ,nothing1 ,i think1 could witness more 
effectually to the demand for such      
discussions of general principle1 to the
 need felt for some nuclear matter to   
crystallize upon at the present time1   
however poor its quality1 than this     
fact4 ,here ,i can only thank the       
writers collectively1 and call their    
attention to the more practical         
gratitude of my frequently modified     
text4  ,i would1 however1 like to       
express my especial indebtedness to my  
friend1 ,mr4 ,graham ,wallas1 who       
generously toiled through the whole of  
my typewritten copy1 and gave me much   
valuable advice1 and to ,mr4 ,c4 ,g4    
,stuart ,menteath for some valuable     
references4  ,h4 ,g4 ,,wells4           

,,sandgate1 ,july1 #aijc4     ,,contents
            ,,preface        ,i4 ,,the  
,,new ,,republic      ,,ii4 ,,the       
,,problem ,,of ,,the ,,birth ,,supply   
,,iii4 ,,certain ,,wholesale ,,aspects  
,,of ,,man-,,making      ,,iv4 ,,the    
,,beginnings ,,of ,,the ,,mind ,,and    
,,language       ,v4 ,,the              
,,man-,,making ,,forces ,,of ,,the      
,,modern ,,state      ,,vi4 ,,schooling 
,,vii4 ,,political ,,and ,,social       
,,influences    ,,viii4 ,,the           
,,cultivation ,,of ,,the ,,imagination  
,,ix4 ,,the ,,organization ,,of ,,the   
,,higher ,,education       ,x4 ,,thought
 ,,in ,,the ,,modern ,,state      ,,xi4 
,,the ,,man',s ,,own ,,share            
,,appendix     ,a ,,paper ,,on          
,,administrative ,,areas ,,read ,,before
 ,,the ,,fabian ,,society     ,,index   
,,mankind ,,in ,,the ,,making     ,i4   
,,the ,,new ,,republic   ,toleration    
to-day is becoming a different thing    
from the toleration of former times4    
,the toleration of the past consisted   

very largely in saying1 8,you are       
utterly wrong and totally accurst1 there
 is no truth but my truth and that you  
deny1 but it is not my place to destroy 
you and so ,i let you go40 ,nowadays    
there is a real disposition to accept   
the qualified nature of one's private   
certainties4 ,one may have arrived at   
very definite views1 one may have come  
to beliefs quite binding upon one's     
self1 without supposing them to be      
imperative upon other people4 ,to write 
8,i believe0 is not only less           
presumptuous and aggressive in such     
matters than to write 8it is true10 but 
it is also nearer the reality of the    
case4 ,one knows what seems true to     
one's self1 but we are coming to realize
 that the world is great and complex1   
beyond the utmost power of such minds as
 ours4 ,every day of life drives that   
conviction further home4 ,and it is     
possible to maintain that in perhaps    
quite a great number of ethical1 social1
 and political questions there is no    

absolute 8truth0 at all--at least for   
finite beings4 ,to one intellectual     
temperament things may have a moral tint
 and aspect1 differing widely from that 
they present to another2 and yet each   
may be in its own way right4 ,the wide  
differences in character and quality    
between one human being and another may 
quite conceivably involve not only      
differences in moral obligation1 but    
differences in fundamental moral        
aspect--we may act and react upon each  
other towards a universal end1 but      
without any universally applicable rule 
of conduct whatever4 ,in some greater   
vision than mine1 my right and wrong may
 be no more than hammer and anvil in the
 accomplishment of a design larger than 
,i can understand4 ,so that these papers
 are not written primarily for all1 nor 
with the same intention towards all who 
read them4 ,they are designed first for 
those who are predisposed for their     
reception4 ,then they are intended to   
display in an orderly manner a point of 

view1 and how things look from that     
point of view1 to those who are not so  
predisposed4 ,these latter will either  
develop into adherents as they read1 or1
 what is more likely1 they will exchange
 a vague disorderly objection for a     
clearly defined and understood          
difference4 ,to arrive at such an       
understanding is often for practical    
purposes as good as unanimity2 for in   
narrowing down the issue to some central
 point or principle1 we develop just how
 far those who are divergent may go     
together before separation or conflict  
become inevitable1 and save something of
 our time and of our lives from those   
misunderstandings1 and those secondary  
differences of no practical importance  
whatever1 which make such disastrous    
waste of human energy4  ,now the point  
of view which will be displayed in      
relation to a number of wide questions  
in these pages is primarily that of the 
writer's4 ,but he hopes and believes    
that among those who read what he has to

 say1 there will be found not only many 
to understand1 but some to agree with   
him4 ,in many ways he is inclined to    
believe the development of his views may
 be typical of the sort of development  
that has gone on to a greater or lesser 
extent in the minds of many of the      
younger men during the last twenty      
years1 and it is in that belief that he 
is now presenting them4  ,and the       
questions that will be dealt with in    
relation to this point of view are all  
those questions outside a man's purely  
private self--if he have a purely       
private self--in which he interacts with
 his fellow-man4 ,our attempt will be to
 put in order1 to reduce to principle1  
what is at present in countless         
instances a mass of inconsistent        
proceedings1 to frame a general theory  
in accordance with modern conditions of 
social and political activity4  ,this is
 one man's proposal1 his attempt to     
supply a need that has oppressed him for
 many years1 a need that he has not only

 found in his own schemes of conduct1   
but that he has observed in the thought 
of numberless people about him1         
rendering their action fragmentary1     
wasteful in the gross1 and ineffective  
in the net result1 the need for some    
general principle1 some leading idea1   
some standard1 sufficiently             
comprehensive to be of real guiding     
value in social and political matters1  
in many doubtful issues of private      
conduct1 and throughout the business of 
dealing with one's fellow-men4 ,no doubt
 there are many who do not feel such a  
need at all1 and with these we may part 
company forthwith2 there are1 for       
example1 those who profess the artistic 
temperament and follow the impulse of   
the moment1 and those who consult an    
inner light in some entirely mystical   
manner4 ,but neither of these ,i believe
 is the most abundant type in the       
,english-speaking communities4 ,my      
impression is that with most of the     
minds ,i have been able to examine with 

any thoroughness1 the attempt to        
systematize one's private and public    
conduct alike1 and to reduce it to      
spacious general rules1 to attempt1 if  
not to succeed1 in making it coherent1  
consistent1 and uniformly directed1 is  
an almost instinctive proceeding4       
,there is an objection ,i may anticipate
 at this point4 ,if ,i am to leave this 
statement unqualified1 it would         
certainly be objected that such a need  
is no more nor less than the need of    
religion1 that a properly formulated    
religion does supply a trustworthy guide
 at every fork and labyrinth in life4   
,by my allusion to the failure of old   
formulae and methods to satisfy now1 ,i 
am afraid many people will choose to    
understand that ,i refer to what is     
often spoken of as the conflict of      
religion and science1 and that ,i intend
 to propound some contribution to the   
conflict4 ,i will at any rate anticipate
 that objection here1 in order to mark  
out my boundaries with greater          

precision4  ,taken in its completeness1 
,i submit that it is a greater claim    
than almost any religion can justifiably
 make1 to satisfy the need ,i have      
stated4 ,no religion prescribes rules   
that can be immediately applied to every
 eventuality4 ,between the general rules
 laid down and the particular instance  
there is always a wide gap1 into which  
doubts and alternatives enter and the   
private judgment has play4 ,no doubt    
upon certain defined issues of every-day
 life some religions are absolutely     
explicit2 the ,mahomedan religion1 for  
example1 is very uncompromising upon the
 use of wine1 and the law of the ,ten   
,commandments completely prohibits the  
making of graven images1 and almost all 
the great variety of creeds professed   
among us ,english-speaking peoples      
prescribe certain general definitions of
 what is righteous and what constitutes 
sin4 ,but upon a thousand questions of  
great public importance1 on the question
 of forms of government1 of social and  

educational necessities1 of one's course
 and attitude towards such great facts  
as the press1 trusts1 housing1 and the  
like1 religion1 as it is generally      
understood1 gives by itself no          
conclusive light4 ,it may1 no doubt1    
give a directing light in some cases1   
but not a conclusive light4 ,it leaves  
us inconsistent and uncertain amidst    
these unavoidable problems4 ,yet upon   
these questions most people feel that   
something more is needed than the mood  
of the moment or the spin of a coin4    
,religious conviction may help us1 it   
may stimulate us to press for clearer   
light upon these matters1 but it        
certainly does not give us any          
decisions4  ,it is possible to be either
 intensely religious or utterly         
indifferent to religious matters and yet
 care nothing for these things4 ,one may
 be a ,pietist to whom the world is a   
fleeting show of no importance whatever1
 or one may say1 8,let us eat1 drink1   
and be merry1 for to-morrow we die03 the

 net result in regard to my need is the 
same4 ,these questions appear to be on a
 different plane from religion and      
religious discussion2 they look outward1
 while essentially religion looks inward
 to the soul1 and1 given the necessary  
temperament1 it is possible to approach 
them in an unbiassed manner from almost 
any starting-point of religious         
profession4 ,one man may believe in the 
immortality of the soul and another may 
not2 one man may be a ,swedenborgian1   
another a ,roman ,catholic1 another a   
,calvinistic ,methodist1 another an     
,english ,high ,churchman1 another a    
,positivist1 or a ,parsee1 or a ,jew2   
the fact remains that they must go about
 doing all sorts of things in common    
every day4 ,they may derive their       
ultimate motives and sanctions from the 
most various sources1 they may worship  
in the most contrasted temples and yet  
meet unanimously in the market-place    
with a desire to shape their general    
activities to the form of a 8public     

spirited0 life1 and when at last the    
life of every day is summed up1 8to     
leave the world better than they found  
it40 ,and it is from that most excellent
 expression ,i would start1 or rather   
from a sort of amplified restatement of 
that expression--outside the province of
 religious discussion altogether4  ,a   
man who will build on that expression as
 his foundation in political and social 
matters1 has at least the possibility of
 agreement in the scheme of action these
 papers will unfold4 ,for though we     
theorize it is at action that our       
speculations will aim4 ,they will take  
the shape of an organized political and 
social doctrine4 ,it will be convenient 
to give this doctrine a name1 and for   
reasons that will be clear enough to    
those who have read my book             
,anticipations this doctrine will be    
spoken of throughout as 8,new           
,republicanism10 the doctrine of the    
,new ,republic4  ,the central conception
 of this ,new ,republicanism as it has  

shaped itself in my mind1 lies in       
attaching pre-eminent importance to     
certain aspects of human life1 and in   
subordinating systematically and always1
 all other considerations to these      
cardinal aspects4 ,it begins with a way 
of looking at life4 ,it insists upon    
that way1 it will regard no human       
concern at all except in that way4 ,and 
the way1 putting the thing as compactly 
as possible1 is to reject and set aside 
all abstract1 refined1 and              
intellectualized ideas as starting      
propositions1 such ideas as ,right1     
,liberty1 ,happiness1 ,duty or ,beauty1 
and to hold fast to the assertion of the
 fundamental nature of life as a tissue 
and succession of births4 ,these other  
things may be important1 they may be    
profoundly important1 but they are not  
primary4 ,we cannot build upon any one  
of them and get a structure that will   
comprehend all the aspects of life4     
,for the great majority of mankind at   
least it can be held that life resolves 

itself quite simply and obviously into  
three cardinal phases4 ,there is a      
period of youth and preparation1 a great
 insurgence of emotion and enterprise   
centering about the passion of ,love1   
and a third period in which1 arising    
amidst the warmth and stir of the       
second1 interweaving indeed with the    
second1 the care and love of offspring  
becomes the central interest in life4   
,in the babble of the grandchildren1    
with all the sons and daughters grown   
and secure1 the typical life of humanity
 ebbs and ends4 ,looked at thus with a  
primary regard to its broadest aspect1  
life is seen as essentially a matter of 
reproduction2 first a growth and        
training to that end1 then commonly     
mating and actual physical reproduction1
 and finally the consummation of these  
things in parental nurture and          
education4 ,love1 ,home and ,children1  
these are the heart-words of life4 ,not 
only is the general outline of the      
normal healthy human life reproductive1 

but a vast proportion of the infinitely 
complex and interwoven interests that   
fill that outline with incessant        
interest can be shown by a careful      
analysis to be more or less directly    
reproductive also4 ,the toil of a man's 
daily work is rarely for himself alone1 
it goes to feed1 to clothe1 to educate  
those cardinal consequences of his      
being1 his children2 he builds for them1
 he plants for them1 he plans for them1 
his social intercourse1 his political   
interests1 whatever his immediate       
motives1 tend finally to secure their   
welfare4 ,even more obviously is this   
the case with his wife4 ,even in rest   
and recreation life still manifests its 
quality2 the books the ordinary man     
reads turn enormously on love-making1   
his theatre has scarcely ever a play    
that has not primarily a strong love    
interest1 his art rises to its most     
consummate triumphs in ,venus and       
,madonna1 and his music is saturated in 
love suggestions4 ,not only is this so  

with the right and proper life1 but the 
greater portion of those acts we call   
vice draw their stimulus and pleasure   
from the impulses that subserve this    
sustaining fact of our being1 and they  
are vicious only because they evade or  
spoil their proper end4 ,this is really 
no new discovery at all1 only the       
stripping bare of it is new4 ,in nearly 
every religious and moral system in the 
world indeed1 the predominant mass of   
the exposition of sin and saving virtue 
positively or negatively centres upon   
birth4 ,positively in the enormous      
stresses1 the sacramental values which  
are concentrated upon marriage and the  
initial circumstances of being1 and     
negatively in a thousand significant    
repudiations4 ,even when the devotee    
most strenuously renounces this world   
and all its works1 when ,st4 ,anthony   
flees into the desert or the pious      
,durtal wrestles in his cell1 when the  
pale nun prays in vigil and the hermit  
mounts his pillar1 it is ,celibacy1 that

 great denial of life1 that sings       
through all their struggle1 it is this  
business of births as the central fact  
of life they still have most in mind4   
,this is not human life merely1 it is   
all life4 ,this living world1 as the    
,new ,republican will see it1 is no more
 than a great birth-place1 an incessant 
renewal1 an undying fresh beginning and 
unfolding of life4 ,take away this fact 
of birth and what is there remaining8 ,a
 world without flowers1 without the     
singing of birds1 without the freshness 
of youth1 with a spring that brings no  
seedlings and a year that bears no      
harvest1 without beginnings and without 
defeats1 a vast stagnation1 a universe  
of inconsequent matter--,death4 ,not    
only does the substance of life vanish  
if we eliminate births and all that is  
related to births1 but whatever remains1
 if anything remains1 of aesthetic and  
intellectual and spiritual experience1  
collapses utterly and falls apart1 when 
this essential substratum of all        

experience is withdrawn4 ,so at any rate
 the world presents itself in the view  
the ,new ,republican takes4 ,and if it  
should chance that the reader finds this
 ring untrue to him1 then he may take it
 that he stands outside us1 that the    
,new ,republic is not for him4  ,it may 
be submitted that this statement that   
,life is a texture of births may be     
accepted by minds of the most divergent 
religious and philosophical profession4 
,no fundamental or recondite admissions 
are proposed here1 but only that the    
every-day life for every-day purposes   
has this shape and nature4 ,the utter   
materialist may say that life to him is 
a fortuitous concurrence of atoms1 a    
chance kinking in the universal fabric  
of matter4 ,it is not our present       
business to confute him4 ,the fact      
remains this is the form the kinking has
 taken4 ,the believer1 sedulous for his 
soul's welfare1 may say that ,life is to
 him an arena of spiritual conflict1 but
 this is the character of the conflict1 

this is the business from which all the 
tests and exercises of his soul are     
drawn4 ,it matters not in this present  
discussion if ,life is no more than a   
dream2 the dream is this4  ,and now one 
comes to another step4 ,the reader may  
give his assent to this statement as    
obvious or he may guard his assent with 
a qualification or so1 but ,i doubt if  
he will deny it4 ,no one1 ,i expect1    
will categorically deny it4 ,but        
although no one will do that1 a great   
number of people who have not clearly   
seen things in this light1 do in thought
 and in many details of their practice  
follow a line that is1 in effect1 a flat
 denial of what is here proposed4 ,life 
no doubt is a fabric woven of births and
 the struggle to maintain and develop   
and multiply lives4 ,it does not follow 
that life is consciously a fabric woven 
of births and the struggle to maintain  
and develop and multiply lives4 ,i do   
not suppose a cat or a savage sees it in
 that light4 ,a cat's standpoint is     

probably strictly individualistic4 ,she 
sees the whole universe as a scheme of  
more or less useful1 pleasurable and    
interesting things concentrated upon her
 sensitive and interesting personality4 
,with a sinuous determination she evades
 disagreeables and pursues delights2    
life is to her quite clearly and simply 
a succession of pleasures1 sensations   
and interests1 among which interests    
there happen to be--kittens6  ,and this 
way of regarding life is by no means    
confined to animals and savages4 ,i     
would even go so far as to suggest that 
it is only within the last hundred years
 that any considerable number of        
thoughtful people have come to look at  
life steadily and consistently as being 
shaped to this form1 to the form of a   
series of births1 growths and births4   
,the most general truths are those last 
apprehended4 ,the universal fact of     
gravitation1 for example1 which pervades
 all being1 received its complete       
recognition scarcely two hundred years  

ago4 ,and again children and savages    
live in air1 breathe air1 are saturated 
with air1 die for five minutes' need of 
it1 and never definitely realize there  
is such a thing as air at all4 ,the vast
 mass of human expression in act and art
 and literature takes a narrower view   
than we have here formulated2 it        
presents each man not only as isolated  
from and antagonized with the world     
about him1 but as cut off sharply and   
definitely from the past before he lived
 and the future after he is dead2 it    
puts what is1 in relation to the view we
 have taken1 a disproportionate amount  
of stress upon his egotism1 upon the    
pursuit of his self-interest and his    
personal virtue and his personal        
fancies1 and it ignores the fact1 the   
familiar rediscovery which the          
nineteenth century has achieved1 that he
 is after all only the transitory       
custodian of an undying gift of life1 an
 inheritor under conditions1 the        
momentary voice and interpreter of a    

being that springs from the dawn of time
 and lives in offspring and thought and 
material consequence1 for ever4  ,this  
over-accentuation in the past of man's  
egoistic individuality1 or1 if one puts 
it in another way1 this unsuspicious    
ignorance of the real nature of life1   
becomes glaringly conspicuous in such   
weighed and deliberate utterances as    
,the ,meditations of ,marcus ,aurelius4 
,throughout these frank and fundamental 
discourses one traces a predominant     
desire for a perfected inconsequent     
egotism4 ,body is repudiated as a       
garment1 position is an accident1 the   
past that made us exists not since it is
 past1 the future exists not for we     
shall never see it2 at last nothing but 
the abstracted ego remains1--a sort of  
complimentary ,nirvana4 ,one citation   
will serve to show the colour of all his
 thought4 8,a man10 he remarks1 8is very
 devout to prevent the loss of his son4 
,but ,i would have you pray rather      
against the fear of losing him4 ,let    

this be the rule for your devotions40   
,footnote3 ,the ,meditations of ,m4 ,a4 
,antoninus1 ix4 #dj4 ,that indeed is the
 rule for all the devotions of that     
departing generation of wisdom4 ,rather 
serenity and dignity than good ensuing4 
,rather a virtuous man than any         
resultant whatever from his lifetime1   
for the future of the world4 ,it points 
this disregard of the sequence of life  
and birth in favour of an abstract and  
fruitless virtue1 it points it indeed   
with a barbed point that the son of     
,marcus ,aurelius was the unspeakable   
,commodus1 and that the ,roman ,empire  
fell from the temporizing detachment of 
his rule into a century of disorder and 
misery4  ,to the thoughtful reader to   
whom these papers appeal1 to the reader 
whose mind is of the modern cast1 who   
has surveyed the vistas of the          
geological record and grasped the       
secular unfolding of the scheme of life1
 who has found with microscope and      
scalpel that the same rhythm of birth   

and re-birth is woven into the minutest 
texture of things that has covered the  
earth with verdure and shaped the       
massifs of the ,alps1 to such a man the 
whole literature the world produced     
until the nineteenth century had well   
progressed1 must needs be lacking in any
 definite and pervading sense of the    
cardinal importance in the world of this
 central reproductive aspect1 of births 
and of the training and preparation for 
future births4 ,all that literature1    
great and imposing as we are bound to   
admit it is1 has an outlook less ample  
than quite common men may have to-day4  
,it is a literature1 as we see it in the
 newer view1 of abstracted personalities
 and of disconnected passions and       
impressions4  ,to one extraordinary and 
powerful mind in the earlier half of the
 nineteenth century this realization of 
the true form of life came with quite   
overwhelming force1 and that was to     
,schopenhauer1 surely at once the most  
acute and the most biassed of mortal    

men4 ,it came to him as a most          
detestable fact1 because it happened he 
was an intensely egotistical man4 ,but  
his intellect was of that noble and     
exceptional sort that aversion may tint 
indeed but cannot blind1 and we owe to  
him a series of philosophical writings1 
written with an instinctive skill and a 
clearness and a vigour uncommon in      
philosophers1 in which a very complete  
statement of the new view is presented  
to the reader in terms of passionate    
protest4 ,footnote3 ,die ,welt als      
,wille und ,vorstellung4 8,why10 he     
asked1 8must we be for ever tortured by 
this passion and desire to reproduce our
 kind1 why are all our pursuits tainted 
with this application1 all our needs    
deferred to the needs of the new        
generation that tramples on our heels80 
and he found the answer in the presence 
of an overwhelming ,will to ,live       
manifesting itself throughout the       
universe of ,matter1 thrusting us       
ruthlessly before it1 as a strong       

swimmer thrusts a wave before him as he 
swims4 ,that the personal egotism should
 be subordinated to and overwhelmed by a
 pervading ,will to ,live filled his    
soul with passionate rebellion and      
coloured his exposition with the hues of
 despair4 ,but to minds temperamentally 
different from his1 minds whose egotism 
is qualified by a more unselfish humour1
 it is possible to avail one's self of  
,schopenhauer's vision1 without         
submitting one's self to his            
conclusions1 to see our wills only as   
temporary manifestations of an ampler   
will1 our lives as passing phases of a  
greater ,life1 and to accept these facts
 even joyfully1 to take our places in   
that larger scheme with a sense of      
relief and discovery1 to go with that   
larger being1 to serve that larger      
being1 as a soldier marches1 a mere unit
 in the larger being of his army1 and   
serving his army1 joyfully into battle4 
,however1 it is not to ,schopenhauer and
 his writings1 at least among the       

,english-speaking peoples1 that this    
increasing realization of life as       
essentially a succession of births1 is  
chiefly ascribed4 ,it is mainly1 as ,i  
have already suggested1 the result of   
that great expansion of our sense of    
time and causation that has ensued from 
the idea of organic ,evolution4 ,in the 
course of one brief century1 the human  
outlook upon the order of the world has 
been profoundly changed4 ,it is not     
simply that it has become much more     
spacious1 it is not only that it has    
opened out from the little history of a 
few thousand years to a stupendous vista
 of ages1 but1 in addition to its       
expanded dimensions1 it has experienced 
a change in character4 ,that wonderful  
and continually more elaborate and      
penetrating analysis of the evolutionary
 process by ,darwin and his followers   
and successors and antagonists1 the     
entire subordination of the individual  
lot to the specific destiny that these  
criticisms and researches have          

emphasized1 has warped and altered the  
aspect of a thousand human affairs4 ,it 
has made reasonable and in order what   
,schopenhauer found so suggestively     
perplexing1 it has dispelled problems   
that have seemed insoluble mysteries to 
many generations of men4 ,i do not say  
it has solved them1 but it has dispelled
 them and made them irrelevant and      
uninteresting4 ,so long as one believed 
that life span unprogressively from     
generation to generation1 that          
generation followed generation          
unchangingly for ever1 the enormous     
preponderance of sexual needs and       
emotions in life was a distressing and  
inexplicable fact--it was a mystery1 it 
was sin1 it was the work of the devil4  
,one asked1 why does man build houses   
that others may live therein2 plant     
trees whose fruit he will never see8    
,and all the toil and ambition1 the     
stress and hope of existence1 seemed1 so
 far as this life went1 and before these
 new lights came1 a mere sacrifice to   

this pointless reiteration of lives1    
this cosmic crambe repetita4 ,to        
perceive this aspect1 and to profess an 
entire detachment from the whole vacuous
 business was considered by a large     
proportion of the more thoughtful people
 of the world the supreme achievement of
 philosophy4 ,the acme of old-world     
wisdom1 the ultimate mystery of         
,oriental philosophy is to contemn women
 and offspring1 to abandon costume1     
cleanliness1 and all the decencies and  
dignities of life1 and to crawl1 as     
scornfully as possible1 but at any rate 
to crawl out of all these earthly shows 
and snares 7which so obviously lead to  
nothing71 into the nearest tub4  ,and   
the amazing revelation of our days is   
that they do not lead to nothing6       
,directly the discovery is made         
clear--and it is1 ,i firmly believe1 the
 crowning glory of the nineteenth       
century to have established this        
discovery for all time--that one        
generation does not follow another in   

fac simile1 directly we come within     
sight of the reasonable persuasion that 
each generation is a step1 a definite   
measurable step1 and each birth an      
unprecedented experiment1 directly it   
grows clear that instead of being in an 
eddy merely1 we are for all our eddying 
moving forward upon a wide voluminous   
current1 then all these things are      
changed4  ,that change alters the       
perspective of every human affair4      
,things that seemed permanent and final1
 become unsettled and provisional4      
,social and political effort are seen   
from a new view-point4 ,everywhere the  
old direction posts1 the old guiding    
marks1 have got out of line and askew4  
,and it is out of the conflict of the   
new view with the old institutions and  
formulae1 that there arises the         
discontent and the need1 and the attempt
 at a wider answer1 which this phrase   
and suggestion of the 8,new ,republic0  
is intended to express4  ,every part    
contributes to the nature of the whole1 

and if the whole of life is an evolving 
succession of births1 then not only must
 a man in his individual capacity       
7physically as parent1 doctor1 food     
dealer1 food carrier1 home builder1     
protector1 or mentally as teacher1 news 
dealer1 author1 preacher7 contribute to 
births and growths and the future of    
mankind1 but the collective aspects of  
man1 his social and political           
organizations must also be1 in the      
essence1 organizations that more or less
 profitably and more or less            
intentionally1 set themselves towards   
this end4 ,they are finally concerned   
with the birth and with the sound       
development towards still better births1
 of human lives1 just as every implement
 in the toolshed of a seedsman's        
nursery1 even the hoe and the roller1 is
 concerned finally with the seeding and 
with the sound development towards still
 better seeding of plants4 ,the private 
and personal motive of the seedsman in  
procuring and using these tools may be  

avarice1 ambition1 a religious belief in
 the saving efficacy of nursery keeping 
or a simple passion for bettering       
flowers1 that does not affect the       
definite final purpose of his outfit of 
tools4  ,and just as we might judge     
completely and criticise and improve    
that outfit from an attentive study of  
the welfare of plants and with an entire
 disregard of his remoter motives1 so we
 may judge all collective human         
enterprises from the standpoint of an   
attentive study of human births and     
development4 ,any collective human      
enterprise1 institution1 movement1 party
 or state1 is to be judged as a whole   
and completely1 as it conduces more or  
less to wholesome and hopeful births1   
and according to the qualitative and    
quantitative advance due to its         
influence made by each generation of    
citizens born under its influence       
towards a higher and ampler standard of 
life4  ,or putting the thing in a       
slightly different phrasing1 the ,new   

,republican idea amounts to this3 the   
serious aspect of our private lives1 the
 general aspect of all our social and   
co-operative undertakings1 is to prepare
 as well as we possibly can a succeeding
 generation1 which shall prepare still  
more capably for still better           
generations to follow4 ,we are passing  
as a race out of a state of affairs when
 the unconscious building of the future 
was attained by individualistic         
self-seeking 7altogether unenlightened  
or enlightened only by the indirect     
moralizing influence of the patriotic   
instinct and religion7 into a clear     
consciousness of our co-operative share 
in that process4 ,that is the essential 
idea my ,new ,republic would personify  
and embody4 ,in the past man was made1  
generation after generation1 by forces  
beyond his knowledge and control4 ,now a
 certain number of men are coming to a  
provisional understanding of some at    
least of these forces that go to the    
,making of ,man4 ,to some of us there is

 being given the privilege and          
responsibility of knowledge4 ,we may    
plead lack of will or lack of moral     
impetus1 but we can no longer plead     
ignorance4 ,just as far as our light    
upon the general purpose goes1 just so  
far goes our responsibility 7whether we 
respect it or not7 to shape and subdue  
our wills to the ,making of ,mankind4   
,directly the man1 who has found akin to
 himself and who has accepted and       
assimilated this new view1 turns to the 
affairs of the political world1 to the  
general professions of our great social 
and business undertakings1 and to the   
broad conventions of human conduct1 he  
will find1 ,i think1 a very wide        
discrepancy from the implications of    
this view4 ,he will find--the ,new      
,republican finds--that the declared    
aims and principles of the larger amount
 of our social and political effort are 
astonishingly limited and               
unsatisfactory1 astonishingly irrelevant
 to the broad reality of ,life4 ,he will

 find great masses of men embarked      
collectively upon enterprises that will 
seem to his eyes to have no definable   
relation to this real business of the   
world1 or only the most accidental      
relationship1 he will find others in    
partial lop-sided cooperation or        
unintelligently half helpful and half   
obstructive1 and he will find still     
other movements and developments which  
set quite in the opposite direction1    
which make neither for sound births nor 
sound growth1 but through the thinnest  
shams of excuse and purpose1 through the
 most hypnotic and unreal of suggestions
 and motives1 directly and even plainly 
towards waste1 towards sterility1       
towards futility and death and          
extinction4  ,but not deliberately      
towards ,death4 ,it is only in the      
theoretical aspirations of ,schopenhauer
 that he will find an expression of     
conscious and resolved opposition to the
 pervading will and purpose in things4  
,in the common affairs of the world he  

will find neither deliberate opposition 
nor deliberate co-operation1 chance     
opposition indeed and chance            
co-operation1 but for the most part only
 a complete unconsciousness1 a blind    
irrelevance or a purely accidental      
accordance to the essential aspect of   
,life4  ,take1 for example1 the great   
enthusiasm that set all ,england waving 
bunting in ,june1 #aijb4 ,it was made   
clear to the most unwilling observer    
that the great mass of ,english people  
consider themselves aggregated together 
in one nation mainly to support1 honour1
 and obey a ,king1 and that they rejoice
 in this conception of their national   
purpose4 ,great sums of money were spent
 to emphasize this purpose1 public work 
of all sorts was dislocated1 and the    
channels of public discussion clogged   
and choked4 ,a discussion of the        
education of the next generation1 a     
matter of supreme interest from the ,new
 ,republican point of view1 passed from 
public sight amidst the happy tumults   

and splendours of the time4 ,the land   
was filled with poetry in the ,monarch's
 praise1 bad beyond any suspicion of    
insincerity4 ,all that was certainly    
great in the land1 all that has any hold
 upon the motives and confidence of the 
,english1 gathered itself into a        
respectful proximity1 assumed attitudes 
of reverent subordination to the        
,monarch4 ,all that was eminent in      
science and literature and art1 the     
galaxy of the episcopate1 the crowning  
intellectualities of the army1 came to  
these rites1 clad in robes and raiment  
that no sane person would ever          
voluntarily assume in public except     
under circumstances of extreme          
necessity4 ,the whole business was      
conducted with a zest and gravity that  
absolutely forbids the theory that it   
was a mere formality1 a curious survival
 of medivalism cherished by a country   
that makes no breaks with its past4 ,the
 spirit and idea of the whole thing was 
intensely real and contemporary2 one    

could believe only that those who took  
part in it regarded it as a matter of   
primary importance1 as one of the       
cardinal things for which they existed4 
,the alternative is to imagine that they
 believe nothing to be of primary       
importance in this world2 a quite       
incredible levity of soul to ascribe to 
all those great and distinguished       
people4  ,but it reflects not at all    
upon the high intelligence1 the         
unobtrusive but sterling moral          
qualities1 the tact1 dignity1 and       
personal charm of the central figure in 
their pageantries1 a charm the pathetic 
circumstances of his unseasonable       
illness very greatly enhanced1 if the   
,new ,republican fails to consider these
 ceremonials of primary importance1 if  
he declines to see them as of any       
necessary importance at all1 until it   
has been conclusively shown that they do
 minister to the bettering of births and
 of the lives intervening between birth 
and birth4 ,on the surface they do not  

do that4 ,unless they can be shown to do
 that they are dissipations of energy1  
they are irrelevant and wrong1 from the 
,new ,republican point of view4 ,the    
,new ,republican can take no part in    
these things1 or only a very grudging   
and qualified part1 on his way to real  
service4 ,he may or he may not1 after   
deliberate examination1 leave these     
things on one side1 unchallenged but    
ignored4  ,it may be urged that all the 
subserviences that distinguish our      
kingdom and that become so amazingly    
conspicuous about a coronation1 the     
kissing of hands1 the shambling upon    
knees1 the crawling of body and mind1   
the systematic encouragement of that    
undignified noisiness that nowadays     
distinguishes the popular rejoicings of 
our imperial people1 are simply a proof 
of the earnest preoccupation of our     
judges1 bishops1 and leaders and great  
officers of all sorts with remoter and  
nobler aims4 ,the kingdom happens to    
exist1 and it would be complex and      

troublesome to get rid of it4 ,they     
stand these things1 they get done with  
these things1 and so are able to get to 
their work4 ,the paraphernalia of a     
,court1 the sham scale of honours1 the  
submissions1 the ceremonial subjection1 
are1 it is argued1 entirely irrelevant  
to the purpose and honour of our race1  
but then so would rebellion against     
these things be also irrelevant and     
secondary4 ,to submit or to rebel is a  
diversion of our energies from the real 
purpose in things1 and of the two it is 
infinitely less bother to submit4 ,in   
private conversation1 ,i find1 this is  
the line nine out of ten of the ,king's 
servants will take4 ,they will tell you 
the public understands2 the thing is a  
mere excuse for festivity and colour2   
their loyalty is of a piece with their  
,fifth of ,november anti-popery4 ,they  
will tell you the peers understand1 the 
bishops understand1 the coronating      
archbishop has his tongue in his cheek4 
,they all understand--men of the world  

together4 ,the ,king understands1 a most
 admirable gentleman1 who submits to    
these traditional things1 but who admits
 his preference is for the simple1 pure 
delight of the incognito1 for being     
8plain ,mr4 ,jones40  ,it may be so4    
,though the psychologist will tell you  
that a man who behaves consistently as  
though he believed in a thing1 will end 
in believing it4 ,assuredly whatever    
these others do1 the ,new ,republican   
must understand4 ,in his inmost soul    
there must be no loyalty or submission  
to any king or colour1 save only if it  
conduces to the service of the future of
 the race4 ,in the ,new ,republic all   
kings are provisional1 if1 indeed--and  
this ,i shall discuss in a later        
paper--they can be regarded as          
serviceable at all4  ,and just as       
kingship is a secondary and debatable   
thing to the ,new ,republican1 to every 
man1 that is1 whom the spirit of the new
 knowledge has taken for its work1 so   
also are the loyalties of nationality1  

and all our local and party adhesions4  
,much that passes for patriotism is no  
more than a generalized jealousy rather 
gorgeously clad4 ,amidst the collapse of
 the old ,individualistic               
,humanitarianism1 the ,rights of ,man1  
,human ,equality1 and the rest of those 
broad generalizations that served to    
keep together so many men of good       
intention in the age that has come to   
its end1 there has been much hasty      
running to obvious shelters1 and many   
men have been forced to take refuge     
under this echoing patriotism--for want 
of a better gathering place4 ,it is like
 an incident during an earthquake1 when 
men who have abandoned a cleft fortress 
will shelter in a drinking bothy4 ,but  
the very upheavals that have shattered  
the old fastnesses of altruistic men1   
will be found presently to be taking the
 shape of a new gathering place--and of 
this the ,new ,republic presents an     
early guess and anticipation4 ,i do not 
see how men1 save in the most unexpected

 emergency1 can be content to accept    
such an artificial convention as modern 
patriotism for one moment4 ,on the one  
hand there are the patriots of          
nationality who would have us believe   
that the miscellany of ,european        
squatters in the ,transvaal are one     
nation and those in ,cape ,colony       
another1 and on the other the patriots  
of ,empire who would have me1 for       
example1 hail as my fellow-subjects and 
collaborators in man-making a host of   
,tamil-speaking1 ,tamil-thinking        
,dravadians1 while separating me from   
every ,english-speaking1                
,english-thinking person who lives south
 of the ,great ,lakes4 ,so long as men  
are content to work in the grooves set  
for them by dead men1 to derive all     
their significances from the past1 to   
accept whatever is as right and to drive
 along before the compulsions of these  
acquiescences1 they may do so4 ,but     
directly they take to themselves the    
,new ,republican idea1 directly they    

realize that life is something more than
 passing the time1 that it is           
constructive with its direction in the  
future1 then these things slip from them
 as ,christian's burthen fell from him  
at the very outset of his journey4      
,until grave cause has been shown to the
 contrary1 there is every reason why all
 men who speak the same language1 think 
the same literature1 and are akin in    
blood and spirit1 and who have arrived  
at the great constructive conception    
that so many minds nowadays are         
reaching1 should entirely disregard     
these old separations4 ,if the old      
traditions do no harm there is no reason
 to touch them1 any more than there is  
to abolish the boundary between this    
ancient and invincible kingdom of ,kent 
in which ,i write and that extremely    
inferior country1 ,england1 which was   
conquered by the ,normans and brought   
under the feudal system4 ,but so soon as
 these old traditions obstruct sound    
action1 so soon as it is necessary to be

 rid of them1 we must be prepared to    
sacrifice our archaeological emotions   
ruthlessly and entirely4  ,and these    
repudiations extend also to the         
political parties that struggle to      
realize themselves within the forms of  
our established state4 ,there is not in 
,great ,britain1 and ,i understand there
 is not in ,america1 any party1 any     
section1 any group1 any single          
politician even1 based upon the manifest
 trend and purpose of life as it appears
 in the modern view4 ,the necessities of
 continuity in public activity and of a 
glaring consistency in public           
profession1 have so far prevented any   
such fundamental reconstruction as the  
new generation requires4 ,one hears of  
,liberty1 of ,compromise1 of ,imperial  
,destinies and ,imperial ,unity1 one    
hears of undying loyalty to the ,memory 
of ,mr4 ,gladstone and the inalienable  
right of ,ireland to a separate national
 existence4 ,one hears1 too1 of the     
sacred principle of ,free ,trade1 of    

,empires and ,zollvereins1 and the      
,rights of the ,parent to blockade the  
education of his children1 but one hears
 nothing of the greater end4 ,at the    
best all the objects of our political   
activity can be but means to that end1  
their only claim to our recognition can 
be their adequacy to that end1 and none 
of these vociferated 8cries10 these     
party labels1 these programme items1 are
 ever propounded to us in that way4 ,i  
cannot see how1 in ,england at any rate1
 a serious and perfectly honest man1    
holding as true that ampler view of life
 ,i have suggested1 can attach himself  
loyally to any existing party or        
faction4 ,at the utmost he may find     
their faction-fighting may be turned for
 a time towards his remoter ends4 ,these
 parties derive from that past when the 
new view of life had yet to establish   
itself1 they carry faded and obliterated
 banners that the glare and dust of     
conflict1 the vote-storms of great      
campaigns1 have robbed long since of any

 colour of reality they once possessed4 
,they express no creative purpose now1  
whatever they did in their inception1   
they point towards no constructive      
ideals4 ,essentially they are things for
 the museum or the bonfire1 whatever    
momentary expediency may hold back the  
,new ,republican from an unqualified    
advocacy of such a destination4 ,the old
 party fabrics are no more than dead    
rotting things1 upon which a great      
tangle of personal jealousies1 old      
grudges1 thorny nicknames1 prickly      
memories1 family curses1 ,judas         
betrayals and sacred pledges1 a horrible
 rubbish thicket1 maintains a           
saprophytic vitality4  ,it is quite     
possible ,i misjudge the thing          
altogether4 ,sir ,henry                 
,campbell-,bannerman1 for example1 may  
hide the profoundest and most           
wide-reaching aims beneath his          
superficial effect of utter             
superficiality4 ,his impersonation of an
 amiable1 spirited1 self-conscious1     

land-owning gentleman with a passion for
 justice in remote places and a         
whimsical dislike of motor cars in his  
immediate neighbourhood1 may veil the   
operations of a stupendous intelligence 
bent upon the regeneration of the world4
 ,it may do1 but if it does1 it is a    
very amazing and purposeless            
impersonation4 ,i at any rate do not    
believe that it does4 ,i do not believe 
that he or any other ,liberal leader or 
any ,conservative minister has any      
comprehensive aim at all--as we of the  
new generation measure                  
comprehensiveness4 ,these parties1 and  
the phrases of party exposition--in     
,america just as in ,england--date from 
the days of the limited outlook4 ,they  
display no consciousness of the new     
dissent4 ,they are absorbed in the long 
standing game1 the getting in1 the      
turning out1 the contests and           
governments1 that has just about the    
same relation to the new perception of  
affairs1 to the real drift of life1 as  

the game of cricket with the wheel as a 
wicket would have to the destinies of a 
ship4 ,they find their game highly      
interesting and no doubt they play it   
with remarkable wit1 skill and spirit1  
but they entirely disregard the         
increasing number of passengers who are 
concerning themselves with the course   
and destination of the ship4  ,those    
particular passengers in the figure1    
present the ,new ,republic4 ,it is a    
dissension1 an inquiry1 it is the vague 
unconsolidated matter for a new         
direction4 8,we who are young10 says the
 spirit of the ,new ,republic1 8we who  
are in earnest can no more compass our  
lives under these old kingships and     
loyalties1 under these old leaders and  
these old traditions1 constitutions and 
pledges1 with their party liabilities1  
their national superstitions1 their     
rotting banners and their accumulating  
legacy of feuds and lies1 than we can   
pretend we are indeed impassioned and   
wholly devoted subjects of ,king        

,edward1 spending our lives in the      
service of his will4 ,it is not that we 
have revolted from these things1 it is  
not that we have grown askew to them and
 that patching and amendment will serve 
our need2 it is that we have travelled  
outside them altogether--almost         
inadvertently1 but quite beyond any     
chance of return to a simple acceptance 
again4 ,we are no more disposed to call 
ourselves ,liberals or ,conservatives   
and to be stirred to party passion at   
the clash of these names1 than we are to
 fight again the battles of the ,factio 
,albata or the ,factio ,prasina4 ,these 
current dramas1 these current conflicts 
seem scarcely less factitious4 ,men     
without faith may be content to spend   
their lives for things only half        
believed in1 and for causes that are    
contrived4 ,but that is not our quality4
 ,we want reality because we have faith1
 we seek the beginning of realism in    
social and political life1 we seek it   
and we are resolved to find it40  ,so we

 attempt to give a general expression to
 the forces that are new at this time1  
to render something at least of the     
spirit of the ,new ,republic in a       
premature and experimental utterance4   
,it is1 at any rate1 a spirit that finds
 itself out of intimacy and             
co-ordination with all the older        
movements of the world1 that sees all   
pre-existing formulae and political     
constitutions and political parties and 
organizations rather as instruments or  
obstacles than as guiding lines and     
precedents for its new developing will1 
its will which will carry it at last    
irresistibly to the conscious and       
deliberate making of the future of man4 
8,we are here to get better births and a
 better result from the births we get2  
each one of us is going to set himself  
immediately to that1 using whatever     
power he finds to his hand10 such is the
 form its will must take4 ,and such     
being its will and spirit these papers  
will address themselves comprehensively 

to the problem1 ,what will the ,new     
,republic do8 ,all the rest of this     
series will be a discussion of the      
forces that go to the making of man1 and
 how far and how such a ,new ,republic  
might seek to lay its hands upon them4  
,it is for the adversary to explain how 
presumptuous such an enterprise must be4
 ,but presumption is ineradically       
interwoven with every beginning that the
 world has ever seen4 ,i venture to     
think that even to a reader who does not
 accept or sympathize with the          
conception of this ,new ,republic1 a    
general review of current movements and 
current interpretations of morality from
 this new standpoint may be suggestive  
and interesting4 ,assuredly it is only  
by some such general revision1 if not on
 these lines then on others1 that a     
practicable way of escape is to be found
 for any one1 from that base and shifty 
opportunism in public and social        
matters1 that predominance of           
fluctuating aims and spiritless         

conformities1 in which so many of us1   
without any great positive happiness at 
all to reward us for the sacrifice we   
are making1 bury the solitary talents of
 our lives4     ,,ii4 ,,the ,,problem   
,,of ,,the ,,birth ,,supply  ,within the
 last minute seven new citizens were    
born into that great ,english-speaking  
community which is scattered under      
various flags and governments throughout
 the world4 ,and according to the line  
of thought developed in the previous    
paper we perceive that the real and     
ultimate business1 so far as this world 
goes1 of every statesman1 every social  
organizer1 every philanthropist1 every  
business manager1 every man who lifts   
his head for a moment from the mean     
pursuit of his immediate personal       
interests1 from the gratification of his
 private desires1 is1 as the first and  
immediate thing1 to do his best for     
these new-comers1 to get the very best  
result1 so far as his powers and        
activities can contribute to it1 from   

their undeveloped possibilities4 ,and in
 the next place1 as a remoter1 but      
perhaps finally more fundamental duty1  
he has to inquire what may be done      
individually or collectively to raise   
the standard and quality of the average 
birth4 ,all the great concerns of life  
work out with a very little analysis to 
that1 even our wars1 our orgies of      
destruction1 have1 at the back of them1 
a claim1 an intention1 however futile in
 its conception and disastrous in its   
consequences1 to establish a wider      
security1 to destroy a standing menace1 
to open new paths and possibilities1 in 
the interest of the generations still to
 come4 ,one may present the whole matter
 in a simplified picture by imagining   
all our statesmen1 our philanthropists  
and public men1 our parties and         
institutions gathered into one great    
hall1 and into this hall a huge spout1  
that no man can stop1 discharges a baby 
every eight seconds4 ,that is1 ,i hold1 
a permissible picture of human life1 and

 whatever is not represented at all in  
that picture is a divergent and         
secondary concern4 ,our success or      
failure with that unending stream of    
babies is the measure of our            
civilization2 every institution stands  
or falls by its contribution to that    
result1 by the improvement of the       
children born1 or by the improvement in 
the quality of births attained under its
 influence4  ,to begin these            
speculations in logical order we must   
begin at the birth point1 we must begin 
by asking how much may we hope1 now or  
at a later time1 to improve the supply  
of that raw material which is           
perpetually dumped upon our hands8 ,can 
we raise1 and if so1 what can we do to  
raise the quality of the average birth8 
,this speculation is as old at least as 
,plato1 and as living as the seven or   
eight babies born into the              
,english-speaking world since the reader
 began this ,paper4 ,the conclusion that
 if we could prevent or discourage the  

inferior sorts of people from having    
children1 and if we could stimulate and 
encourage the superior sorts to increase
 and multiply1 we should raise the      
general standard of the race1 is so     
simple1 so obvious1 that in every age ,i
 suppose there have been voices asking  
in amazement1 why the thing is not done8
 ,it is so usual to answer that it is   
not done on account of popular          
ignorance1 public stupidity1 religious  
prejudice or superstition1 that ,i shall
 not apologize for giving some little   
space here to the suggestion that in    
reality it is not done for quite a      
different reason4  ,we blame the popular
 mind overmuch4 ,earnest but imperfect  
men1 with honest and reasonable but     
imperfect proposals for bettering the   
world1 are all too apt to raise this    
bitter cry of popular stupidity1 of the 
sheep-like quality of common men4 ,an   
unjustifiable persuasion of moral and   
intellectual superiority is one of the  
last infirmities of innovating minds4   

,we may be right1 but we must be        
provably1 demonstrably and              
overpoweringly right before we are      
justified in calling the dissentient a  
fool4 ,i am one of those who believe    
firmly in the invincible nature of      
truth1 but a truth that is badly put is 
not a truth1 but an infertile hybrid    
lie4 ,before we men of the study blame  
the general body of people for remaining
 unaffected by reforming proposals of an
 almost obvious advantage1 it would be  
well if we were to change our standpoint
 and examine our machinery at the point 
of application4 ,a rock-drilling machine
 may be excellently invented and in the 
most perfect order except for a want of 
hardness in the drill1 and yet there    
will remain an unpierced rock as        
obdurate as the general public to so    
many of our innovations4  ,i believe    
that if a canvass of the entire         
civilized world were put to the vote in 
this matter1 the proposition that it is 
desirable that the better sort of people

 should intermarry and have plentiful   
children1 and that the inferior sort of 
people should abstain from              
multiplication1 would be carried by an  
overwhelming majority4 ,they might      
disagree with ,plato's methods1         
,footnote3 ,the ,republic1 ,bk4 ,v4 but 
they would certainly agree to his       
principle4 ,and that this is not a      
popular error ,mr4 ,francis ,galton has 
shown4 ,he has devoted a very large     
amount of energy and capacity to the    
vivid and convincing presentation of    
this idea1 and to its courageous        
propagation4 ,his ,huxley ,lecture to   
the ,anthropological ,institute in #aija
 ,footnote3 ,nature1 vol4 lxiv4 p4 #fei4
 puts the whole matter as vividly as it 
ever can be put4 ,he classifies humanity
 about their average in classes which he
 indicates by the letters ,r ,s ,t ,u ,v
 rising above the average and r s t u v 
falling below1 and he saturates the     
whole business in quantitative colour4  
,indeed1 ,mr4 ,galton has drawn up      

certain definite proposals4 ,he has     
suggested that 8noble families0 should  
collect 8fine specimens of humanity0    
around them1 employing these fine       
specimens in menial occupations of a    
light and comfortable sort1 that will   
leave a sufficient portion of their     
energies free for the multiplication of 
their superior type4 8,promising young  
couples0 might be given 8healthy and    
convenient houses at low rentals10 he   
suggests1 and no doubt it could be      
contrived that they should pay their    
rent partly or entirely per stone of    
family annually produced4 ,and he has   
also proposed that 8diplomas0 should be 
granted to young men and women of high  
class--big ,s and upward--and that they 
should be encouraged to intermarry      
young4 ,a scheme of 8dowries0 for       
diploma holders would obviously be the  
simplest thing in the world4 ,and only  
the rules for identifying your great ,s 
,t ,u and ,v in adolescence1 are wanting
 from the symmetrical completeness of   

his really very noble-spirited and      
high-class scheme4  ,at a more popular  
level ,mrs4 ,victoria ,woodhull ,martin 
has battled bravely in the cause of the 
same foregone conclusion4 ,the work of  
telling the world what it knows to be   
true will never want self-sacrificing   
workers4 ,the ,humanitarian was her     
monthly organ of propaganda4 ,within its
 cover1 which presented a luminiferous  
stark ideal of exemplary muscularity1   
popular preachers1 popular bishops1 and 
popular anthropologists vied with titled
 ladies of liberal outlook in the       
service of this conception4 ,there was  
much therein about the ,rapid           
,multiplication of the ,unfit1 a phrase 
never properly explained1 and ,i must   
confess that the transitory presence of 
this instructive little magazine in my  
house1 month after month 7it is now1    
unhappily1 dead71 did much to direct my 
attention to the gaps and difficulties  
that intervene between the general      
proposition and its practical           

application by sober and honest men4    
,one took it up and asked time after    
time1 8,why should there be this queer  
flavour of absurdity and pretentiousness
 about the thing80 ,before the          
,humanitarian period ,i was entirely in 
agreement with the ,humanitarian's      
cause4 ,it seemed to me then that to    
prevent the multiplication of people    
below a certain standard1 and to        
encourage the multiplication of         
exceptionally superior people1 was the  
only real and permanent way of mending  
the ills of the world4 ,i think that    
still4 ,in that way man has risen from  
the beasts1 and in that way men will    
rise to be over-men4 ,in those days ,i  
asked in amazement why this thing was   
not done1 and talked the usual nonsense 
about the obduracy and stupidity of the 
world4 ,it is only after a considerable 
amount of thought and inquiry that ,i am
 beginning to understand why for many   
generations1 perhaps1 nothing of the    
sort can possibly be done except in the 

most marginal and tentative manner4  ,if
 to-morrow the whole world were to sign 
an unanimous round-robin to ,mr4        
,francis ,galton and ,mrs4 ,victoria    
,woodhull ,martin1 admitting absolutely 
their leading argument that it is absurd
 to breed our horses and sheep and      
improve the stock of our pigs and fowls1
 while we leave humanity to mate in the 
most heedless manner1 and if1 further1  
the whole world1 promising obedience1   
were to ask these two to gather together
 a consultative committee1 draw up a    
scheme of rules1 and start forthwith    
upon the great work of improving the    
human stock as fast as it can be done1  
if it undertook that marriages should no
 longer be made in heaven or earth1 but 
only under licence from that committee1 
,i venture to think that1 after a very  
brief epoch of fluctuating legislation1 
this committee1 except for an extremely 
short list of absolute prohibitions1    
would decide to leave matters almost    
exactly as they are now2 it would       

restore love and private preference to  
their ancient authority and freedom1 at 
the utmost it would offer some greatly  
qualified advice1 and so released1 it   
would turn its attention to those flaws 
and gaps in our knowledge that at       
present render these regulations no more
 than a theory and a dream4  ,the first 
difficulty these theorists ignore is    
this3 we are1 as a matter of fact1 not a
 bit clear what points to breed for and 
what points to breed out4  ,the analogy 
with the breeder of cattle is a very    
misleading one4 ,he has a very simple   
ideal1 to which he directs the entire   
pairing of his stock4 ,he breeds for    
beef1 he breeds for calves and milk1 he 
breeds for a homogeneous docile herd4   
,towards that ideal he goes simply and  
directly1 slaughtering and sparing1     
regardless entirely of any divergent    
variation that may arise beneath his    
control4 ,a young calf with an incipient
 sense of humour1 with a bright and     
inquiring disposition1 with a gift for  

athleticism or a quaintly-marked hide1  
has no sort of chance with him at all on
 that account4 ,he can throw these      
proffered gifts of nature aside without 
hesitation4 ,which is just what our     
theoretical breeders of humanity cannot 
venture to do4 ,they do not want a      
homogeneous race in the future at all4  
,they want a rich interplay of free1    
strong1 and varied personalities1 and   
that alters the nature of the problem   
absolutely4  ,this the reader may       
dispute4 ,he may admit the need of      
variety1 but he may argue that this     
variety must arise from a basis of      
common endowment4 ,he may say that in   
spite of the complication introduced by 
the consideration that a divergent      
variation from one ideal may be a       
divergence towards another ideal1 there 
remain certain definable points1 that   
could be bred for universally1 for all  
that4  ,what are they8  ,there will be  
little doubt he will answer 8,health40  
,after that probably he may say         

8,beauty40 ,in addition the reader of   
,mr4 ,galton's ,hereditary ,genius will 
probably say1 8ability10 8capacity10    
8genius10 and 8energy40 ,the reader of  
,doctor ,nordau will add 8sanity40 ,and 
the reader of ,mr4 ,archdall ,reid will 
round up the list with 8immunity0 from  
dipsomania and all contagious diseases4 
8,let us mark our human beings10  the   
reader of that way of thinking will     
suggest1 8let us give marks for         
#8health1' for #8ability1' for various  
sorts of specific immunity and so forth1
 and let us weed out those who are low  
in the scale and multiply those who     
stand high4 ,this will give us a        
straight way to practical amelioration1 
and the difficulty you are trying to    
raise10 he urges1 8vanishes forthwith40 
,it would1 if these points were really  
points1 if 8beauty10 8capacity10        
8health10 and 8sanity0 were simple and  
uniform things4 ,unfortunately they are 
not simple1 and with that fact a host of
 difficulties arise4 ,let me take first 

the most simple and obvious case of     
8beauty40 ,if beauty were a simple      
thing1 it would be possible to arrange  
human beings in a simple scale1         
according to whether they had more or   
less of this simple quality--just as one
 can do in the case of what are perhaps 
really simple and breedable             
qualities--height or weight4 ,this      
person1 one might say1 is at eight in   
the scale of beauty1 and this at ten1   
and this at twenty-seven4 ,but it       
complicates the case beyond the         
possibilities of such a scale altogether
 when one begins to consider that there 
are varieties and types of beauty having
 very wide divergences and made up of a 
varying number of elements in dissimilar
 proportions4 ,there is1 for example1   
the flaxen1 kindly beauty of the ,dutch 
type1 the dusky ,jewess1 the tall1 fair 
,scandinavian1 the dark and brilliant   
south ,italian1 the noble ,roman1 the   
dainty ,japanese--to name no others4    
,each of these types has its peculiar   

and incommensurable points1 and within  
the limits of each type you will find a 
hundred divergent1 almost unanalyzable1 
styles1 a beauty of expression1 a beauty
 of carriage1 a beauty of reflection1 a 
beauty of repose1 arising each from a   
quite peculiar proportion of parts and  
qualities1 and having no definable      
relation at all to any of the others4   
,if we were to imagine a human          
appearance as made up of certain        
elements1 a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1 etc41 then  
we might suppose that beauty in one case
 was attained by a certain high         
development of a and f1 in another by a 
certain fineness of c and d1 in another 
by a delightfully subtle ratio of f and 
b4                  ,a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 ,f1 
etc4                 a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1  
etc4                 a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 ,f1 
etc41  might all1 for example1 represent
 different types of beauty4 ,beauty is  
neither a simple nor a constant thing2  
it is attainable through a variety of   
combinations1 just as the number #ejj   

can be got by adding or multiplying     
together a great variety of numerical   
arrangements4 ,two long numerical       
formulae might both simplify out to     
#ejj1 but half the length of one        
truncated and put end on to the         
truncated end of the other1 might give a
 very different result4 ,it is quite    
conceivable that you might select and   
wed together all the most beautiful     
people in the world and find that in    
nine cases out of ten you had simply    
produced mediocre offspring or offspring
 below mediocrity4 ,out of the remaining
 tenth a great majority would be        
beautiful simply by 8taking after0 one  
or other parent1 simply through the     
predominance1 the prepotency1 of one    
parent over the other1 a thing that     
might have happened equally well if the 
other parent was plain4 ,the first sort 
of beauty 7in my three formulae7 wedding
 the third sort of beauty1 might simply 
result in a rather ugly excess of ,f1   
and again the first sort might result   

from a combination of                   
a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 ,f1 etc41                
and                 ,a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1  
etc41  neither of which arrangements1   
very conceivably1 may be beautiful at   
all when it is taken alone4 ,in this    
respect1 at any rate1 personal value and
 reproductive value may be two entirely 
different things4  ,now what the        
elements of personal aspect really are1 
what these elements a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1   
etc41 may be1 we do not know with any   
sort of exactness4 ,possibly height1    
weight1 presence of dark pigment in the 
hair1 whiteness of skin1 presence of    
hair upon the body1 are simple elements 
in inheritance that will follow         
,galton's arithmetical treatment of     
heredity with some exactness4 ,but we   
are not even sure of that4 ,the height  
of one particular person may be due to  
an exceptional length of leg and neck1  
of another to an abnormal length of the 
vertebral bodies of the backbone2 the   
former may have a rather less than      

ordinary backbone1 the latter a stunted 
type of limb1 and an intermarriage may  
just as conceivably 7so far as our      
present knowledge goes7 give the        
backbone of the first and the legs of   
the second as it may a very tall person4
  ,the fact is that in this matter of   
beauty and breeding for beauty we are   
groping in a corner where science has   
not been established4 ,no doubt the     
corner is marked out as a part of the   
8sphere of influence0 of anthropology1  
but there is not the slightest          
indication of an effective occupation   
among these raiding considerations and  
uncertain facts4 ,until anthropology    
produces her ,daltons and ,davys we must
 fumble in this corner1 just as the old 
alchemists fumbled for centuries before 
the dawn of chemistry4 ,our utmost      
practice here must be empirical4 ,we do 
not know the elements of what we have1  
the human characteristics we are working
 upon to get that end4 ,the             
sentimentalized affinities of young     

persons in their spring are just as     
likely to result in the improvement of  
the race in this respect as the whole   
science of anthropology in its present  
state of evolution4  ,i have suggested  
that 8beauty0 is a term applied to a    
miscellany of synthetic results         
compounded of diverse elements in       
diverse proportions2 and ,i have        
suggested that one can no more          
generalize about it in relation to      
inheritance with any hope of effective  
application than one can generalize     
about1 say1 8lumpy substances0 in       
relation to chemical combination4 ,by   
reasoning upon quite parallel lines     
nearly every characteristic with which  
,mr4 ,galton deals in his interesting   
and suggestive but quite inconclusive   
works1 can be demonstrated to consist in
 a similar miscellany4 ,he speaks of    
8eminence10 of 8success10 of 8ability10 
of 8zeal10 and 8energy10 for example1   
and except for the last two items ,i    
would submit that these qualities1      

though of enormous personal value1 are  
of no practical value in inheritance    
whatever2 that to wed 8ability0 to      
8ability0 may breed something less than 
mediocrity1 and that 8ability0 is just  
as likely or just as unlikely to be     
prepotent and to assert itself in       
descent with the most casually selected 
partner as it is with one picked with   
all the knowledge1 or rather            
pseudo-knowledge1 anthropology in its   
present state can give us4  ,when1      
however1 we turn to 8zeal0 or 8energy0  
or 8go10 we do seem to be dealing with a
 simpler and more transmissible thing4  
,let us assume that in this matter there
 is a wide range of difference that may 
be arranged in a direct and simple scale
 in quantitative relation to the gross  
output of action of different human     
beings4 ,one passes from the incessant  
employment of such a being as ,gladstone
 at the one extreme1 a loquacious       
torrent of interests and achievements1  
to the extreme of phlegmatic lethargy on

 the other4 ,call the former a high     
energetic and the latter low4 ,quite    
possibly it might be found that we could
 breed 8high energetics40 ,but before we
 did so we should have to consider very 
gravely that the 8go0 and 8energy0 of a 
man have no ascertainable relation to   
many other extremely important          
considerations4 ,your energetic person  
may be moral or immoral1 an unqualified 
egotist or as public spirited as an ant1
 sane1 or a raving lunatic4 ,your       
phlegmatic person may ripen resolves and
 bring out truths1 with the incomparable
 clearness of a long-exposed1 slowly    
developed1 slowly printed photograph4 ,a
 man who would exchange the slow        
gigantic toil of that sluggish and      
deliberate person1 ,charles ,darwin1 for
 the tumultuous inconsequence and 7as   
some people think it7 the net mischief  
of a ,gladstone1 would no doubt be      
prepared to substitute a                
,catherine-wheel in active eruption for 
the watch of less adventurous men4 ,but 

before we could induce the community as 
a whole to make a similar exchange1 he  
would have to carry on a prolonged and  
vigorous propaganda4  ,for my own       
part--and ,i write as an ignorant man in
 a realm where ignorance prevails--,i am
 inclined to doubt the simplicity and   
homogeneity even of this quality of     
8energy0 or 8go40 ,a person without     
restraint1 without intellectual         
conscience1 without critical faculty1   
may write and jabber and go to and fro  
and be here and there1 simply because   
every impulse is obeyed so soon as it   
arises4 ,another person may be built    
upon an altogether larger scale of      
energy1 but may be deliberate1          
concentrated1 and fastidious1 bent      
rather upon truth and permanence than   
upon any immediate quantitative result1 
and may appear to any one but an        
extremely penetrating critic1 as        
inferior in energy to the former4 ,so   
far as our knowledge goes at present1   
what is popularly known as 8energy0 or  

8go0 is just as likely to be a certain  
net preponderance of a varied miscellany
 of impulsive qualities over a varied   
miscellany of restraints and            
inhibitions1 as it is to prove a simple 
indivisible quality transmissible       
intact4 ,we are so profoundly ignorant  
in these matters1 so far from anything  
worthy of the name of science1 that one 
view is just as permissible and just as 
untrustworthy as the other4  ,even the  
qualification of 8health0 is not        
sufficient4 ,a thoughtless person may   
say with the most invincible air1       
8,parents should1 at any rate1 be       
healthy10 but that alone is only a      
misleading vague formula for good       
intentions4 ,in the first place1 there  
is every reason to believe that         
transitory ill-health in the parent is  
of no consequence at all to the         
offspring4 ,neither does acquired       
constitutional ill-health necessarily   
transmit to a child2 it may or it may   
not react upon the child's nutrition and

 training1 but that is a question to    
consider later4 ,it is quite            
conceivable1 it is highly probable1 that
 there are hereditary forms of          
ill-health1 and that they may be        
eliminated from the human lot by        
discreet and restrained pairing1 but    
what they are and what are the specific 
conditions of their control we do not   
know4 ,and furthermore1 we are scarcely 
more certain that the condition of      
8perfect health0 in one human being is  
the same as the similarly named         
condition in another1 than we are that  
the beauty of one type is made up of the
 same essential elements as the beauty  
of another4 ,health is a balance1 a     
balance of blood against nerve1 of      
digestion against secretion1 of heart   
against brain4 ,a heart of perfect      
health and vigour put into the body of a
 perfectly healthy man who is built upon
 a slighter scale than that heart1 will 
swiftly disorganize the entire fabric1  
and burst its way to a haemorrhage in   

lung perhaps1 or brain1 or wherever the 
slightest relative weakening permits4   
,the 8perfect0 health of a negro may be 
a quite dissimilar system of reactions  
to the 8perfect health0 of a vigorous   
white2 you may blend them only to create
 an ailing mass of physiological        
discords4 8,health10 just as much as    
these other things1 is1 for this purpose
 of marriage diplomas and the like1 a   
vague1 unserviceable synthetic quality4 
,it serves each one of us for our       
private and conversational needs1 but in
 this question it is not hard enough and
 sharp--enough for the thing we want it 
to do4 ,brought to the service of this  
fine and complicated issue it breaks    
down altogether4 ,we do not know enough4
 ,we have not analyzed enough nor       
penetrated enough4 ,there is no science 
yet1 worthy of the name1 in any of these
 things4 ,footnote3 ,this idea of       
attempting to define the elements in    
inheritance1 although it is absent from 
much contemporary discussion1 was pretty

 evidently in mind in the very striking 
researches of the ,abb ,mendel to which 
,mr4 ,bateson--with a certain           
intemperance of manner--has recently    
called attention4 7,bateson1 ,mendel's  
,principles of ,heredity1 ,cambridge    
,university ,press1 #aijb47  ,these     
considerations should at least suffice  
to demonstrate the entire               
impracticability of ,mr4 ,galton's two  
suggestions4 ,moreover1 this idea of    
picking out high-scale individuals in   
any particular quality or group of      
qualities and breeding them1 is not the 
way of nature at all4 ,nature is not a  
breeder2 she is a reckless coupler      
and--she slays4 ,it was a popular       
misconception of the theory of the      
,survival of the ,fittest1 a            
misconception ,lord ,salisbury was at   
great pains to display to the ,british  
,association in #ahid1 that the average 
of a species in any respect is raised by
 the selective inter-breeding of the    
individuals above the average4 ,lord    

,salisbury was no doubt misled1 as most 
people who share his mistake have been  
misled1 by the grammatical error of     
employing the ,survival of the ,fittest 
for the ,survival of the ,fitter1 in    
order to escape a scarcely ambiguous    
ambiguity4 ,but the use of the word     
8,survival0 should have sufficed to     
indicate that the real point of         
application of the force by which       
,nature modifies species and raises the 
average in any quality1 lies not in     
selective breeding1 but in the          
disproportionately numerous deaths of   
the individuals below the average4 ,and 
even the methods of the breeder of      
cattle1 if they are to produce a        
permanent alteration in the species of  
cattle1 must consist not only in        
breeding the desirable but in either    
killing the undesirable1 or at          
least--what is the quintessence1 the    
inner reality of death--in preventing   
them from breeding4  ,the general trend 
of thought in ,mrs4 ,martin's           

,humanitarian was certainly more in     
accordance with this reading of         
biological science than were ,mr4       
,galton's proposals4 ,there was a much  
greater insistence upon the need of     
8elimination10 upon the evil of the     
8,rapid ,multiplication of the ,unfit10 
a word that1 however1 was never defined 
and1 ,i believe1 really did not mean    
anything in particular in this          
connection4 ,and directly one does      
attempt to define it1 directly one sits 
down in a businesslike way to apply the 
method of elimination instead of the    
method of selection1 one is immediately 
confronted by almost as complex an      
entanglement of difficulties in defining
 points to breed out as one is by       
defining points to breed for4 ,almost1  
,i say1 but not quite4 ,for here there  
does seem to be1 if not certainties1 at 
least a few plausible probabilities that
 a vigorous and systematic criticism may
 perhaps hammer into generalizations of 
sufficient certainty to go upon4  ,i    

believe that long before humanity has   
hammered out the question of what is    
pre-eminently desirable in inheritance1 
a certain number of things will have    
been isolated and defined as            
pre-eminently undesirable4 ,but before  
these are considered1 let us sweep out  
of our present regard a number of cruel 
and mischievous ideas that are          
altogether too ascendant at the present 
time4  ,anthropology has been compared  
to a great region1 marked out indeed as 
within the sphere of influence of       
science1 but unsettled and for the most 
part unsubdued4 ,like all such          
hinterland sciences1 it is a happy      
hunting-ground for adventurers4 ,just as
 in the early days of ,british          
,somaliland1 rascals would descend from 
nowhere in particular upon unfortunate  
villages1 levy taxes and administer     
atrocity in the name of the ,empire1 and
 even1 ,i am told1 outface for a time   
the modest heralds of the government1 so
 in this department of anthropology the 

public mind suffers from the imposition 
of theories and assertions claiming to  
be 8scientific10 which have no more     
relation to that organized system of    
criticism which is science1 than a      
brigand at large on a mountain has to   
the machinery of law and police1 by     
which finally he will be hanged4 ,among 
such raiding theorists none at present  
are in quite such urgent need of        
polemical suppression as those who would
 persuade the heedless general reader   
that every social failure is necessarily
 a 8degenerate10  and who claim boldly  
that they can trace a distinctly evil   
and mischievous strain in that          
unfortunate miscellany which constitutes
 8the criminal class40 ,they invoke the 
name of 8science0 with just as much     
confidence and just as much claim as the
 early ,victorian phrenologists4 ,they  
speak and write with ineffable          
profundity about the 8criminal0 ear1 the
 8criminal0 thumb1 the 8criminal0       
glance4 ,they gain access to gaols and  

pester unfortunate prisoners with       
callipers and cameras1 and quite        
unforgivable prying into personal and   
private matters1 and they hold out great
 hopes that by these expedients they    
will evolve at last a 8scientific0      
revival of the ,kaffir's witch-smelling4
 ,we shall catch our criminals by       
anthropometry ere ever a criminal       
thought has entered their brains4       
8,prevention is better than cure40      
,these mattoid scientists make a direct 
and disastrous attack upon the latent   
self-respect of criminals4 ,and not only
 upon that tender plant1 but also upon  
the springs of human charity towards the
 criminal class4 ,for the complex and   
varied chapter of accidents that carries
 men into that net of precautions1      
expedients1 prohibitions1 and vindictive
 reprisals1 the net of the law1 they    
would have us believe there is a fatal  
necessity inherent in their being4      
,criminals are born1 not made1 they     
allege4 ,no longer are we to say1       

8,there1 but for the grace of ,god1 go  
,i0--when the convict tramps past       
us--but1 8,there goes another sort of   
animal that is differentiating from my  
species and which ,i would gladly see   
exterminated40  ,now every man who has  
searched his heart knows that this      
formulation of 8criminality0 as a       
specific quality is a stupidity1 he     
knows himself to be a criminal1 just as 
most men know themselves to be sexually 
rogues4 ,no man is born with an         
instinctive respect for the rights of   
any property but his own1 and few with a
 passion for monogamy4 ,no man who is   
not an outrageously vain and foolish    
creature but will confess to himself    
that but for advantages and accidents1  
but for a chance hesitation or a lucky  
timidity1 he1 too1 had been there1 under
 the ridiculous callipers of witless    
anthropology4 ,a criminal is no doubt of
 less personal value to the community   
than a law-abiding citizen of the same  
general calibre1 but it does not follow 

for one moment that he is of less value 
as a parent4 ,his personal disaster may 
be due to the possession of a bold and  
enterprising character1 of a degree of  
pride and energy above the needs of the 
position his social surroundings have   
forced upon him4 ,another citizen may   
have all this man's desires and         
impulses1 checked and sterilized by a   
lack of nervous energy1 by an abject    
fear of the policeman and of the        
consequences of the disapproval of his  
more prosperous fellow-citizens4 ,i will
 frankly confess that for my own part ,i
 prefer the wicked to the mean1 and that
 ,i would rather trust the future to the
 former strain than to the latter4      
,whatever preference the reader may     
entertain1 there remains this           
unmistakable objection to its           
application to breeding1 that           
8criminality0 is not a specific simple  
quality1 but a complex that may         
interfuse with other complexes to give  
quite incalculable results in the       

offspring it produces4 ,so that here    
again1 on the negative side1 we find a  
general expression unserviceable for our
 use4 ,footnote3 ,no doubt the home of  
the criminal and social failure is      
generally disastrous to the children    
born into it4 ,that is a question that  
will be fully dealt2 with in a          
subsequent paper1 and ,i note it here   
only to point out that it is outside our
 present discussion1 which is concerned 
not with the fate of children born into 
the world1 but with the prior question  
whether we may hope to improve the      
quality of the average birth by         
encouraging some sorts of people to have
 children and discouraging or forbidding
 others4 ,it is of vital importance to  
keep these two questions distinct1 if we
 are to get at last to a basis for      
effective action4  ,but it will be      
alleged that although criminality as a  
whole means nothing definite enough for 
our purpose1 there can be picked out and
 defined certain criminal 7or at any    

rate disastrous7 tendencies that are    
simple1 specific and transmissible4     
,those who have read ,mr4 ,archdall     
,reid's ,alcoholism1 for example1 will  
know that he deals constantly with what 
is called the 8drink craving0 as if it  
were such a specific simple inheritance4
 ,he makes a very strong case for this  
belief1 but strong as it is1 ,i do not  
think it is going to stand the pressure 
of a rigorously critical examination4   
,he points out that races which have    
been in possession of alcoholic drinks  
the longest are the least drunken1 and  
this he ascribes to the 8elimination0 of
 all those whose 8drink craving0 is too 
strong for them4 ,nations unused to     
alcoholic drink are most terribly       
ravaged at its first coming to them1 may
 even be destroyed by it1 in precisely  
the same way that new diseases coming to
 peoples unused to them are far more    
malignant than among peoples who have   
suffered from them generation after     
generation4 ,such instances as the      

terrible ravages of measles in          
,polynesia and the ruin worked by       
fire-water among the ,red ,indians1 he  
gives in great abundance4 ,he infers    
from this that interference with the    
sale of drink to a people may in the    
long run do more harm than good1 by     
preserving those who would otherwise be 
eliminated1 permitting them to multiply 
and so1 generation by generation1       
lowering the resisting power of the     
race4 ,and he proposes to divert        
temperance legislation from the         
persecution of drink makers and sellers1
 to such remedies as the punishment of  
declared and indisputable drunkards if  
they incur parentage1 and the extension 
of the grounds of divorce to include    
this ugly and disastrous habit4  ,i am  
not averse to ,mr4 ,reid's remedies     
because ,i think of the wife and the    
home1 but ,i would not go so far with   
him as to consider this 8drink craving0 
specific and simple1 and ,i retain an   
open mind about the sale of drink4 ,he  

has not convinced me that there is an   
inherited 8drink craving0 any more than 
there is an inherited tea craving or an 
inherited morphia craving4  ,in the     
first place ,i would propound a certain 
view of the general question of habits4 
,my own private observations in         
psychology incline me to believe that   
people vary very much in their power of 
acquiring habits and in the strength and
 fixity of the habits they acquire4 ,my 
most immediate subject of psychological 
study1 for example1 is a man of         
untrustworthy memory who is nearly      
incapable of a really deep-rooted habit4
 ,nothing is automatic with him4 ,he    
crams and forgets languages with an     
equal ease1 gives up smoking after      
fifteen years of constant practice2     
shaves with a conscious effort every    
morning and is capable of forgetting to 
do so if intent upon anything else4 ,he 
is generally self-indulgent1 capable of 
keen enjoyment and quite capable of     
intemperance1 but he has no invariable  

delights and no besetting sin4 ,such a  
man will not become an habitual         
drunkard2 he will not become anything   
8habitual40 ,but with another type of   
man habit is indeed second nature4      
,instead of the permanent fluidity of my
 particular case1 such people are       
continually tending to solidify and     
harden4 ,their memories set1 their      
opinions set1 their methods of          
expression set1 their delights recur and
 recur1 they convert initiative into    
mechanical habit day by day4 ,let them  
taste any pleasure and each time they   
taste it they deepen a need4 ,at last   
their habits become imperative needs4   
,with such a disposition1 external      
circumstances and suggestions1 ,i       
venture to believe1 may make a man      
either into an habitual church-goer or  
an habitual drunkard1 an habitual toiler
 or an habitual rake4 ,a self-indulgent 
rather unsocial habit-forming man may   
very easily become what is called a     
dipsomaniac1 no doubt1 but that is not  

the same thing as an inherited specific 
craving4 ,with drink inaccessible and   
other vices offering his lapse may take 
another line4 ,an aggressive1 proud and 
greatly mortified man may fall upon the 
same courses4 ,an unwary youth of the   
plastic type may be taken unawares and  
pass from free indulgence to excess     
before he perceives that a habit is     
taking hold of him4  ,i believe that    
many causes and many temperaments go to 
the making of drunkards4 ,i have read a 
story by the late ,sir ,walter ,besant1 
in which he presents the specific       
craving as if it were a specific magic  
curse4 ,the story was supposed to be    
morally edifying1 but ,i can imagine    
this ugly superstition of the           
8hereditary craving0--it is really      
nothing more--acting with absolutely    
paralyzing effect upon some credulous   
youngster struggling in the grip of a   
developing habit4 8,it's no good        
trying10--that quite infernal phrase6   
,it may be urged that this attempt to   

whittle down the 8inherited craving0 to 
a habit does not meet ,mr4 ,reid's      
argument from the gradual increase of   
resisting power in races subjected to   
alcoholic temptation1 an increase due to
 the elimination of all the more        
susceptible individuals4 ,there can be  
no denying that those nations that have 
had fermented drinks longest are the    
soberest1 but that1 after all1 may be   
only one aspect of much more extensive  
operations4 ,the nations that have had  
fermented drinks the longest are also   
those that have been civilized the      
longest4 ,the passage of a people from a
 condition of agricultural dispersal to 
a more organized civilization means a   
very extreme change in the conditions of
 survival1 of which the increasing      
intensity of temptation to alcoholic    
excess is only one aspect4 ,gluttony1   
for example1 becomes a much more        
possible habit1 and many other vices    
tender death for the first time to the  
men who are gathering in and about      

towns4 ,the city demands more           
persistent1 more intellectualized and   
less intense physical desires than the  
countryside4 ,moral qualities that were 
a disadvantage in the dispersed stage   
become advantageous in the city1 and    
conversely4 ,rugged independence ceases 
to be helpful1 and an intelligent turn  
for give and take1 for collaboration and
 bargaining1 makes increasingly for     
survival4 ,moreover1 there grows very   
slowly an indefinable fabric of         
traditional home training in restraint  
that is very hard to separate in        
analysis from mental heredity4 ,people  
who have dwelt for many generations in  
towns are not only more temperate and   
less explosive in the grosser           
indulgences1 but more urbane altogether4
 ,the drunken people are also the       
8uncivil0 peoples and the               
individualistic peoples4 ,the great     
prevalence of drunkenness among the     
upper classes two centuries ago can     
hardly have been bred out in the        

intervening six or seven generations1   
and it is also a difficult fact for ,mr4
 ,reid that drunkenness has increased in
 ,france4 ,in most of the cases cited by
 ,mr4 ,reid a complex of operating      
forces could be stated in which the     
appearance of fermented liquors is only 
one factor1 and a tangle of consequent  
changes in which a gradually increasing 
insensibility to the charms of          
intoxication was only one thread4       
,drunkenness has no doubt played a large
 part in eliminating certain types of   
people from the world1 but that it      
specifically eliminates one specific    
definable type is an altogether         
different matter4  ,even if we admit    
,mr4 ,reid's conception1 this by no     
means solves the problem4 ,it is quite  
conceivable that the world could        
purchase certain sorts of immunity too  
dearly4 ,if it was a common thing to    
adorn the parapets of houses in towns   
with piles of loose bricks1 it is       
certain that a large number of persons  

not immune to fracture of the skull by  
falling bricks would be eliminated4 ,a  
time would no doubt come when those with
 a specific liability to skull fracture 
would all be eliminated1 and the human  
cranium would have developed a practical
 immunity to damage from all sorts of   
falling substances4 ,but there would    
have been far more extensive            
suppressions than would appear in the   
letter of the agreement4  ,this no doubt
 is a caricature of the case1 but it    
will serve to illustrate my contention  
that until we possess a far more subtle 
and thorough analysis of the drunkard's 
physique and mind--if it really is a    
distinctive type of mind and            
physique--than we have at present1 we   
have no justification whatever in       
artificial intervention to increase     
whatever eliminatory process may at     
present be going on in this respect4    
,even if there is such a specific       
weakness1 it is possible it has a period
 of maximum intensity1 and if that      

should be only a brief phase in         
development--let us say at              
adolescence--it might turn out to be    
much more to the advantage of humanity  
to contrive protective legislation over 
the dangerous years4 ,i argue to        
establish no view in these matters      
beyond a view that at present we know   
very little4  ,not only do ignorance and
 doubt bar our way to anything more than
 a pious wish to eliminate criminality  
and drunkenness in a systematic manner1 
but even the popular belief in ruthless 
suppression whenever there is 8madness  
in the family0 will not stand an        
intelligent scrutiny4 ,the man in the   
street thinks madness is a fixed and    
definite thing1 as distinct from sanity 
as black is from white4 ,he is always   
exasperated at the hesitation of doctors
 when in a judicial capacity he demands3
 8,is this man mad or isn't he80 ,but a 
very little reading of alienists will   
dissolve this clear assurance4 ,here    
again it seems possible that we have a  

number of states that we are led to     
believe are simple because they are     
gathered together under the generic word
 8madness10 but which may represent a   
considerable variety of induced and     
curable and non-inheritable states on   
the one hand and of innate and incurable
 and heritable mental disproportions on 
the other4  ,the less gifted portion of 
the educated public was greatly         
delighted some years ago by a work by   
,dr4 ,nordau called ,degeneration1 in   
which a great number of abnormal people 
were studied in a pseudo-scientific     
manner and shown to be abnormal beyond  
any possibility of dispute4 ,mostly the 
samples selected were men of exceptional
 artistic and literary power4 ,the book 
was pretentious and inconsistent--the   
late ,lord ,tennyson was quoted1 ,i     
remember1 as a typically 8sane0 poet in 
spite of the scope afforded by his      
melodramatic personal appearance and his
 morbid passion for seclusion--but it   
did at least serve to show that if we   

cannot call a man stupid we may almost  
invariably call him mad with some show  
of reason4 ,the public read the book for
 the sake of its abuse1 applied the     
intended conclusion to every success    
that awakened its envy1 and failed      
altogether to see how absolutely the    
definition of madness was destroyed4    
,but if madness is indeed simply genius 
out of hand and genius only madness     
under adequate control2 if imagination  
is a snare only to the unreasonable and 
a disordered mind only an excess of     
intellectual enterprise--and really none
 of these things can be positively      
disproved--then just as reasonable as   
the idea of suppressing the reproduction
 of madness1 is the idea of breeding it6
 ,let us take all these dull1 stagnant1 
respectable people1 one might say1 who  
do nothing but conform to whatever rule 
is established about them and obstruct  
whatever change is proposed to them1    
whose chief quality is a sheer          
incapacity to imagine anything beyond   

their petty experiences1 and let us tell
 them plainly1 8,it is time a lunatic   
married into your family40  ,let no one 
run away from this with the statement   
that ,i propose such a thing should be  
done1 but it is1 at any rate in the     
present state of our knowledge1 as      
reasonable a proposal1 to make as its   
quite frequently reiterated converse4   
,if in any case we are in a position to 
intervene and definitely forbid         
increase1 it is in the case of certain  
specific diseases1 which ,i am told are 
painful and disastrous and inevitably   
transmitted to the offspring of the     
person suffering from these diseases4   
,if there are such diseases--and that is
 a question the medical profession      
should be able to decide--it is evident 
that to incur parentage while one       
suffers from one of them or to transmit 
them in any avoidable way1 is a cruel1  
disastrous and abominable act4 ,if such 
a thing is possible it seems to me that 
in view of the guiding principle laid   

down in these papers it might well be   
put at the nadir of crime1 and ,i doubt 
if any step the ,state might take to    
deter and punish the offender1 short of 
torture1 would meet with opposition from
 sane and reasonable men4 ,for my own   
part ,i am inclined at times almost to  
doubt if there are such diseases4 ,if   
there are1 the remedy is so simple and  
obvious1 that ,i cannot but blame the   
medical profession for very             
discreditable silences4 ,i am no        
believer in the final wisdom of the mass
 of mankind1 but ,i do believe enough in
 the sanity of the ,english-speaking    
peoples to be certain that any clear    
statement and instruction they received 
from the medical profession1 as a whole1
 in these matters1 would be faithfully  
observed4 ,in the face of the collective
 silence of this great body of          
specialists1 there is nothing for it but
 to doubt such diseases exist4  ,such a 
systematic suppression of a specific    
disease or so is really the utmost that 

could be done with any confidence at    
present1 so far as the ,state and       
collective action go4 ,footnote3 ,since 
the above was written1 a correspondent  
in ,honolulu has called my attention to 
a short but most suggestive essay by    
,doctor ,harry ,campbell in the ,lancet1
 #ahih1 ii41 p4 #fgh4 ,he uses1 of      
course1 the common medical euphemism of 
8should not marry0 for 8should not      
procreate10 and he gives the following  
as a list of 8bars to marriage03        
pulmonary consumption1 organic heart    
disease1 epilepsy1 insanity1 diabetes1  
chronic ,bright's disease1 and rheumatic
 fever4 ,i wish ,i had sufficient       
medical knowledge to analyze that       
proposal4 ,he mentions inherited        
defective eyesight and hearing also1 and
 the 8neurotic0 quality1 with which ,i  
have dealt in my text4 ,he adds two     
other suggestions that appeal to me very
 strongly4 ,he proposes to bar all      
8cases of non-accidental disease in     
which life is saved by the surgeon's    

knife10 and he instances particularly1  
strangulated hernia and ovarian cyst4   
,and he also calls attention to         
apoplectic breakdown and premature      
senility4 ,all these are suggestions of 
great value for individual conduct1 but 
none of them have that quality of       
certainty that justifies collective     
action4 ,until great advances are made  
in anthropology--and at present there   
are neither men nor endowments to       
justify the hope that any such advances 
will soon be made--that is as much as   
can be done hopefully for many years in 
the selective breeding of individuals by
 the community as a whole4 ,footnote3   
,if at any time certainties should      
replace speculations in the field of    
inheritance1 then ,i fancy the          
common-sense of humanity will be found  
to be in favour of the immediate        
application of that knowledge to life4  
,at present almost every citizen in the 
civilized ,state respects the rules of  
the laws of consanguinity1 so far as    

they affect brothers and sisters1 with  
an absolute respect--an enormous triumph
 of training over instinct1 as ,dr4     
,beattie ,crozier has pointed out--and  
if in the future it should be found     
possible to divide up humanity into     
groups1 some of which could pair with   
one another only to the disadvantage of 
the offspring1 and some of which had    
better have no offspring1 ,i believe    
there would be remarkably little        
difficulty in enforcing a system of     
taboos in accordance with such          
knowledge4 ,only it would have to be    
absolutely certain knowledge proved and 
proved again up to the hilt4 ,if a truth
 is worth application it is worth       
hammering home1 and we have no right to 
expect common men to obey conclusions   
upon which specialists are as yet not   
lucidly agreed4 ,footnote3 ,it has been 
pointed out to me by my friend1 ,mr4    
,graham ,wallas1 that although the      
,state may not undertake any positive   
schemes for selective breeding in the   

present state of our knowledge1 it can  
no more evade a certain reaction upon   
these things than the individual can    
evade a practical solution4 ,although we
 cannot say of any specific individual  
that he or she is1 or is not1 of        
exceptional reproductive value to the   
,state1 we may still be able1 he thinks1
 to point out classes which are very    
probably1 as a whole1 good reproductive 
classes1 and we may be able to promote1 
or at least to avoid hindering1 their   
increase4 ,he instances the female      
elementary teacher as being probably1 as
 a type1 a more intelligent and more    
energetic and capable girl than the     
average of the stratum from which she   
arises1 and he concludes she has a      
higher reproductive value--a view       
contrary to my argument in the text that
 reproductive and personal value are    
perhaps independent4 ,he tells me that  
it is the practice of many large school 
boards in this country to dismiss women 
teachers on marriage1 or to refuse      

promotion to these when they become     
mothers1 which is1 of course1 bad for   
the race if personal and reproductive   
value are identical4 ,he would have them
 retain their positions regardless of   
the check to their efficiency maternity 
entails4 ,this is a curiously indirect  
way towards what one might call         
,galtonism4 ,practically he proposes to 
endow mothers in the name of education4 
,for my own part ,i do not agree with   
him that this class1 any more than any  
other class1 can be shown to have a high
 reproductive value--which is the matter
 under analysis in this paper--though ,i
 will admit that an ex-teacher will     
probably do infinitely more for her     
children than if she were an illiterate 
or untrained woman4 ,i can only         
reiterate my conviction that nothing    
really effective can be organized in    
these matters until we are much clearer 
than we are at present in our ideas     
about them1 and that a public body      
devoted to education has no business    

either to impose celibacy1 or subsidize 
families1 or experiment at all in these 
affairs4 ,not only in the case of       
elementary teachers1 but in the case of 
soldiers1 sailors1 and so on1 the ,state
 may do much to promote or discourage   
marriage and offspring1 and no doubt it 
is also true1 as ,mr4 ,wallas insists1  
that the problems of the foreign        
immigrant and of racial intermarriage1  
loom upon us4 ,but since we have no     
applicable science whatever here1 since 
there is no certainty in any direction  
that any collective course may not be   
collectively evil rather than good1     
there is nothing for it1 ,i hold1 but to
 leave these things to individual       
experiment1 and to concentrate our      
efforts where there is a clearer hope of
 effective consequence4 ,leave things to
 individual initiative and some of us   
will1 by luck or inspiration1 go right2 
take public action on an insufficient   
basis of knowledge and there is a clear 
prospect of collective error4 ,the      

imminence of these questions argues for 
nothing except prompt and vigorous      
research4  ,that1 however1 is only one  
aspect of this question4 ,there are     
others from which the ,new ,republican  
may also approach this problem of the   
quality of the birth supply4  ,in       
relation to personal conduct all these  
things assume another colour altogether4
 ,let us be clear upon that point4 ,the 
state1 the community1 may only act upon 
certainties1 but the essential fact in  
individual life is experiment4          
,individuality is experiment4 ,while in 
matters of public regulation and control
 it is wiser not to act at all than to  
act upon theories and uncertainties2    
while the ,state may very well wait for 
a generation or half a dozen generations
 until knowledge comes up to these--at  
present--insoluble problems1 the private
 life must go on now1 and go upon       
probabilities where certainties fail4   
,when we do not know what is            
indisputably right1 then we have to use 

our judgments to the utmost to do each  
what seems to him probably right4 ,the  
,new ,republican in his private life and
 in the exercise of his private         
influence1 must do what seems to him    
best for the race2 ,footnote3 ,he would 
certainly try to discourage this sort of
 thing4 ,the paragraph is from the      
,morning ,post 7,sept41 #aijb73--       
8,wedded in ,silence4--,a deaf and dumb 
wedding was celebrated at ,saffron      
,walden yesterday1 when ,frederick      
,james ,baish and ,emily ,lettige ,king1
 both deaf and dumb1 were married4 ,the 
bride was attended by deaf and dumb     
bridesmaids1 and upwards of thirty deaf 
and dumb friends were present4 ,the     
ceremony was performed by the ,rev4 ,a4 
,payne1 of the ,deaf and ,dumb ,church1 
,london40 he must not beget children    
heedlessly and unwittingly because of   
his incomplete assurance4 ,it is pretty 
obviously his duty to examine himself   
patiently and thoroughly1 and if he     
feels that he is1 on the whole1 an      

average or rather more than an average  
man1 then upon the cardinal principle   
laid down in our first paper1 it is his 
most immediate duty to have children and
 to equip them fully for the affairs of 
life4 ,moreover he will1 ,i think1 lose 
no opportunity of speaking and acting in
 such a manner as to restore to marriage
 something of the solemnity and gravity 
the ,victorian era--that age of nasty   
sentiment1 sham delicacy and            
giggles--has to so large an extent      
refused to give it4  ,and though the    
,new ,republicans1 in the existing lack 
of real guiding knowledge1 will not dare
 to intervene in specific cases1 there  
is another method of influencing        
parentage that men of good intent may   
well bear in mind4 ,to attack a specific
 type is one thing1 to attack a specific
 quality is another4 ,it may be         
impossible to set aside selected persons
 from the population and say to them1   
8,you are cowardly1 weak1 silly1        
mischievous people1 and if we tolerate  

you in this world it is on condition    
that you do not found families40 ,but it
 may be quite possible to bear in mind  
that the law and social arrangements may
 foster and protect the cowardly and the
 mean1 may guard stupidity against the  
competition of enterprise1 and may      
secure honour1 power and authority in   
the hands of the silly and the base2    
and1 by the guiding principle we have   
set before ourselves1 to seek every     
conceivable alteration of such laws and 
such social arrangements is no more than
 the ,new ,republican's duty4 ,it may be
 impossible to select and intermarry the
 selected best of our race1 but at any  
rate we can do a thousand things to     
equalize the chances and make good and  
desirable qualities lead swiftly and    
clearly to ease and honourable increase4
  ,at present it is a shameful and      
embittering fact that a gifted man from 
the poorer strata of society must too   
often buy his personal development at   
the cost of his posterity2 he must      

either die childless and successful for 
the children of the stupid to reap what 
he has sown1 or sacrifice his gift--a   
wretched choice and an evil thing for   
the world at large4 ,footnote3 ,this    
aspect of ,new ,republican possibilities
 comes in again at another stage1 and at
 that stage its treatment will be       
resumed4 ,the method and possibility of 
binding up discredit and failure with   
mean and undesirable qualities1 and of  
setting a premium upon the nobler       
attributes1 is a matter that touches not
 only upon the quality of births1 but   
upon the general educational quality of 
the ,state in which a young citizen     
develops4 ,it is convenient to hold over
 any detailed expansions of this1       
therefore1 until we come to the general 
question1 how the laws1 institutions and
 customs of to-day go to make or unmake 
the men of to-morrow4  ,so far at least 
we may go1 towards improving the quality
 of the average birth now1 but it is    
manifestly only a very slow and         

fractional advance that we shall get by 
these expedients4 ,the obstacle to any  
ampler enterprise is ignorance and      
ignorance alone--not the ignorance of a 
majority in relation to a minority1 but 
an absolute want of knowledge4 ,if we   
knew more we could do more4  ,our main  
attack in this enterprise of improving  
the birth supply must lie1 therefore1   
through research4 ,if we cannot act     
ourselves1 we may yet hold a light for  
our children to see4 ,at present1 if    
there is a man specially gifted and     
specially disposed for such intricate   
and laborious inquiry1 such criticism   
and experiment as this question demands1
 the world offers him neither food nor  
shelter1 neither attention nor help2 he 
cannot hope for a tithe of such honours 
as are thrust in profusion upon         
pork-butchers and brewers1 he will be   
heartily despised by ninety-nine per    
cent4 of the people he encounters1 and  
unless he has some irrelevant income1 he
 will die childless and his line will   

perish with him1 for all the service he 
may give to the future of mankind4 ,and 
as great mental endowments do not1      
unhappily1 necessarily involve a passion
 for obscurity1 contempt and extinction1
 it is probable that under existing     
conditions such a man will give his mind
 to some pursuit less bitterly          
unremunerative and shameful4 ,it is a   
stupid superstition that 8genius will   
out0 in spite of all discouragement4    
,the fact that great men have risen     
against crushing disadvantages in the   
past proves nothing of the sort2 this   
roll-call of survivors does no more than
 give the measure of the enormous waste 
of human possibility human stupidity has
 achieved4 ,men of exceptional gifts    
have the same broad needs as common men1
 food1 clothing1 honour1 attention1 and 
the help of their fellows in            
self-respect2 they may not need them as 
ends1 but they need them by the way1 and
 at present the earnest study of        
heredity produces none of these         

bye-products4 ,it lies before the ,new  
,republican to tilt the balance in this 
direction4  ,there are1 no doubt1       
already a number of unselfish and       
fortunately placed men who are able to  
do a certain amount of work in this     
direction2 ,professor ,cossar ,ewart1   
for example1 one of those fine1 subtle1 
unhonoured workers who are the glory of 
,british science and the condemnation of
 our social order1 has done much to     
clarify the discussion of telegony and  
prepotency1 and there are many such     
medical men as ,mr4 ,reid who broaden   
their daily practice by attention to    
these great issues4 ,one thinks of      
certain other names4 ,professors ,karl  
,pearson1 ,weldon1 ,lloyd ,morgan1 ,j4  
,a4 ,thomson and ,meldola1 ,dr4         
,benthall and ,messrs4 ,bateson1        
,cunningham1 ,pocock1 ,havelock ,ellis1 
,e4 ,a4 ,fay and ,stuart ,menteath occur
 to me1 only to remind me how divided   
their attention has had to be4 ,as many 
others1 perhaps1 have slipped my memory 

now4 ,not half a hundred altogether in  
all this wide world of ,english-speaking
 men6 ,for one such worker we need fifty
 if this science of heredity is to grow 
to practicable proportions4 ,we need a  
literature1 we need a special public and
 an atmosphere of attention and         
discussion4 ,every man who grasps the   
,new ,republican idea brings these needs
 nearer satisfaction1 but if only some  
day the ,new ,republic could catch the  
ear of a prince1 a little weary of being
 the costumed doll of grown-up children1
 the decoy dummy of fashionable         
tradesmen1 or if it could invade and    
capture the mind of a multi-millionaire1
 these things might come almost at a    
stride4 ,this missing science of        
heredity1 this unworked mine of         
knowledge on the borderland of biology  
and anthropology1 which for all         
practical purposes is as unworked now as
 it was in the days of ,plato1 is1 in   
simple truth1 ten times more important  
to humanity than all the chemistry and  

physics1 all the technical and          
industrial science that ever has been or
 ever will be discovered4  ,so much for 
the existing possibilities of making the
 race better by breeding4 ,for the rest 
of these papers we shall take the births
 into the world1 for the most part1 as  
we find them4  ,mr4 ,stuart ,menteath   
remarks apropos of this question of the 
reproduction of exceptional people that 
it is undesirable to suggest voluntary  
extinction in any case4 ,if a man1      
thinking that his family is 8tainted10  
displays so much foresighted patriotism1
 humility1 and lifelong self-denial as  
to have no children1 the presumption is 
that the loss to humanity by the        
discontinuance of such a type is greater
 than the gain4 8,conceit in smallest   
bodies strongest works10 and it does not
 follow that a sense of one's own       
excellence justifies one's utmost       
fecundity or the reverse4 ,mr4 ,vrooman1
 who1 with ,mrs4 ,vrooman1 founded      
,ruskin ,hall at ,oxford1 writes to much

 the same effect4 ,he argues that people
 intelligent enough and moral enough to 
form such resolutions are just the sort 
of people who ought not to form them4   
,mr4 ,stuart ,menteath also makes a most
 admirable suggestion with regard to    
male and female geniuses who are        
absorbed in their careers4 ,although the
 genius may not have or rear a large    
family1 something might be done to      
preserve the stock by assisting his or  
her brothers and sisters to support and 
educate their children4     ,,iii4      
,,certain ,,wholesale ,,aspects ,,of    
,,man-,,making    #a   ,with a skin of  
infinite delicacy that life will harden 
very speedily1 with a discomforted      
writhing little body1 with a weak and   
wailing outcry that stirs the heart1 the
 creature comes protesting into the     
world1 and unless death win a victory1  
we and chance and the forces of life in 
it1 make out of that soft helplessness a
 man4 ,certain things there are         
inevitable in that man and unalterable1 

stamped upon his being long before the  
moment of his birth1 the inherited      
things1 the inherent things1 his final  
and fundamental self4 ,this is his      
8heredity10 his incurable reality1 the  
thing that out of all his being1 stands 
the test of survival and passes on to   
his children4 ,certain things he must   
be1 certain things he may be1 and       
certain things are for ever beyond his  
scope4 ,that much his parentage defines 
for him1 that is the natural man4  ,but1
 in addition1 there is much else to make
 up the whole adult man as we know him4 
,there is all that he has learnt since  
his birth1 all that he has been taught  
to do and trained to do1 his language1  
the circle of ideas he has taken to     
himself1 the disproportions that come   
from unequal exercise and the bias due  
to circumambient suggestion4 ,there are 
a thousand habits and a thousand        
prejudices1 powers undeveloped and skill
 laboriously acquired4 ,there are scars 
upon his body1 and scars upon his mind4 

,all these are secondary things1 things 
capable of modification and avoidance2  
they constitute the manufactured man1   
the artificial man4 ,and it is chiefly  
with all this superposed and adherent   
and artificial portion of a man that    
this and the following paper will deal4 
,the question of improving the breed1 of
 raising the average human heredity we  
have discussed and set aside4 ,we are   
going to draw together now as many      
things as possible that bear upon the   
artificial constituent1 the made and    
controllable constituent in the mature  
and fully-developed man4 ,we are going  
to consider how it is built up and how  
it may be built up1 we are going to     
attempt a rough analysis of the whole   
complex process by which the civilized  
citizen is evolved from that raw and    
wailing little creature4  ,before his   
birth1 at the very moment when his being
 becomes possible1 the inherent         
qualities and limitations of a man are  
settled for good and all1 whether he    

will be a negro or a white man1 whether 
he will be free or not of inherited     
disease1 whether he will be passionate  
or phlegmatic or imaginative or         
six-fingered or with a snub or aquiline 
nose4 ,and not only that1 but even      
before his birth the qualities that are 
not strictly and inevitably inherited   
are also beginning to be made4 ,the     
artificial1 the avoidable handicap also1
 may have commenced in the worrying1 the
 overworking or the starving of his     
mother4 ,in the first few months of his 
life very slight differences in         
treatment may have life-long            
consequences4 ,no doubt there is an     
extraordinary recuperative power in very
 young children2 if they do not die     
under neglect or ill-treatment they     
recover to an extent incomparably       
greater than any adult could do1 but    
there remains still a wide marginal     
difference between what they become and 
what they might have been4 ,with every  
year of life the recuperative quality   

diminishes1 the initial handicap becomes
 more irrevocable1 the effects of       
ill-feeding1 of unwholesome             
surroundings1 of mental and moral       
infections1 become more inextricably a  
part of the growing individuality4 ,and 
so we may well begin our study by       
considering the circumstances under     
which the opening phase1 the first five 
years of life1 are most safely and      
securely passed4  ,food1 warmth1        
cleanliness and abundant fresh air there
 must be from the first1 and unremitting
 attention1 such attention as only love 
can sustain4 ,and in addition there must
 be knowledge4 ,it is a pleasant        
superstition that ,nature 7who in such  
connections becomes feminine and assumes
 a capital ,n7 is to be trusted in these
 matters4 ,it is a pleasant superstition
 to which1 some of us1 under the        
agreeable counsels of sentimental       
novelists1 of thoughtless mercenary     
preachers1 and ignorant and indolent    
doctors1 have offered up a child or so4 

,we are persuaded to believe that a     
mother has an instinctive knowledge of  
whatever is necessary for a child's     
welfare1 and the child1 until it reaches
 the knuckle-rapping age at least1 an   
instinctive knowledge of its own        
requirements4 ,whatever proceedings are 
most suggestive of an ideal naked savage
 leading a 8natural0 life1 are supposed 
to be not only more advantageous to the 
child but in some mystical way more     
moral4 ,the spectacle of an undersized  
porter-fed mother1 for example1 nursing 
a spotted and distressful baby1 is      
exalted at the expense of the clean and 
simple artificial feeding that is often 
advisable to-day4 ,yet the mortality of 
first-born children should indicate that
 a modern woman carries no instinctive  
system of baby management about with her
 in her brain1 even if her savage       
ancestress had anything of the sort1 and
 both the birth rate and the infantile  
death rate of such noble savages as our 
civilization has any chance of          

observing1 suggest a certain generous   
carelessness1 a certain spacious        
indifference to individual misery1      
rather than a trustworthy precision of  
individual guidance about ,nature's way4
  ,this cant of ,nature's               
trustworthiness is partly a survival of 
the day of ,rousseau and ,sturm 7of the 
,reflections71 when untravelled men1    
orthodox and unorthodox alike1 in       
artificial wigs1 spouted in unison in   
this regard2 partly it is the half      
instinctive tactics of the lax and      
lazy-minded to evade trouble and        
austerities4 ,the incompetent medical   
practitioner1 incapable of regimen1     
repeats this cant even to-day1 though he
 knows full well that1 left to ,nature1 
men over-eat themselves almost as       
readily as dogs1 contract a thousand    
diseases and exhaust their last vitality
 at fifty1 and that half the white women
 in the world would die with their first
 children still unborn4 ,he knows1 too1 
that to the details of such             

precautionary measures as vaccination1  
for example1 instinct is strongly       
opposed1 and that drainage and filterage
 and the use of soap in washing are     
manifestly unnatural things4 ,that      
large1 naked1 virtuous1 pink1 ,natural  
,man1 drinking pure spring water1 eating
 the fruits of the earth1 and living to 
ninety in the open air is a fantasy2 he 
never was nor will be4 ,the real savage 
is a nest of parasites within and       
without1 he smells1 he rots1 he starves4
 ,forty is a great age for him4 ,he is  
as full of artifice as his civilized    
brother1 only not so wise4 ,as for his  
moral integrity1 let the curious        
inquirer seek an account of the         
,tasmanian1 or the ,australian1 or the  
,polynesian before 8sophistication0     
came4  ,the very existence and nature of
 man is an interference with ,nature and
 ,nature's ways1 using ,nature in this  
sense of the repudiation of expedients4 
,man is the tool-using animal1 the      
word-using animal1 the animal of        

artifice and reason1 and the only       
possible 8return to ,nature0 for him--if
 we scrutinize the phrase--would be a   
return to the scratching1 promiscuous1  
arboreal simian4 ,to rebel against      
instinct1 to rebel against limitation1  
to evade1 to trip up1 and at last to    
close with and grapple and conquer the  
forces that dominate him1 is the        
fundamental being of man4 ,and from the 
very outset of his existence1 from the  
instant of his birth1 if the best       
possible thing is to be made of him1    
wise contrivance must surround him4 ,the
 soft1 new1 living thing must be watched
 for every sign of discomfort1 it must  
be weighed and measured1 it must be     
thought about1 it must be talked to and 
sung to1 skilfully and properly1 and    
presently it must be given things to see
 and handle that the stirring germ of   
its mind may not go unsatisfied4 ,from  
the very beginning1 if we are to do our 
best for a child1 there must be         
forethought and knowledge quite beyond  

the limit of instinct's poor equipment4 
,now1 for a child to have all these     
needs supplied implies certain other    
conditions4 ,the constant loving        
attention is to be got only from a      
mother or from some well-affected girl  
or woman4 ,it is not a thing to be hired
 for money1 nor contrivable on any      
wholesale plan4 ,possibly there may be  
ways of cherishing and nursing infants  
by wholesale that will keep them alive1 
but at best these are second best ways1 
and we are seeking the best possible4 ,a
 very noble1 exceptionally loving and   
quite indefatigable woman might         
conceivably direct the development of   
three or four little children from their
 birth onward1 or1 with very good       
assistance1 even of six or seven at a   
time1 as well as a good mother could do 
for one1 but it would be a very rare and
 wonderful thing4 ,we must put that     
aside as an exceptional thing1 quite    
impossible to provide when it is most   
needed1 and we must fall back upon the  

fact that the child must have a mother  
or nurse--and it must have that         
attendant exclusively to itself for the 
first year or so of life4 ,the mother or
 nurse must be in health1 physically and
 morally1 well fed and contented1 and   
able to give her attention mainly1 if   
not entirely1 to the little child4 ,the 
child must lie warmly in a              
well-ventilated room1 with some one     
availably in hearing day and night1     
there must be plentiful warm water to   
wash it1 plenty of wrappings and        
towellings and so forth for it2 it is   
best to take it often into the open air1
 and for this1 under urban or suburban  
conditions at any rate1 a perambulator  
is almost necessary4 ,the room must be  
clean and brightly lit1 and prettily and
 interestingly coloured if we are to get
 the best results4 ,these things imply a
 certain standard of prosperity in the  
circumstances of the child's birth4     
,either the child must be fed in the    
best way from a mother in health and    

abundance1 or if it is to be bottle fed1
 there must be the most elaborate       
provision for sterilizing and warming   
the milk1 and adjusting its composition 
to the changing powers of the child's   
assimilation4 ,these conditions imply a 
house of a certain standard of comfort  
and equipment1 and it is manifest the   
mother cannot be earning her own living 
before and about the time of the child's
 birth1 nor1 unless she is going to     
employ a highly skilled1 trustworthy1   
and probably expensive person as nurse1 
for some year or so after it4 ,she or   
the nurse must be of a certain standard 
of intelligence and education1 trained  
to be observant and keep her temper1 and
 she must speak her language with a     
good1 clear accent4 ,moreover1 behind   
the mother and readily available1 must  
be a highly-skilled medical man4  ,not  
to have these things means a handicap4  
,not to have that very watchful feeding 
and attention at first means a loss of  
nutrition1 a retarding of growth1 that  

will either never be recovered or will  
be recovered later at the expense of    
mental development or physical strength4
 ,the early handicap may also involve a 
derangement of the digestion1 a         
liability to stomachic and other        
troubles1 that may last throughout life4
 ,not to have the singing and talking1  
and the varied interest of coloured     
objects and toys1 means a falling away  
from the best mental development1 and a 
taciturn nurse1 or a nurse with a base  
accent1 means backwardness and needless 
difficulty with the beginning of speech4
 ,not to be born within reach of        
abundant changes of clothing and        
abundant water1 means--however          
industrious and cleanly the instincts of
 nurse and mother--a lack of the highest
 possible cleanliness and a lack of     
health and vitality4 ,and the absence of
 highly-skilled medical advice1 or the  
attentions of over-worked and           
under-qualified practitioners1 may      
convert a transitory crisis or a passing

 ailment into permanent injury or fatal 
disorder4  ,it is very doubtful if these
 most favourable conditions fall to the 
lot of more than a quarter of the       
children born to-day even in ,england1  
where infant mortality is at its lowest4
 ,the rest start handicapped4 ,they     
start handicapped1 and fail to reach    
their highest possible development4     
,they are born of mothers preoccupied by
 the necessity of earning a living or by
 vain occupations1 or already battered  
and exhausted by immoderate             
child-bearing2 they are born into       
insanity and ugly or inconvenient homes1
 their mothers or nurses are ignorant   
and incapable1 there is insufficient    
food or incompetent advice1 there is1 if
 they are town children1 nothing for    
their lungs but vitiated air1 and there 
is not enough sunlight for them4 ,and   
accordingly they fall away at the very  
outset from what they might be1 and for 
the most part they never recover their  
lost start4  ,just what this handicap   

amounts to1 so far as it works out in   
physical consequences1 is to be gauged  
by certain almost classical figures1    
which ,i have here ventured to present  
again in graphic form4 ,these figures do
 not present our total failure1 they    
merely show how far the less fortunate  
section of the community falls short of 
the more fortunate4 ,they are taken from
 ,clifford ,allbutt's ,system of        
,medicine 7art4 8,hygiene of ,youth10   
,dr4 ,clement ,dukes74 #ae1efd boys and 
young men were measured and weighed to  
get these figures4 ,the black columns   
indicate the weight 7#i lbs4 of clothes7
 and height respectively of youths of   
the town artisan population1 for the    
various ages from ten to twenty-five    
indicated at the heads of the columns4  
,the white additions to these columns   
indicate the additional weight and      
height of the more favoured classes at  
the same ages4 ,public school-boys1     
naval and military cadets1 medical and  
university students1 were taken to      

represent the more favoured classes4 ,it
 will be noted that while the growth in 
height of the lower class boy falls     
short from the very earliest years1 the 
strain of the adolescent period tells   
upon his weight1 and no doubt upon his  
general stamina1 most conspicuously4    
,these figures1 it must be borne in     
mind1 deal with the living members of   
each class at the ages given4 ,the      
mortality1 however1 in the black or     
lower class is probably far higher than 
in the upper class year by year1 and if 
this could be allowed for it would      
greatly increase the apparent failure of
 the lower class4 ,and these matters of 
height and weight are only coarse       
material deficiencies4 ,they serve to   
suggest1 but they do not serve to gauge1
 the far graver and sadder loss1 the    
invisible and immeasurable loss through 
mental and moral qualities undeveloped1 
through activities warped and crippled  
and vitality and courage lowered4       
,moreover1 defective as are these urban 

artisans1 they are1 after all1 much more
 8picked0 than the youth of the upper   
classes4 ,they are survivors of a much  
more stringent process of selection than
 goes on amidst the more hygienic upper 
and middle-class conditions4 ,the       
opposite three columns represent the    
mortality of children under five in     
,rutlandshire1 where it is lowest1 in   
the year #aijj1 in ,dorsetshire1 a      
reasonably good county1 and in          
,lancashire1 the worst in ,england1 for 
the same year4 ,each entire column      
represents #a1jjj births1 and the       
blackened portion represents the        
proportion of that #a1jjj dead before   
the fifth birthday4 ,now1 unless we are 
going to assume that the children born  
in ,lancashire are inherently weaker    
than the children born in ,rutland or   
,dorset--and there is not the shadow of 
a reason why we should believe that--we 
must suppose that at least #afa children
 out of every #a1jjj in ,lancashire were
 killed by the conditions into which    

they were born4 ,that excess of         
blackness in the third column over that 
in the first represents a holocaust of  
children1 that goes on year by year1 a  
perennial massacre of the innocents1 out
 of which no political capital can be   
made1 and which is accordingly outside  
the sphere of practical politics        
altogether as things are at present4    
,the same men who spouted infinite      
mischief because a totally unforeseen   
and unavoidable epidemic of measles     
killed some thousands of children in    
,south ,africa1 who1 for some idiotic or
 wicked vote-catching purpose1 attempted
 to turn that epidemic to the permanent 
embitterment of ,dutch and ,english1    
these same men allow thousands and      
thousands of avoidable deaths of        
,english children close at hand to pass 
absolutely unnoticed4 ,the fact that    
more than #ba1jjj little children died  
needlessly in ,lancashire in that very  
same year means nothing to them at all4 
,it cannot be used to embitter race     

against race1 and to hamper that process
 of world unification which it is their 
pious purpose to delay4  ,it does not at
 all follow that even the ,rutland #ajc 
represents the possible minimum of      
infant mortality4 ,one learns from the  
,register-,general's returns for #ahia  
that among the causes of death specified
 in the three counties of ,dorset1      
,wiltshire1 and ,hereford1 where infant 
mortality is scarcely half what it is in
 the three vilest towns in ,england in  
this respect1 ,preston1 ,leicester1 and 
,blackburn1 the number of children      
killed by injury at birth is three times
 as great as it is in these same towns4 
,unclassified 8violence0 also accounts  
for more infant deaths in the country   
than in towns4 ,this suggests pretty    
clearly a delayed and uncertain medical 
attendance and rough conditions1 and it 
points us to still better possibilities4
 ,these diagrams and these facts justify
 together a reasonable hope that the    
mortality of infants under five         

throughout ,england might be brought to 
less than one-third what it is in       
child-destroying ,lancashire at the     
present time1 to a figure that is well  
under ninety in the thousand4  ,a       
portion of infant and child mortality   
represents no doubt the lingering and   
wasteful removal from this world of     
beings with inherent defects1 beings    
who1 for the most part1 ought never to  
have been born1 and need not have been  
born under conditions of greater        
foresight4 ,these1 however1 are the     
merest small fraction of our infant     
mortality4 ,it leaves untouched the fact
 that a vast multitude of children of   
untainted blood and good mental and     
moral possibilities1 as many1 perhaps1  
as #ajj in each #a1jjj born1 die yearly 
through insufficient food1 insufficient 
good air1 and insufficient attention4   
,the plain and simple truth is that they
 are born needlessly4 ,there are still  
too many births for our civilisation to 
look after1 we are still unfit to be    

trusted with a rising birth-rate4       
,footnote3 ,it is a digression from the 
argument of this ,paper1 but ,i would   
like to point out here a very popular   
misconception about the birth-rate which
 needs exposure4 ,it is known that the  
birth-rate is falling in all ,european  
countries--a fall which has a very      
direct relation to a rise in the mean   
standard of comfort and the average age 
at marriage--and alarmists foretell a   
time when nations will be extinguished  
through this decline4 ,they ascribe it  
to a certain decay in religious faith1  
to the advance of science and           
scepticism1 and so forth2 it is a part1 
they say1 of a general demoralization4  
,the thing is a popular cant and quite  
unsupported by facts4 ,the decline in   
the birth-rate is--so far as ,england   
and ,wales goes--partly a real decline  
due to a decline in gross immorality1   
partly to a real decline due to the     
later age at which women marry1 and     
partly a statistical decline due to an  

increased proportion of people too old  
or too young for child-bearing4         
,wherever the infant mortality is       
falling there is an apparent misleading 
fall in the birth-rate due to the       
8loading0 of the population with        
children4 ,here are the sort of figures 
that are generally given4 ,they are the 
figures for ,england and ,wales for two 
typical periods4             ,period    
#ahdf-ahej     #cc #h births per #ajjj  
,period #ahif-aijj     #bh #j births per
 #ajjj                                  
----------------------------            
#e4h fall in the birth-rate4  ,this as  
it stands is very striking4 ,but if we  
take the death-rates of these two       
periods we find that they have fallen   
also4             ,period #ahdf-ahej    
#bc #c deaths per #ajjj                 
,period #ahif-aijj     #ag #g deaths per
 #ajjj                                  
----------------------------            
#e4f fall in the death-rate4  ,let us   
subtract death-rate from birth-rate and 

that will give the effective rate of    
increase of the population4             
,period #ahdf-ahej    #aj #e effective  
rate of increase            ,period     
#ahif-aijj    #aj #c effective rate of  
increase                                
---------------------------------       
4#b fall in the rate of increase4  ,but 
now comes a curious thing that those who
 praise the good old pre-,board ,school 
days--the golden age of virtuous        
innocence--ignore4 ,the ,illegitimate   
births in #ahdf-ahej numbered #b4b per  
#ajjj1 in #ahif-aijj they numbered #a4b 
per #ajjj4 ,so that if it were not for  
this fall in illegitimate births the    
period #ahif-aijj would show a positive 
rise in the effective rate of increase  
of 4#h per thousand4 ,the eminent       
persons therefore who ascribe our       
falling birth-rate to irreligion and so 
forth1 either speak without knowledge or
 with some sort of knowledge beyond my  
ken4 ,england is1 as a matter of fact1  
becoming not only more hygienic and     

rational1 but more moral and more       
temperate4 ,the highly moral1 healthy1  
prolific1 pious ,england of the past is 
just another poetical delusion of the   
healthy savage type4  ,these poor little
 souls are born1 amidst tears and       
suffering they gain such love as they   
may1 they learn to feel and suffer1 they
 struggle and cry for food1 for air1 for
 the right to develop2 and our          
civilisation at present has neither the 
courage to kill them outright quickly1  
cleanly1 and painlessly1 nor the heart  
and courage and ability to give them    
what they need4 ,they are overlooked and
 misused1 they go short of food and air1
 they fight their pitiful little battle 
for life against the cruellest odds2 and
 they are beaten4 ,battered1 emaciated1 
pitiful1 they are thrust out of life1   
borne out of our regardless world1 stiff
 little life-soiled sacrifices to the   
spirit of disorder against which it is  
man's preeminent duty to battle4 ,there 
has been all the pain in their lives1   

there has been the radiated pain of     
their misery1 there has been the waste  
of their grudged and insufficient food1 
and all the pain and labour of their    
mothers1 and all the world is the sadder
 for them because they have lived in    
vain4    #b   ,now1 since our imaginary 
,new ,republic1 which is to set itself  
to the making of a better generation of 
men1 will find the possibility of       
improving the race by selective breeding
 too remote for anything but further    
organised inquiry1 it is evident that   
its first point of attack will have to  
be the wastage of such births as the    
world gets to-day4 ,throughout the world
 the ,new ,republic will address itself 
to this problem1 and when a working     
solution has been obtained1 then the    
,new ,republican on press and platform1 
the ,new ,republican in pulpit and      
theatre1 the ,new ,republican upon      
electoral committee and in the ballot   
box1 will press weightily to see that   
solution realised4 ,upon the theory of  

,new ,republicanism as it was discussed 
in our first paper an effective solution
 7effective enough1 let us say1 to      
abolish seventy or eighty per cent47 of 
this scandal of infantile suffering     
would have precedence over almost every 
existing political consideration4  ,the 
problem of securing the maximum chance  
of life and health for every baby born  
into the world is an extremely          
complicated one1 and the reader must not
 too hastily assume that a pithy1       
complete recipe is attempted here4 ,yet1
 complicated though the problem is1     
there does not occur any demonstrable   
impossibility such as there is in the   
question of selective breeding4 ,i      
believe that a solution is possible1    
that its broad lines may be already     
stated1 and that it could very easily be
 worked out to an immediate practical   
application4  ,let us glance first at a 
solution that is now widely understood  
to be incorrect4 ,philanthropic people  
in the past have attempted1 and many are

 still striving1 to meet the birth waste
 by the very obvious expedients of      
lying-in hospitals1 orphanages and      
foundling institutions1 waifs' homes1   
,barnardo institutions and the like1 and
 within certain narrow limits these     
things no doubt serve a useful purpose  
in individual cases4 ,but nowadays there
 is an increasing indisposition to meet 
the general problem by such methods1    
because nowadays people are alive to    
certain ulterior consequences that were 
at first overlooked4 ,any extensive     
relief of parental responsibility we now
 know pretty certainly will serve to    
encourage and stimulate births in just  
those strata of society where it would  
seem to be highly reasonable to believe 
they are least desirable4 ,it is just   
where the chances for a child are least 
that passions are grossest1 basest1 and 
most heedless1 and stand in the greatest
 need of a sense of the gravity of      
possible consequences to control their  
play1 and to render it socially         

innocuous4 ,if we were to take over or  
assist all the children born below a    
certain level of comfort1 or1 rather1 if
 we were to take over their mothers     
before the birth occurred1 and bring up 
that great mass of children under the   
best conditions for them--supposing this
 to be possible--it would only leave our
 successors in the next generation a    
heavier task of the same sort4 ,the     
assisted population would grow          
generation by generation relatively to  
the assisting until the ,sinbad of      
,charity broke down4 ,and quite early in
 the history of ,charities it was found 
that a very grave impediment to their   
beneficial action lay in one of the most
 commendable qualities to be found in   
poor and poorish people1 and that is    
pride4 ,while ,charities1 perhaps1 catch
 the quite hopeless cases1 they leave   
untouched the far more extensive mass of
 births in non-pauper1 not very         
prosperous homes--the lower middle-class
 homes in towns1 for example1 which     

supply a large proportion of poorly     
developed adults to our community4 ,mr4 
,seebohm ,rowntree1 in his 8,poverty0   
7that noble1 able1 valuable book71 has  
shown that nearly thirty per cent4 at   
least of a typical ,english town        
population goes short of the physical   
necessities of life4 ,these people are  
fiercely defensive in such matters as   
this1 and one may no more usurp and     
share their parental responsibility1    
badly though they discharge it1 than one
 may handle the litter of a she-wolf4   
,these considerations alone would       
suffice to make us very suspicious of   
the philanthropic method of direct      
assistance1 so far as the remedial      
aspect goes4 ,but there is another more 
sweeping and comprehensive objection to 
this method4 ,philanthropic             
institutions1 as a matter of fact1      
rarely succeed in doing what they       
profess and intend to do4  ,i do not    
allude here to the countless swindlers  
and sham institutions that levy a       

tremendous tribute upon the heedless    
good4 ,quite apart from that wastage    
altogether1 and speaking only of such   
bon fide institutions as would satisfy  
,mr4 ,labouchere1 they do not work4 ,it 
is one thing for the influential and    
opulent inactive person of good         
intentions to provide a magnificent     
building and a lavish endowment for some
 specific purpose1 and quite another to 
attain in reality the ostensible end of 
the display4 ,it is easy to create a    
general effect of providing comfort and 
tender care for helpless women who are  
becoming mothers1 and of tending and    
training and educating their children1  
but1 in cold fact1 it is impossible to  
get enough capable and devoted people to
 do the work4 ,in cold fact1 lying-in   
hospitals have a tendency to become     
austere1 hard1 unsympathetic1 wholesale 
concerns1 with a disposition to confuse 
and substitute moral for physical       
well-being4 ,in cold fact1 orphanages do
 not present any perplexing resemblance 

to an earthly paradise4 ,however warm   
the heart behind the cheque1 the human  
being at the other end of the chain is  
apt to find the charity no more than a  
rather inhuman machine4 ,shining        
devotees there are1 but able1           
courageous1 and vigorous people are     
rare1 and the world urges a thousand    
better employments upon them than the   
care of inferior mothers and inferior   
children4 ,exceptionally good people owe
 the world the duty of parentage        
themselves1 and it follows that the rank
 and file of those in the service of    
,charity falls far below the standard   
necessary to give these poor children   
that chance in the world the            
cheque-writing philanthropist believes  
he is giving them4 ,the great proportion
 of the servants and administrators of  
,charities are doing that work because  
they can get nothing better to do--and  
it is not considered remarkably         
high-class work4 ,these things have to  
be reckoned with by every philanthropic 

person with sufficient faith to believe 
that an enterprise may not only look    
well1 but do well4 ,one gets a ,waugh or
 a ,barnardo now and then1 a gleam of   
efficiency in the waste1 and for the    
rest this spectacle of stinted thought  
and unstinted giving1 this modern       
,charity1 is often no more than a       
pretentious wholesale substitute for    
retail misery and disaster4 ,fourteen   
million pounds a year1 ,i am told1 go to
 ,british ,charities1 and ,i doubt if   
anything like a fair million's worth of 
palliative amelioration is attained for 
this expenditure4 ,as for any permanent 
improvement1 ,i doubt if all these      
,charities together achieve a net       
advance that could not be got by the    
discreet and able expenditure of ten or 
twelve thousand pounds4  ,it is one of  
the grimmest ironies in life1 that      
athwart the memory of sainted founders  
should be written the most tragic       
consequences4 ,the ,foundling ,hospital 
of ,london1 established by ,coram--to   

save infant lives6--buried1 between     
#agef and #agfj1 #aj1ecd children out of
 #ad1icd received1 and the ,dublin      
,foundling ,hospital 7suppressed in     
#ahce7 had a mortality of eighty per    
cent4 ,the two great ,russian           
institutions are1 ,i gather1 about      
equally deadly with seventy-five per    
cent41 and the ,italian institutes run  
to about ninety per cent4 ,the          
,florentine boasts a very beautiful and 
touching series of putti by ,delia      
,robbia1 that does little or nothing to 
diminish its death-rate4 ,so far from   
preventing infant murder these places1  
with the noblest intentions in the      
world1 have1 for all practical purposes1
 organized it4 ,the ,london ,foundling1 
be it noted1 in the reorganized form it 
assumed after its first massacres1 is   
not a ,foundling ,hospital at all4 ,an  
extremely limited number of children1   
the illegitimate children of recommended
 respectable but unfortunate mothers1   
are converted into admirable bandsmen   

for the defence of the ,empire or       
trained to be servants for people who   
feel the need of well-trained servants1 
at a gross cost that might well fill the
 mind of many a poor clergyman's son    
with amazement and envy4 ,and this is   
probably a particularly well-managed    
charity4 ,it is doing all that can be   
expected of it1 and stands far above the
 general ,charitable average4  ,every   
,poor ,law ,authority comes into the    
tangles of these perplexities4 ,upon the
 hands of every one of them come        
deserted children1 the children of      
convicted criminals1 the children of    
pauper families1 a miscellaneous pitiful
 succession of responsibilities4 ,the   
enterprises they are forced to undertake
 to meet these charges rest on taxation1
 a financial basis far stabler than the 
fitful good intentions of the rich1 but 
apart from this advantage there is      
little about them to differentiate them 
from ,charities4 ,the method of         
treatment varies from a barrack system1 

in which the children are herded in huge
 asylums like those places between      
,sutton and ,banstead1 to what is       
perhaps preferable1 the system of       
boarding-out little groups of children  
with suitable poor people4 ,provided    
such boarded-out children are           
systematically weighed1 measured and    
examined1 and at once withdrawn when    
they drop below average mental and      
bodily progress1 it would seem more     
likely that a reasonable percentage     
should grow into ordinary useful        
citizens under these latter conditions  
than under the former4  ,it is well1    
however1 to anticipate a very probable  
side result if we make the boarding out 
of pauper children a regular rural      
industry4 ,there will arise in many     
rural homes a very strong pecuniary     
inducement to limit the family4 ,side by
 side will be a couple with eight       
children--of their own1 struggling hard 
to keep them1 and another family with1  
let us say1 two children of their own   

blood and six 8boarded-out10 living in  
relative opulence4 ,that side           
consequence must be anticipated4 ,for my
 own part and for the reasons given in  
the second of these papers1 ,i do not   
see that it is a very serious one so far
 as the future goes1 because ,i do not  
think there is much to choose between   
the 8heredity0 of the rural and the     
urban strain4 ,it is nonsense to pretend
 that we shall get the fine flower of   
the cottage population to board pauper  
children2 we shall induce respectable   
inferior people living in healthy       
conditions to take care of an inferior  
sort of children rescued from unhealthy 
disreputable conditions--that is all4   
,the average inherent quality of the    
resultant adults will be about the same 
whichever element predominates4         
,possibly this indifference may seem    
undesirable4 ,but we must bear in mind  
that the whole problem is hard to cope  
with1 it is an aspect of failure1 and no
 sentimental juggling with facts will   

convert the business into a beautiful or
 desirable thing4 ,somehow or other we  
have to pay4 ,all expedients must be    
palliatives1 all will involve           
sacrifices2 we must1 no doubt1 adopt    
some of them for our present            
necessities1 but they are like famine   
relief works1 to adopt them in          
permanence is a counsel of despair4     
,clearly it is not along these lines    
that the capable men-makers we suppose  
to be attacking the problem will spend  
much of their energies4 ,all the        
experiences of ,charities and ,poor-,law
 ,authorities simply confirm our        
postulate of the necessity of a standard
 of comfort if a child is to have a     
really good initial chance in the world4
 ,the only conceivable solution of this 
problem is one that will ensure that no 
child1 or only a few accidental and     
exceptional children1 will be born      
outside these advantages4 ,it is no good
 trying to sentimentalize the issue     
away4 ,this is the end we must attain1  

to attain any effectual permanent       
improvement in the conditions of        
childhood4 ,a certain number of people  
have to be discouraged and prevented    
from parentage1 and a great number of   
homes have to be improved4 ,how can we  
ensure these ends1 or how far can we go 
towards ensuring them8  ,the first step 
to ensuring them is certainly to do all 
we can to discourage reckless parentage1
 and to render it improbable and        
difficult4 ,we must make sure that      
whatever we do for the children1 the    
burden of parental responsibility must  
not be lightened a feather-weight4 ,all 
the experience of two hundred years of  
charity and poor law legislation        
sustains that4 ,but to accept that as a 
first principle is one thing1 and to    
apply it by using a wretched little     
child as our instrument in the exemplary
 punishment of its parent is another4   
,at present that is our hideous         
practice4 ,so long as the parents are   
not convicted criminals1 so long as they

 do not practise indictable cruelty upon
 their offspring1 so long as the        
children themselves fall short of       
criminality1 we insist upon the parent  
8keeping0 the child4 ,it may be manifest
 the child is ill-fed1 harshly treated1 
insufficiently clothed1 dirty and living
 among surroundings harmful to body and 
soul alike1 but we merely take the      
quivering damaged victim and point the  
moral to the parent4 8,this is what     
comes of your recklessness10 we say4    
8,aren't you ashamed of it80 ,and after 
inscrutable meditations the fond parent 
usually answers us by sending out the   
child to beg or sell matches or by some 
equally effective retort4 ,now a great  
number of excellent people pretend that 
this is a dilemma4 8,take the child     
away10 it is argued1 8and you remove one
 of the chief obstacles to the reckless 
reproduction of the unfit4 ,leave it in 
the parents' hands and you must have the
 cruelty40 ,but really this is not a    
dilemma at all4 ,there is a quite       

excellent middle way4 ,it may not be    
within the sphere of practical politics 
at present--if not1 it is work for the  
,new ,republic to get it there--but it  
would practically settle all this       
problem of neglected children4 ,this way
 is simply to make the parent the debtor
 to society on account of the child for 
adequate food1 clothing1 and care for at
 least the first twelve or thirteen     
years of life1 and in the event of      
parental default to invest the local    
authority with exceptional powers of    
recovery in this matter4 ,it would be   
quite easy to set up a minimum standard 
of clothing1 cleanliness1 growth1       
nutrition and education1 and provide1   
that if that standard was not maintained
 by a child1 or if the child was found  
to be bruised or maimed without the     
parents being able to account for these 
injuries1 the child should be at once   
removed from the parental care1 and the 
parents charged with the cost of a      
suitable maintenance--which need not be 

excessively cheap4 ,if the parents      
failed in the payments they could be put
 into celibate labour establishments to 
work off as much of the debt as they    
could1 and they would not be released   
until their debt was fully discharged4  
,legislation of this type would not only
 secure all and more of the advantages  
children of the least desirable sort now
 get from charities and public          
institutions1 but it would certainly    
invest parentage with a quite           
unprecedented gravity for the reckless1 
and it would enormously reduce the      
number of births of the least desirable 
sort4 ,into this net1 for example1 every
 habitual drunkard who was a parent     
would1 for his own good and the world's1
 be almost certain to fall4 ,footnote3  
,mr4 ,c4 ,g4 ,stuart ,menteath has      
favored me with some valuable comments  
upon this point4 ,he writes3 8,i agree  
that calling such persons as have shown 
themselves incapable of parental duties 
debtors to the ,state1 would help to    

reconcile popular ideas of the #8liberty
 of the subject' with the enforcement as
 well as the passing of such laws4 ,but 
the notions of drastically enforcing    
parental duties1 and of discouraging and
 even prohibiting the marriages of those
 unable to show their ability to perform
 these duties1 has long prevailed4 ,see 
,nicholl's ,history of the ,poor ,law   
7#ahih1 ,new ,edition71 i4 #bbi1 and ii4
 #adj1 #bgh1 where you will find        
chargeable bastardy has been punishable 
in the first offence by one year's      
imprisonment1 and in the second1 by     
imprisonment until sureties are given1  
which thus might amount to imprisonment 
for life4 ,see also1 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1     
,political ,economy1 ,bk4 ,,ii41 ch4    
ii41 for extreme legislation on the     
,continent against the marriage of      
people unable to support a family4 ,in  
,denmark there seem to be very severe   
laws impeding the marriage of those who 
have been paupers4 ,the ,english law was
 sufficiently effective to produce      

infanticide1 so that a law was passed   
making concealment of birth almost      
infanticide40  ,so much for the worst   
fringe of this question1 the maltreated 
children1 the children of the slum1 the 
children of drunkards and criminals1 and
 the illegitimate4 ,but the bulk of the 
children of deficient growth1 the bulk  
of the excessive mortality1 lies above  
the level of such intervention1 and the 
method of attack of the ,new ,republican
 must be less direct4 ,happily there    
already exists a complicated mass of    
legislation that without any essential  
change of principle could be applied to 
this object4  ,the first of the         
expedients which would lead to a        
permanent improvement in these matters  
is the establishment of a minimum of    
soundness and sanitary convenience in   
houses1 below which standard it shall be
 illegal to inhabit a house at all4     
,there should be a certain relation     
between the size of rooms and their     
ventilating appliances1 a certain       

minimum of lighting1 certain conditions 
of open space about the house and sane  
rules about foundations and materials4  
,these regulations would vary with the  
local density of population--many things
 are permissible in ,romney marsh1 for  
example1 which the south-west wind      
sweeps everlastingly1 that would be     
deadly in ,rotherhithe4 ,at present in  
,england there are local building       
regulations1 for the most part vexatious
 and stupid to an almost incredible     
degree1 and compiled without either     
imagination or understanding1 but it    
should be possible to substitute for    
these a national minimum of habitability
 without any violent revolution4 ,a     
house that failed to come up to this    
minimum--which might begin very low and 
be raised at intervals of years--would1 
after due notice1 be pulled down4 ,it   
might be pulled down and the site taken 
over and managed by the local           
authority--allowing its owner a portion 
of its value in compensation--if it was 

evident his failure to keep up to the   
standard had an adequate excuse4 ,in    
time it might be possible to level up   
the minimum standard of all tenements in
 towns and urban districts at any rate  
to the possession of a properly equipped
 bathroom for example1 without which1   
for hardworking people1 regular         
cleanliness is a practical              
impossibility4 ,this process of         
levelling-up the minimum tenement would 
be enormously aided by a philanthropic  
society which would devote itself to the
 study of building methods and          
materials1 to the evolution of          
conveniences1 and the direction of      
invention to lessening the cost and     
complication of building wholesome      
dwellings4  ,the state of repair of     
inhabited buildings is also already a   
matter of public concern4 ,all that is  
needed is a slow1 persistent            
tightening-up of the standard4 ,this    
would ensure1 at any rate1 that the     
outer shell of the child's surroundings 

gave it a fair chance in life4 ,in the  
next place comes legislation against    
overcrowding4 ,there must be a maximum  
number of inhabitants to any tenement1  
and a really sane law will be far more  
stringent to secure space and air for   
young children than for adults4 ,there  
is little reason1 except the possible   
harbouring of parasites and infectious  
disease1 why five or six adults should  
not share a cask on a dust heap as a    
domicile--if it pleases them4 ,but      
directly children come in we touch the  
future4 ,the minimum permissible        
tenement for a maximum of two adults and
 a very young child is one properly     
ventilated room capable of being heated1
 with close and easy access to sanitary 
conveniences1 a constant supply of water
 and easy means of getting warm water4  
,more than one child should mean another
 room1 and it seems only reasonable if  
we go so far as this1 to go further and 
require a minimum of furniture and      
equipment1 a fire-guard1 for instance1  

and a separate bed or cot for the child4
 ,in a civilized community little       
children should not sleep with adults1  
and the killing of children by          
8accidental0 overlaying should be a     
punishable offence4 ,footnote3 ,in the  
returns ,i have quoted from ,blackburn1 
,leicester1 and ,preston the number of  
deaths from suffocation per #ajj1jjj    
infants born was #bcb in the first year 
of life4   ,if a woman does not wish to 
be dealt with as a half-hearted         
murderess she should not behave like    
one4 ,it should also be punishable on   
the part of a mother to leave children  
below a certain age alone for longer    
than a certain interval4 ,it is absurd  
to punish people as we do1 for the      
injuries inflicted by them upon their   
children during uncontrollable anger1   
and not to punish them for the injuries 
inflicted by uncontrolled carelessness4 
,such legislation should ensure children
 space1 air and attention4 ,footnote3   
,it is less within the range of commonly

 grasped ideas1 it is therefore less    
within the range of practical           
expedients1 to point out that a         
graduated scale of building regulation  
might be contrived for use in different 
localities4 ,districts could be classed 
in grades determined by the position of 
each district in the scale of infant    
mortality1 and in those in which the    
rate was highest the hygienic standard  
could be made most stringent and onerous
 upon the house owner4 ,this would force
 up the price of house-room1 and that   
would force up the price of labour1 and 
this would give the proprietors of      
unwholesome industries a personal       
interest in hygienic conditions about   
them4 ,it would also tend to force      
population out of districts             
intrinsically unhealthy into districts  
intrinsically healthy4 ,the statistics  
of low-grade districts could be examined
 to discover the distinctive diseases   
which determine their lowness of grade1 
and if these were preventable diseases  

they could be controlled by special     
regulations4 ,a further extension of    
these principles might be made4 ,direct 
inducements to attract the high         
birth-rates towards exceptionally       
healthy districts could be contrived by 
a differential rating of sound families 
with children in such districts1 the    
burthen of heavy rates could be thrown  
upon silly and selfish landowners who   
attempted to stifle sound populations by
 using highly habitable areas as golf   
links1 private parks1 game preserves1   
and the like1 and public-spirited people
 could combine to facilitate            
communications that would render life in
 such districts compatible with         
industrial occupation4 ,such deliberate 
redistribution of population as this    
differential treatment of districts     
involves1 is1 however1 quite beyond the 
available power and intelligence of our 
public control at present1 and ,i       
suggest it here as something that our   
grandchildren perhaps may begin to      

consider4 ,but if in the obscurity of   
this footnote ,i may let myself go1 ,i  
would point out that1 in the future1 a  
time may come when locomotion will be so
 swift and convenient and cheap that it 
will be unnecessary to spread out the   
homes of our great communities where the
 industrial and trading centres are     
gathered together2 it will be           
unnecessary for each district to sustain
 the renewal and increase of its own    
population4 ,certain wide regions will  
become specifically administrative and  
central--the home lands1 the mother     
lands1 the centres of education and     
population1 and others will become      
specifically fields of action4          
,something of this kind is to a slight  
degree already the case with ,scotland1 
which sends out its hardy and capable   
sons wherever the world has need of     
them2 the ,swiss mountains1 too1 send   
their sons far and wide in the world2   
and on the other hand1 with regard to   
certain elements of population1 at any  

rate1 ,london and the ,gold ,coast and1 
,i suspect1 some regions in the ,united 
,states of ,america1 receive to consume4
  ,but it will be urged that these      
things are likely to bear rather        
severely on the very poor parent4 ,to   
which a growing number of people will   
reply that the parent should not be a   
parent under circumstances that do not  
offer a fair prospect of sound          
child-birth and nurture4 ,it is no good 
trying to eat our cake and have it2 if  
the parent does not suffer the child    
will1 and of the two1 we1 of the ,new   
,republic1 have no doubt that the child 
is the more important thing4  ,it may be
 objected1 however1 that existing       
economic conditions make life very      
uncertain for many very sound and       
wholesome kinds of people1 and that it  
is oppressive and likely to rob the     
,state of good citizens to render       
parentage burthensome1 and to surround  
it with penalties4 ,but that directs our
 attention to a second scheme of        

expedients which have crystallized about
 the expression1 the ,minimum ,wage4    
,the cardinal idea of this group of     
expedients is this1 that it is unjust   
and cruel in the present and detrimental
 to the future of the world to let any  
one be fully employed at a rate of      
payment at which a wholesome1 healthy1  
and1 by the standards of comfort at the 
time1 a reasonable happy life is        
impossible4 ,it is better in the long   
run that people whose character and     
capacity will not render it worth while 
to employ them at the ,minimum ,wage    
should not be employed at all4 ,the     
sweated employment of such people1 as   
,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,sidney ,webb show most  
conclusively in their great work1       
8,industrial ,democracy10 arrests the   
development of labour-saving machinery1 
replaces and throws out of employment   
superior and socially more valuable     
labour1 enables these half capables to  
establish base families of inadequately 
fed and tended children 7which presently

 collapse upon public and private       
charity71 and so lowers and keeps down  
the national standard of life4 ,as these
 writers show very clearly1 an industry 
that cannot adequately sustain sound    
workers is not in reality a source of   
public wealth at all1 but a disease and 
a parasite upon the public body4 ,it is 
eating up citizens the ,state has had   
the expense of educating1 and very often
 the indirect cost of rearing4          
,obviously the minimum wage for a       
civilized adult male should be          
sufficient to cover the rent of the     
minimum tenement permissible with three 
or four children1 the maintenance of    
himself and his wife and children above 
the minimum standard of comfort1 his    
insurance against premature or          
accidental death or temporary economic  
or physical disablement1 some minimum   
provision for old age and a certain     
margin for the exercise of his          
individual freedom4 ,footnote3 ,an      
excellent account of experiments already

 tried in the establishment of a        
,minimum ,wage will be found in ,w4,p4  
,reeves' ,state ,experiments in         
,australia and ,new ,zealand1 vol4 ii41 
p4 #dg et seq4  ,so that while those who
 are bent on this conception of making  
economy in life and suffering the       
guiding principle of their public and   
social activity1 are seeking to brace up
 the quality of the home on the one     
hand1 they must also do all they can to 
bring about the realization of this     
ideal of a minimum wage on the other4   
,in the case of government and public   
employment and of large1 well-organized 
industries1 the way is straight and     
open1 and the outlook very hopeful4     
,wherever licenses1 tariffs1 and any    
sort of registration occurs there are   
practicable means of bringing in this   
expedient4 ,but where the employment is 
shifting and sporadic1 or free from     
regulation1 there we have a rent in our 
social sieve1 and the submissive1 eager 
inferior will still come in1 the        

failures of our own race1 the immigrant 
from baser lands1 desperately and       
disastrously underselling our sound     
citizens4 ,obviously we must use every  
contrivance we can to mend these rents1 
by promoting the organization of        
employments in any way that will not    
hamper progress in economic production4 
,and if we can persuade the ,trade      
,unions--and there is every sign that   
the old mediaeval guild conception of   
water-tight trade limitations is losing 
its hold upon those organizations--to   
facilitate the movement of workers from 
trade to trade under the shifting stress
 of changing employment and of changing 
economy of production1 we shall have    
gone far to bring the possibilities of  
the rising operative up to the standard 
of the minimum home permissible for     
children4  ,these things--if we could   
bring them about--would leave us with a 
sort of clarified ,problem of the       
,unemployed on our hands4 ,our ,minimum 
,wage would have strained these people  

out1 and1 provided there existed what is
 already growing up1 an intelligent     
system of employment bureaus1 we should 
have much more reason to conclude than  
we have at present1 that they were      
mainly unemployed because of a real     
incapacity in character1 strength1 or   
intelligence for efficient citizenship4 
,our raised standards of housing1 our   
persecution of overcrowding1 and our    
obstruction of employment below the     
minimum wage1 would have swept out the  
rookeries and hiding-places of these    
people of the ,abyss4 ,they would exist1
 but they would not multiply--and that  
is our supreme end4 ,they would be      
tramping on roads where mendicity laws  
would prevail1 there would be no        
house-room for them1 no                 
squatting-places4 ,the casual wards     
would catch them and register them1 and 
telephone one to the other about them4  
,it is rare that children come into this
 world without a parent or so being     
traceable4 ,everything would converge to

 convince these people that to bear     
children into such an unfavourable      
atmosphere is an extremely inconvenient 
and undesirable thing4 ,they would not  
have many children1 and such children as
 they had would fall easily into our    
organized net and get the protection of 
the criticised and improved development 
of the existing charitable institutions4
 ,footnote3 8,i wonder whether there is 
any legal flaw in the second section of 
the ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,children
 ,act of #ahid1 which may have been     
specially aimed at beggars with         
offspring4 ,it is specially punishable  
to beg having an infant in their arms1  
quite apart from teaching the infant in 
question to beg4 ,or is this law        
insufficiently enforced through popular 
apathy80--,c4 ,g4 ,,stuart ,,menteath4  
,this is the best we can do for those   
poor little creatures4 ,as for that     
increasing section of the ,abyss that   
will contrive to live childless1 these  
papers have no quarrel with them4 ,a    

childless wastrel is a terminating evil1
 and it may be1 a picturesque evil4 ,i  
must confess that a lazy rogue is very  
much to my taste1 provided there is no  
tragedy of children to smear the joke   
with misery4 ,and if he or she neither  
taints nor tempts the children1 who are 
our care1 a childless weakling we may   
freely let our pity and mercy go out to4
 ,to go childless is in them a virtue   
for which they merit our thanks4  ,these
 are the first necessities1 then1 in the
 ,making of ,men and the bettering of   
the world1 this courageous interference 
with what so many people call 8,nature's
 methods0 and 8,nature's laws10 though1 
indeed1 they are no more than the       
methods and laws of the beasts4 ,by such
 expedients we may hope to see1 first1 a
 certain fall in the birth-rate1 a fall 
chiefly in the birth-rate of            
improvident1 vicious1 and feeble types1 
a continuation1 in fact1 of that fall   
that is already so conspicuous in       
illegitimate births in ,great ,britain2 

secondly1 a certain1 almost certainly   
more considerable fall in the death-rate
 of infants and young children1 and that
 fall in the infantile death-rate will  
serve to indicate1 thirdly1 a fall no   
statistics will fully demonstrate in    
what ,i may call the partial death-rate1
 the dwarfing and limiting of that      
innumerable host of children who do1 in 
an underfed1 meagre sort of a way1      
survive4 ,this raising of the standard  
of homes will do a work that will not   
end with the children2 the death-line   
will sag downward for all the first     
twenty or thirty years of life4         
,dull-minded1 indolent1 prosperous      
people will say that all this is no more
 than a proposal to make man better by  
machinery1 that you cannot reform the   
world by ,board of ,trade ,regulations  
and all the rest of it4 ,they will say  
that such work as this is a scheme of   
grim materialism1 and that the ,soul of 
,man gains no benefit by this 8so-called
 ,progress10 that it is not birth-rates 

that want raising but ,ideals4 ,we shall
 deal later with ,ideals in general4    
,here ,i will mention only one1 and that
 is1 unhappily1 only an ,ideal          
,argument4 ,i wish ,i could get together
 all these people who are so scornful of
 materialistic things1 out of the       
excessively comfortable houses they     
inhabit1 and ,i wish ,i could           
concentrate them in a good typical ,east
 ,london slum--five or six together in  
each room1 one lodging with another1 and
 ,i wish ,i could leave them there to   
demonstrate the superiority of high     
ideals to purely material considerations
 for the rest of their earthly career   
while we others went on with our sordid 
work unencumbered by their ideality4    
,think what these dry-looking projects  
of building and trade regulation1 and   
inspection and sanitation1 mean in      
reality6 think of the promise they hold 
out to us of tears and suffering        
abolished1 of lives invigorated and     
enlarged6   ,endnote #a  ,i am greatly  

obliged to ,mr4 ,j4 ,leaver for a copy  
of the following notice3   8,,deaths    
,,of ,,children ,,from ,,burning4  8,,to
 ,,parents ,,and ,,guardians4           
8,attention is drawn to the frequency   
with which the death of young children  
is caused owing to their clothing taking
 fire at unprotected firegrates4 ,during
 the years #ahii and #aijj inquests were
 held on the bodies of #afhd ,,young    
,,children whose death had resulted from
 burning1 and in #adbe of these cases   
the fire by which the burning was caused
 was unprotected by a guard4  8,with a  
view to prevent such deplorable loss of 
life it is suggested to ,parents and    
,guardians1 who have the care of young  
children1 that it is very desirable that
 efficient fire-guards should be        
provided1 in order to render it         
impossible for children to obtain access
 to the fire-grates4  8,e4 ,r4 ,c4      
,,bradford1  8,the ,commissioner of     
,police of the ,metropolis4             
8,metropolitan ,police ,office1  8,new  

,scotland ,yard1  8,january #bhth1      
#aijb40     ,,iv4 ,,the ,,beginnings    
,,of ,,the ,,mind ,,and ,,language    #a
   ,the newborn child is at first no    
more than an animal4 ,indeed1 it is     
among the lowest and most helpless of   
all animals1 a mere vegetative lump2    
assimilation incarnate--wailing4 ,it is 
for the first day in its life deaf1 it  
squints blindly at the world1 its limbs 
are beyond its control1 its hands clutch
 drowningly at anything whatever that   
drifts upon this vast sea of being into 
which it has plunged so amazingly4 ,and 
imperceptibly1 subtly1 so subtly that   
never at any time can we mark with      
certainty the increment of its coming1  
there creeps into this soft and claimant
 little creature a mind1 a will1 a      
personality1 the beginning of all that  
is real and spiritual in man4 ,in a     
little while there are eyes full of     
interest and clutching hands full of    
purpose1 smiles and frowns1 the babbling
 beginning of expression and affections 

and aversions4 ,before the first year is
 out there is obedience and rebellion1  
choice and self-control1 speech has     
commenced1 and the struggle of the      
newcomer to stand on his feet in this   
world of men4 ,the process is           
unanalyzable2 given a certain measure of
 care and protection1 these things come 
spontaneously2 with the merest rough    
encouragement of things and voices about
 the child1 they are evoked4  ,but every
 day the inherent impulse makes a larger
 demand upon the surroundings of the    
child1 if it is to do its best and      
fullest4 ,obviously1 quite apart from   
physical consequences1 the environment  
of a little child may be good or bad1   
better or worse for it in a thousand    
different ways4 ,it may be distracting  
or over-stimulating1 it may evoke and   
increase fear1 it may be drab and dull  
and depressing1 it may be stupefying1 it
 may be misleading and productive of    
vicious habits of mind4 ,and our        
business is to find just what is the    

best possible environment1 the one that 
will give the soundest and fullest      
growth1 not only of body but of         
intelligence4  ,now from the very       
earliest phase the infant stands in need
 of a succession of interesting things4 
,at first these are mere vague sense    
impressions1 but in a month or so there 
is a distinct looking at objects2       
presently follows reaching and          
clutching1 and soon the little creature 
is urgent for fresh things to see1      
handle1 hear1 fresh experiences of all  
sorts1 fresh combinations of things     
already known4 ,the newborn mind is soon
 as hungry as the body4 ,and if a       
healthy wellfed child cries1 it is      
probably by reason of this unsatisfied  
hunger1 it lacks an interest1 it is     
bored1 that dismal vacant suffering that
 punishes the failure of living things  
to live fully and completely4 ,as ,mr4  
,charles ,booth has pointed out in his  
,life and ,labour of the ,people1 it is 
probable that in this respect the       

children of the relatively poor are     
least at a disadvantage4 ,the very poor 
infant passes its life in the family    
room1 there is a going and coming1 and  
interesting activity of domestic work on
 the part of its mother1 the preparation
 of meals1 the intermittent presence of 
the father1 the whole gamut of its      
mother's unsophisticated temper4 ,it is 
carried into crowded and eventful       
streets at all hours4 ,it participates  
in pothouse soires and assists at the   
business of shopping4 ,it may not lead a
 very hygienic life1 but it does not    
lead a dull one4 ,contrast with its lot 
that of the lonely child of some woman  
of fashion1 leading its beautifully     
non-bacterial life in a carefully       
secluded nursery under the control of a 
virtuous1 punctual1 invariable1         
conscientious rather than emotional     
nurse4 ,the poor little soul wails as   
often for events as the slum baby does  
for nourishment4 ,into its grey nursery 
there rushes every day1 or every other  

day1 a breathless1 preoccupied1         
excessively dressed1 cleverish1         
many-sided1 fundamentally silly1 and    
universally incapable woman1 vociferates
 a little conventional affection1 slaps 
a kiss or so upon her offspring1 and    
goes off again to collect that daily    
meed of admiration and cheap envy which 
is the gusto of her world4 ,after that  
gushing1 rustling1 incomprehensible     
passage1 the child relapses into the    
boring care of its bored hireling for   
another day4 ,the nurse writes her      
letters1 mends her clothes1 reads and   
thinks of the natural interests of her  
own life1 and the child is 8good0 just  
in proportion to the extent to which it 
doesn't 8worry40  ,that1 of course1 is  
an extreme case4 ,it assumes a          
particularly bad mother and a           
particularly ill-chosen nurse1 and what 
is probably only a transitory phase of  
sexual debasement4 ,the average nurse of
 the upper-class child is often a woman 
of highly developed motherly instincts1 

and it is probable that our upper class 
and our upper middle-class is passing or
 has already passed through that phase  
of thought which has made solitary      
children so common in the last decade or
 so4 ,the effective contrast must not   
take us too far4 ,we must remember that 
all women do not possess the passion for
 nursing1 and that some of those who are
 defective in this direction may be1 for
 all that1 women of exceptional gifts   
and capacity1 and fully capable of      
offspring4 ,civilization is based on the
 organized subdivision of labour1 and1  
as the able lady who writes as 8,l'amie 
,inconnue0 in the ,county ,gentleman has
 pointed out in a very helpful criticism
 of the original version of this paper1 
it is as absurd to require every woman  
to be a nursery mother as it is1 to     
require every man to till the soil4 ,we 
move from homogeneous to heterogeneous  
conditions1 and we must beware of every 
generalization we make4  ,for all that1 
one is inclined to think the ideal      

average environment should contain the  
almost constant presence of the mother1 
for no one is so likely to be           
continuously various and interesting and
 untiring as she1 and only as an        
exception1 for exceptional mothers and  
nurses1 can we admit the                
mother-substitute4 ,when we admit her we
 admit other things4 ,it is entirely on 
account of such an ideal environment1 we
 must remember1 that monogamy finds its 
practical sanction2 it claims to ensure 
the presiding mother the maximum of     
security and self-respect4 ,a woman who 
enjoys the full rights of a wife to     
maintenance and exclusive attention1    
without a complete discharge of the     
duties of motherhood1 profits by the    
imputation of things she has failed to  
perform4 ,she may be justified by other 
things1 by an effectual co-operation    
with her husband in joint labours for   
example1 but she has altered her footing
 none the less4 ,to secure an ideal     
environment for children in as many     

cases as possible is the second of the  
two great practical ends--the first     
being sound births1 for which the       
restrictions of sexual morality exist4  
,in addition there is the third almost  
equally important matter of adult       
efficiency2 we have to adjust affairs1  
if we can1 to secure the maximum of     
health1 sane happiness and vigorous     
mental and physical activity1 and to    
abolish1 as far as possible1 passionate 
broodings1 over-stimulated appetites1   
disease1 and destructive indulgence4    
,apart from these aspects1 sexual       
morality is outside the scope of the    
,new ,republican altogether4 4 4 4 ,do  
not let this passage be misunderstood4  
,i do not mean that a ,new ,republican  
ignores sexual morality except on these 
grounds1 but so far as his ,new         
,republicanism goes he does1 just as a  
member of the ,aeronautical ,society1 so
 far as his aeronautical interests go1  
or as an ecclesiastical architect1 so   
far as his architecture goes4  ,the     

ideal environment should1 without any   
doubt at all1 centre about a nursery--a 
clean1 airy1 brightly lit1 brilliantly  
adorned room1 into which there should be
 a frequent coming and going of things  
and people2 but from the time the child 
begins to recognize objects and         
individuals it should be taken for      
little spells into other rooms and      
different surroundings4 ,in the homely1 
convenient1 servantless abode over which
 the able-bodied1 capable1 skilful1     
civilized women of the ordinary sort    
will preside in the future1 the child   
will naturally follow its mother's      
morning activities from room to room4   
,its mother will talk to it1 chance     
visitors will sign to it4 ,there should 
be a public or private garden available 
where its perambulator could stand in   
fine weather2 and its promenades should 
not be too much a matter of routine4 ,to
 go along a road with some traffic is   
better for a child than to go along a   
secluded path between hedges2 a street  

corner is better than a laurel          
plantation as a pitch for perambulators4
  ,when a child is five or six months   
old it will have got a certain use and  
grip with its hands1 and it will want to
 handle and examine and test the        
properties of as many objects as it can4
 ,gifts begin4 ,there seems scope for a 
wiser selection in these early gifts4   
,at present it is chiefly woolly animals
 with bells inside them1 woolly balls1  
and so forth1 that reach the baby's     
hands4 ,there is no reason at all why a 
child's attention should be so          
predominantly fixed on wool4 ,these toys
 are coloured very tastefully1 but as   
,preyer has advanced strong reasons for 
supposing that the child's              
discrimination of colours is extremely  
rudimentary until the second year has   
begun1 these tasteful arrangements are  
simply an appeal to the parent4 ,light1 
dark1 yellow1 perhaps red and 8other    
colours0 seem to constitute the colour  
system of a very young infant4 ,it is to

 the parent1 too1 that the humorous and 
realistic quality of the animal forms   
appeal4 ,the parent does the shopping   
and has to be amused4 ,the parent who   
ought to have a doll instead of a child 
is sufficiently abundant in our world to
 dominate the shops1 and there is a vast
 traffic in facetious baby toys1        
facetious nursery furniture1 8art0      
cushions and 8quaint0 baby clothing1 all
 amazingly delightful things for        
grown-up people4 ,these things are      
bought and grouped about the child1 the 
child is taught tricks to complete the  
picture1 and parentage becomes a very   
amusing afternoon employment4 ,so long  
as convenience is not sacrificed to the 
sthetic needs of the nursery1 and so    
long as common may compete with 8art0   
toys1 there is no great harm done1 but  
it is well to understand how irrelevant 
these things are to the real needs of a 
child's development4  ,a child of a year
 or less has neither knowledge nor      
imagination to see the point of these   

animal resemblances--much less to       
appreciate either quaintness or         
prettiness4 ,that comes only in the     
second year4 ,he is much more interested
 in the crumpling and tearing of paper1 
in the crumpling of chintz1 and in the  
taking off and replacing of the lid of a
 little box4 ,i think it would be       
possible to devise a much more          
entertaining set of toys for an infant  
than is at present procurable1 but1     
unhappily1 they would not appeal to the 
intelligence of the average parent4     
,there would be1 for example1 one or two
 little boxes of different shapes and   
substances1 with lids to take off and   
on1 one or two rubber things that would 
bend and twist about and admit of       
chewing1 a ball and a box made of china1
 a fluffy1 flexible thing like a        
rabbit's tail1 with the vertebr replaced
 by cane1 a velvet-covered ball1 a      
powder puff1 and so on4 ,they could all 
be plainly and vividly coloured with    
some non-soluble inodorous colour4 ,they

 would be about on the cot and on the   
rug where the child was put to kick and 
crawl4 ,they would have to be too large 
to swallow1 and they would all get      
pulled and mauled about until they were 
more or less destroyed4 ,some would     
probably survive for many years as      
precious treasures1 as beloved objects1 
as powers and symbols in the mysterious 
secret fetichism of                     
childhood--confidants and sympathetic   
friends4    #b   ,while the child is    
engaged with its first toys1 and with   
the collection of rudimentary sense     
impressions1 it is also developing a    
remarkable variety of noises and        
babblements from which it will presently
 disentangle speech4 ,day by day it will
 show a stronger and stronger bias to   
associate definite sounds with definite 
objects and ideas1 a bias so            
comparatively powerful in the mind of   
man as to distinguish him from all other
 living creatures4 ,other creatures may 
think1 may1 in a sort of concrete way1  

come almost indefinably near reason 7as 
,professor ,lloyd ,morgan in his very   
delightful ,animal ,life and            
,intelligence has shown72 but man alone 
has in speech the apparatus1 the        
possibility1 at any rate1 of being a    
reasoning and reasonable creature4 ,it  
is1 of course1 not his only apparatus4  
,men may think out things with drawings1
 with little models1 with signs and     
symbols upon paper1 but speech is the   
common way1 the high road1 the current  
coin of thought4  ,with speech humanity 
begins4 ,with the dawn of speech the    
child ceases to be an animal we cherish1
 and crosses the boundary into          
distinctly human intercourse4 ,there    
begins in its mind the development of   
the most wonderful of all conceivable   
apparatus1 a subtle and intricate       
keyboard1 that will end at last with    
thirty or forty or fifty thousand keys4 
,this queer1 staring1 soft little being 
in its mother's arms is organizing      
something within itself1 beside which   

the most wonderful orchestra one can    
imagine is a lump of rude clumsiness4   
,there will come a time when1 at the    
merest touch upon those keys1 image will
 follow image and emotion develop into  
emotion1 when the whole creation1 the   
deeps of space1 the minutest beauties of
 the microscope1 cities1 armies1        
passions1 splendours1 sorrows1 will leap
 out of darkness into the conscious     
being of thought1 when this interwoven  
net of brief1 small sounds will form the
 centre of a web that will hold together
 in its threads the universe1 the ,all1 
visible and invisible1 material and     
immaterial1 real and imagined1 of a     
human mind4 ,and if we are to make the  
best of a child1 it is in no way        
secondary to its physical health and    
growth that it should acquire a great   
and thorough command over speech1 not   
merely that it should speak1 but1 what  
is far more vital1 that it should       
understand swiftly and subtly things    
written and said4 ,indeed1 this is more 

than any physical need4 ,the body is the
 substance and the implement2 the mind1 
built and compact of language1 is the   
man4 ,all that has gone before1 all that
 we have discussed of sound birth and   
physical growth and care1 is no more    
than the making ready of the soil for   
the mind that is to grow therein4 ,as we
 come to this matter of language1 we    
come a step nearer to the intimate      
realities of our subject--we come to the
 mental plant that is to bear the flower
 and the ripe fruit of the individual   
life4 ,the next phase of our inquiry1   
therefore1 is to examine how we can get 
this mental plant1 this foundation      
substance1 this abundant mastered       
language best developed in the          
individual1 and how far we may go to    
ensure this best development for all    
children born into the world4  ,from the
 ninth month onward the child begins    
serious attempts to talk4 ,in order that
 it may learn to do this as easily as   
possible1 it requires to be surrounded  

by people speaking one language1 and    
speaking it with a uniform accent4      
,those who are most in the child's      
hearing should endeavour to speak--even 
when they are not addressing the        
child--deliberately and clearly4 ,all   
authorities are agreed upon the         
mischievous effect of what is called    
8baby talk10 the use of an extensive    
sham vocabulary1 a sort of deciduous    
milk vocabulary that will presently have
 to be shed again4 ,froebel and ,preyer 
join hands on this4 ,the child's funny  
little perversions of speech are really 
genuine attempts to say the right word1 
and we simply cause trouble and hamper  
development if we give back to the      
seeking mind its own blunders again4    
,when a child wants to indicate milk1 it
 wants to say milk1 and not 8mooka0 or  
8mik10 and when it wants to indicate    
bed1 the needed word is not 8bedder0 or 
8bye-bye10 but 8bed40 ,but we give the  
little thing no chance to get on in this
 way until suddenly one day we discover 

it is 8time the child spoke plainly40   
,preyer has pointed out very            
instructively the way in which the quite
 sufficiently difficult matter of the   
use of ,i1 mine1 me1 my1 you1 yours1 and
 your is made still more difficult by   
those about the child adopting          
irregularly the experimental idioms it  
produces4 ,when a child says to its     
mother1 8,me go mome10 it is doing its  
best to speak ,english1 and its remark  
should be received without worrying     
comment2 but when a mother says to her  
child1 8,me go mome10 she is simply     
wasting an opportunity of teaching her  
child its mother-tongue4 ,one           
sympathizes with her all too readily1   
one understands the sweetness to her of 
these soft1 infantile mispronunciations2
 but1 indeed1 she ought to understand2  
it is her primary business to know      
better than her feelings in this affair4
  ,in learning to speak1 the children of
 the more prosperous classes are        
probably at a considerable advantage    

when compared with their poorer fellow  
children4 ,they hear a clearer and more 
uniform intonation than the blurred1    
uncertain speech of our commonalty1 that
 has resulted from the reaction of the  
great synthetic process1 of the past    
century upon dialects4 ,but this natural
 advantage of the richer child is       
discounted in one of two ways3 in the   
first place by the mother1 in the second
 by the nurse4 ,the mother in the more  
prosperous classes is often much more   
vain and trivial than the lower-class   
woman2 she looks to her children for    
amusement1 and makes them contributors  
to her 8effect10 and1 by taking up their
 quaint and pretty mispronunciations1   
and devising humorous additions to their
 natural baby talk1 she teaches them to 
be much greater babies than they could  
ever possibly be themselves4 ,they      
specialise as charming babies until     
their mother tires of the pose1 and then
 they are thrust back into the nursery  
to recover leeway1 if they can1 under   

the care of governess or nurse4  ,the   
second disadvantage of the upper-class  
child is the foreign nurse or nursery   
governess4 ,there is a widely diffused  
idea that a child is particularly apt to
 master and retain languages1 and people
 try and inoculate with ,french and     
,german as ,lord ,herbert of ,cherbury  
would have inoculated children with     
antidotes1 for all the ills their flesh 
was heir to--even1 poor little wretches1
 to an anticipatory regimen for gout4   
,the root error of these attempts to    
form infantile polyglots is embodied in 
an unverified quotation from ,byron's   
,beppo1 dear to pedagogic writers--     
8,wax to receive and marble to retain0  
runs the line--which the curious may    
discover to be a description of the     
faithful lover1 though it has become as 
firmly associated with the child-mind as
 has ,sterne's 8tempering the wind to   
the shorn lamb0 with ,holy ,writ4 ,and  
this idea of infantile receptivity and  
retentiveness is held by an unthinking  

world1 in spite of the universally      
accessible fact that hardly one of us   
can remember anything that happened     
before the age of five1 and very little 
that happened before seven or eight1 and
 that children of five or six1 removed  
into foreign surroundings1 will in a    
year or so--if special measures are not 
taken--reconstruct their idiom1 and     
absolutely forget every word of their   
mother-tongue4 ,this foreign nurse comes
 into the child's world1 bringing with  
her quite weird errors in the           
quantities1 the accent and idiom of the 
mother-tongue1 and greatly increasing   
the difficulty and delay on the road to 
thought and speech4 ,and this attempt to
 acquire a foreign language prematurely 
at the expense of the mother-tongue1 to 
pick it up cheaply by making the nurse  
an informal teacher of languages1       
entirely ignores a fact upon which ,i   
would lay the utmost stress in this     
paper--which1 indeed1 is the gist of    
this paper--that only a very small      

minority of ,english or ,american people
 have more than half mastered the       
splendid heritage of their native       
speech4 ,to this neglected and most     
significant limitation the amount of    
public attention given at present is    
quite surprisingly small4 ,footnote3 ,my
 friend1 ,mr4 ,l4 ,cope ,cornford1      
writes apropos of this1 and ,i think ,i 
cannot do better than print what he says
 as a corrective to my own assertions3  
8,all you say on the importance of      
letting a child hear good ,english      
cleanly accented is admirable2 but we   
think you have perhaps overlooked the   
importance of ear-training as such1     
which should begin by the time the child
 can utter its first attempts at speech4
 ,by ear-training ,i mean the           
differentiation of sounds--articulate1  
inarticulate1 and musical--fixing the   
child's attention and causing it to     
imitate4 ,as every sound requires a     
particular movement of the vocal        
apparatus1 the child will soon be able  

to adapt its apparatus unconsciously and
 to distinguish accurately4 ,and if it  
does not so learn before the age of five
 or six1 it probably will never do so4  
,by the age of two--or less--the child  
should be able to imitate exactly any   
speech-sound4 ,our youngsters can do so2
 and1 consequently1 the fact that they  
had a nurse with a ,sussex accent ceased
 to matter1 because they learned to     
distinguish her talk from correct       
,english4 ,so in the case of a foreign  
nurse2 the result of a foreigner's      
influence would be good in this way1    
that it would train a child to a new    
series of speech-sounds1 thus enlarging 
its ear capacity4 ,nor need it          
necessarily adopt these speech-sounds as
 those which it should use2 it merely   
knows them2 and if the foreigner have a 
good accent1 and speaks her own tongue  
well1 the child's ear is trained for    
life1 irrespective of expression4       
,experience shows that a child can keep 
separate in its mind two or three       

languages--at first the speech-sounds1  
later the expression4 ,modes of         
expression need not begin till after    
five1 or later4 ,with regard to music1  
every child should begin to undergo a   
simple course of ear-training on the    
sol-fa system as elaborated and taught  
by ,mc,naught1 because the faculty of so
 learning is lost--atrophied--by the age
 of twelve or fourteen4 ,but1 beginning 
early--as early as possible--every      
child1 #8musical' or not1 can be        
trained1 just as every child1           
#8artistic' or not1 may be taught to    
draw accurately up to a certain point40 
,there can be little or no dispute that 
the ,english language in its            
completeness presents a range too ample 
and appliances too subtle for the needs 
of the great majority of those who      
profess to speak it4 ,i do not refer to 
the half-civilized and altogether       
barbaric races who are coming under its 
sway1 but to the people we are breeding 
of our own race--the barbarians of our  

streets1 our suburban 8white niggers10  
with a thousand a year and the conceit  
of ,imperial destinies4 ,they live in   
our mother-tongue as some half-civilized
 invaders might live in a gigantic and  
splendidly equipped palace4 ,they misuse
 this1 they waste that1 they leave whole
 corridors and wings unexplored1 to fall
 into disuse and decay4 ,i doubt if the 
ordinary member of the prosperous       
classes in ,england has much more than a
 third of the ,english language in use1 
and more than a half in knowledge1 and  
as we go down the social scale we may   
come at last to strata having but a     
tenth part of our full vocabulary1 and  
much of that blurred and vaguely        
understood4 ,the speech of the ,colonist
 is even poorer than the speech of the  
home-staying ,english4 ,in ,america1    
just as in ,great ,britain and her      
,colonies1 there is the same limitation 
and the same disuse4 ,partly1 of course1
 this is due to the pettiness of our    
thought and experience1 and so far it   

can only be remedied by a general       
intellectual amplification2 but partly  
it is due to the general ignorance of   
,english prevailing throughout the      
world4 ,it is atrociously taught1 and   
taught by ignorant men4 ,it is          
atrociously and meanly written4 ,so far 
as this second cause of sheer ignorance 
goes1 the gaps in knowledge are         
continually resulting in slang and the  
addition of needless neologisms to the  
language4 ,people come upon ideas that  
they know no ,english to express1 and   
strike out the new phrase in a fine     
burst of ignorant discovery4 ,there are 
,americans in particular who are        
amazingly apt at this sort of thing4    
,they take an enormous pride in the     
jargon they are perpetually             
increasing--they boast of it1 they give 
exhibition performances in it1 they seem
 to regard it as the culminating flower 
of their continental ,republic--as      
though the ,old ,world had never heard  
of shoddy4 ,but1 indeed1 they are in no 

better case than that unfortunate lady  
at ,earlswood who esteems newspapers    
stitched with unravelled carpet and     
trimmed with orange peel1 the extreme of
 human splendour4 ,in truth1 their pride
 is baseless1 and this slang of theirs  
no sort of distinction whatever4 ,let me
 assure them that in our heavier way we 
in this island are just as busy defiling
 our common inheritance4 ,we can send a 
team of linguists to ,america who will  
murder and misunderstand the language   
against any eleven the ,americans may   
select4  ,of course there is a natural  
and necessary growth and development in 
a living language1 a growth that no one 
may arrest4 ,in appliances1 in politics1
 in science1 in philosophical           
interpretation1 there is a perpetual    
necessity for new words1 words to       
express new ideas and new relationships1
 words free from ambiguity and          
encumbering associations4 ,but the      
neologisms of the street and the saloon 
rarely supply any occasion of this kind4

 ,for the most part they are just the   
stupid efforts of ignorant men to supply
 the unnecessary4 ,and side by side with
 the invention of inferior cheap        
substitutes for existing words and      
phrases1 and infinitely more serious    
than that invention1 goes on a perpetual
 misuse and distortion of those that are
 insufficiently known4 ,these are       
processes not of growth but of          
decay--they distort1 they render        
obsolete1 and they destroy4 ,the        
obsolescence and destruction of words   
and phrases cuts us off from the        
nobility of our past1 from the severed  
masses of our race overseas1 far more   
effectually than any growth of          
neologisms4 ,a language may grow--our   
language must grow--it may be clarified 
and refined and strengthened1 but it    
need not suffer the fate of an algal    
filament1 and pass constantly into      
rottenness and decay whenever growth is 
no longer in progress4 ,that has been   
the fate of languages in the past       

because of the feebler organization1 the
 slenderer1 slower intercommunication1  
and1 above all1 the insufficient records
 of human communities2 but the time has 
come now--or1 at the worst1 is rapidly  
coming--when this will cease to be a    
fated thing4 ,we may have a far more    
copious and varied tongue than had      
,addison or ,spenser--that is no        
disaster--but there is no reason why we 
should not keep fast hold of all they   
had4 ,there is no reason why the whole  
fine tongue of ,elizabethan ,england    
should not be at our disposal still4    
,conceivably ,addison would find the    
rich1 allusive ,english of ,george      
,meredith obscure2 conceivably we might 
find a thousand words and phrases of the
 year #bjjj strange and perplexing2 but 
there is no reason why a time should    
ever come when what has been written    
well in ,english since ,elizabethan days
 should no longer be understandable and 
fine4  ,the prevailing ignorance of     
,english in the ,english-speaking       

communities1 enormously hampers the     
development of the racial consciousness4
 ,except for those who wish to bawl the 
crudest thoughts1 there is no means of  
reaching the whole mass of these        
communities to-day4 ,so far as material 
requirements go it would be possible to 
fling a thought broadcast like seed over
 the whole world to-day1 it would be    
possible to get a book into the hands of
 half the adults of our race4 ,but at   
the hands and eyes one stops--there is a
 gap in the brains4 ,only thoughts that 
can be expressed in the meanest         
commonplaces will ever reach the minds  
of the majority of the ,english-speaking
 peoples under present conditions4  ,a  
writer who aims to be widely read to-day
 must perpetually halt1 must perpetually
 hesitate at the words that arise in his
 mind2 he must ask himself how many     
people will stick at this word          
altogether or miss the meaning it should
 carry2 he must ransack his memory for a
 commonplace periphrase1 an ingenious   

rearrangement of the familiar2 he must  
omit or overaccentuate at every turn4   
,such simple and necessary words as     
8obsolescent10 8deliquescent10          
8segregation10 for example1 must be     
abandoned by the man who would write    
down to the general reader2 he must use 
8impertinent0 as if it were a synonym   
for 8impudent0 and 8indecent0  as the   
equivalent of 8obscene40 ,and in the    
face of this wide ignorance of ,english1
 seeing how few people can either read  
or write ,english with any subtlety1 and
 how disastrously this reacts upon the  
general development of thought and      
understanding amidst the                
,english-speaking peoples1 it would be  
preposterous even if the attempt were   
successful1 to complicate the first     
linguistic struggles of the infant with 
the beginnings of a second language4    
,but people deal thus lightly with the  
mother-tongue because they know so      
little of it that they do not even      
suspect their own ignorance of its      

burthen and its powers4 ,they speak a   
little set of ready-made phrases1 they  
write it scarcely at all1 and all they  
read is the weak and shallow prose of   
popular fiction and the daily press4    
,that is knowing a language within the  
meaning of their minds1 and such a      
knowledge a child may very well be left 
to 8pick up0 as it may4 ,side by side   
with this they will presently set       
themselves to erect a similar           
8knowledge0 of two or three other       
languages4 ,one is constantly meeting   
not only women but men who will solemnly
 profess to 8know0  ,english and ,latin1
 ,french1 ,german and ,italian1 perhaps 
,greek1 who are in fact--beyond the     
limited range of food1 clothing1        
shelter1 trade1 crude nationalism1      
social conventions and personal         
vanity--no better than the deaf and     
dumb4 ,in spite of the fact that they   
will sit with books in their hands1     
visibly reading1 turning pages1         
pencilling comments1 in spite of the    

fact that they will discuss authors and 
repeat criticisms1 it is as hopeless to 
express new thoughts to them as it would
 be to seek for appreciation in the ear 
of a hippopotamus4 ,their linguistic    
instruments are no more capable of      
contemporary thought than a tin whistle1
 a xylophone1 and a drum are capable of 
rendering the ,eroica ,symphony4  ,in   
being also ignorant of itself1 this wide
 ignorance of ,english partakes of all  
that is most hopeless in ignorance4     
,except among a few writers and critics1
 there is little sense of defect in this
 matter4 ,the common man does not know  
that his limited vocabulary limits his  
thoughts4 ,he knows that there are 8long
 words0 and rare words in the tongue1   
but he does not know that this implies  
the existence of definite meanings      
beyond his mental range4 ,his poor      
collection of everyday words1 worn-out  
phrases and battered tropes1 constitute 
what he calls 8plain ,english10 and     
speech beyond these limits he seriously 

believes to be no more than the         
back-slang of the educated class1 a mere
 elaboration and darkening of           
intercourse to secure privacy and       
distinction4 ,no doubt there is         
justification enough for his suspicion  
in the exploits of pretentious and      
garrulous souls4 ,but it is the         
superficial justification of a profound 
and disastrous error4 ,a gap in a man's 
vocabulary is a hole and tatter in his  
mind2 words he has may indeed be weakly 
connected or wrongly connected--one may 
find the whole keyboard jerry-built1 for
 example1 in the ,english-speaking      
,baboo--but words he has not signify    
ideas that he has no means of clearly   
apprehending1 they are patches of       
imperfect mental existence1 factors in  
the total amount of his personal failure
 to live4  ,this world-wide ignorance of
 ,english1 this darkest cloud almost    
upon the fair future of our confederated
 peoples1 is something more than a      
passive ignorance4 ,it is active1 it is 

aggressive4 ,in ,england at any rate1 if
 one talks beyond the range of          
white-nigger ,english1 one commits a    
social breach4 ,there are countless     
8book words0 well-bred people never use4
 ,a writer with any tenderness for      
half-forgotten phrases1 any disposition 
to sublimate the mingling of            
unaccustomed words1 runs as grave a risk
 of organized disregard as if he        
tampered with the improper4 ,the leaden 
censures of the ,times1 for example1    
await any excursion beyond its own      
battered circumlocutions4 ,even         
nowadays1 and when they are veterans1   
,mr4 ,george ,meredith and ,mr4 ,henley 
get ever and again a screed of abuse    
from some hot champion of ,lower        
,division ,civil ,service prose4 8,plain
 ,english0 such a one will call his     
desideratum1 as one might call the      
viands on a ,new ,cut barrow 8plain     
food40 ,the hostility to the complete   
language is everywhere4 ,i wonder just  
how many homes may not be witnessing the

 self-same scene as ,i write4 ,some     
little child is struggling with the     
unmanageable treasure of a new-found    
word1 has produced it at last1 a nice   
long word1 forthwith to be 8laughed out0
  of such foolish ambitions by its      
anxious parent4 ,people train their     
children not to speak ,english beyond a 
threadbare minimum1 they resent it upon 
platform and in pulpit1 and they avoid  
it in books4 ,schoolmasters as a class  
know little of the language4 ,in none of
 our schools1 not even in the more      
efficient of our elementary schools1 is 
,english adequately taught4 ,and these  
people expect the ,south ,african ,dutch
 to take over their neglected tongue6   
,as though the poor partial ,king's     
,english of the ,british ,colonist was  
one whit better than the ,taal6 ,to give
 them the reality of what ,english might
 be3 that were a different matter       
altogether4  ,these things it is the    
clear business of our ,new ,republicans 
to alter4 ,it follows1 indeed1 but it is

 in no way secondary to the work of     
securing sound births and healthy       
childhoods1 that we should secure a     
vigorous1 ample mental basis for the    
minds born with these bodies4 ,we have  
to save1 to revive this scattered1      
warped1 tarnished and neglected language
 of ours1 if we wish to save the future 
of our world4 ,we should save not only  
the world of those who at present speak 
,english1 but the world of many kindred 
and associated peoples who would        
willingly enter into our synthesis1     
could we make it wide enough and sane   
enough and noble enough for their       
honour4  ,to expect that so ample a     
cause as this should find any support   
among the festering confusion of the old
 politics is to expect too much4 ,there 
is no party for the ,english language   
anywhere in the world4 ,we have to take 
this problem as we took our former      
problem and deal with it as though the  
old politics1 which slough so slowly1   
were already happily excised4 ,to begin 

with1 we may give our attention to the  
foundation of this foundation1 to the   
growth of speech in the developing      
child4  ,from the first the child should
 hear a clear and uniform pronunciation 
about it1 a precise and careful idiom   
and words definitely used4 ,since       
language is to bring people together and
 not to keep them apart1 it would be    
well if throughout the ,english-speaking
 world there could be one accent1 one   
idiom1 and one intonation4 ,this there  
never has been yet1 but there is no     
reason at all why it should not be4     
,there is arising even now a standard of
 good ,english to which many dialects   
and many influences are contributing4   
,from the ,highlanders and the ,irish1  
for example1 the ,english of the ,south 
are learning the possibilities of the   
aspirate h and wh1 which latter had     
entirely and the former very largely    
dropped out of use among them a hundred 
years ago4 ,the drawling speech of      
,wessex and ,new ,england--for the main 

features of what people call ,yankee    
intonation are to be found in perfection
 in the cottages of ,hampshire and ,west
 ,sussex--are being quickened1 perhaps  
from the same sources4 ,the ,scotch are 
acquiring the ,english use of shall and 
will1 and the confusion of              
reconstruction is world-wide among our  
vowels4 ,the ,german w of ,mr4 ,samuel  
,weller has been obliterated within the 
space of a generation or so4 ,there is  
no reason at all why this natural       
development of the uniform ,english of  
the coming age should not be greatly    
forwarded by our deliberate efforts1 why
 it should not be possible within a     
little while to define a standard       
pronunciation of our tongue4 ,it is a   
less important issue by far than that of
 a uniform vocabulary and phraseology1  
but it is still a very notable need4    
,we have available now for the first    
time1 in the more highly evolved forms  
of phonograph and telephone1 a means of 
storing1 analyzing1 transmitting1 and   

referring to sounds1 that should be of  
very considerable value in the attempt  
to render a good and beautiful          
pronunciation of ,english uniform       
throughout the world4 ,it would not be  
unreasonable to require from all those  
who are qualifying for the work of      
education1 the reading aloud of long    
passages in the standard accent4 ,at    
present there is no requirement of this 
sort in ,england1 and too often our     
elementary teachers at any rate1 instead
 of being missionaries of linguistic    
purity1 are centres of diffusion for    
blurred and vicious perversions of our  
speech4 ,they must read and recite aloud
 in their qualifying examinations1 it is
 true1 but under no specific prohibition
 of provincial intonations4 ,in the     
pulpit and the stage1 moreover1 we have 
ready to hand most potent instruments of
 dissemination1 that need nothing but a 
little sharpening to help greatly       
towards this end4 ,at the entrance of   
almost all professions nowadays stands  

an examination that includes ,english1  
and there would be nothing revolutionary
 in adding to that written paper an oral
 test in the standard pronunciation4 ,by
 active exertion to bring these things  
about the ,new ,republican could do much
 to secure that every child of our      
,english-speaking people throughout the 
world would hear in school and church   
and entertainment the same clear and    
definite accent4 ,the child's mother and
 nurse would be helped to acquire almost
 insensibly a sound and confident       
pronunciation4 ,no observant man who has
 lived at all broadly1 meeting and      
talking with people of diverse culture  
and tradition1 but knows how much our   
intercourse is cumbered by hesitations  
about quantity and accent1 and petty    
differences of phrase and idiom1 and how
 greatly intonation and accent may warp 
and limit our sympathy4  ,and while they
 are doing this for the general         
linguistic atmosphere1 the ,new         
,republicans could also attempt         

something to reach the children in      
detail4  ,by instinct nearly every      
mother wants to teach4 ,some teach by   
instinct1 but for the most part there is
 a need of guidance in their teaching4  
,at present these first and very        
important phases in education are guided
 almost entirely by tradition4 ,the     
necessary singing and talking to very   
young children is done in imitation of  
similar singing and talking2 it is      
probably done no better1 it may possibly
 be done much worse1 than it was done   
two hundred years ago4 ,a very great    
amount of permanent improvement in human
 affairs might be secured in this       
direction by the expenditure of a few   
thousand pounds in the systematic study 
of the most educational method of       
dealing with children in the first two  
or three years of life1 and in the      
intelligent propagation of the knowledge
 obtained4 ,there exist already1 it is  
true1 a number of ,child ,study         
,associations1 ,parents' ,unions1 and   

the like1 but for the most part these   
are quite ineffectual talking societies1
 akin to ,browning ,societies1 ,literary
 and ,natural ,history ,societies3 they 
attain a trifling amount of mutual      
improvement at their best1 the members  
read papers to one another1 and a few   
medical men and schools secure a needed 
advertisement4 ,they have no            
organization1 no concentration of their 
energy1 and their chief effect seems to 
be to present an interest in education  
as if it were a harmless1 pointless fad4
 ,but if a few men of means and capacity
 were to organize a committee with      
adequate funds1 secure the services of  
specially endowed men for the exhaustive
 study of developing speech1 publish a  
digested report1 and1 with the          
assistance of a good writer or so1      
produce very cheaply1 advertise         
vigorously1 and disseminate widely a    
small1 clearly printed1 clearly written 
book of pithy instructions for mothers  
and nurses in this matter of early      

speech they would quite certainly effect
 a great improvement in the mental      
foundations of the coming generation4   
,we do not yet appreciate the fact that 
for the first time in the history of the
 world there exists a state of society  
in which almost every nurse and mother  
reads4 ,it is no longer necessary to    
rely wholly upon instinct and tradition1
 therefore1 for the early stages of a   
child's instruction4 ,we can reinforce  
and organize these things through the   
printed word4  ,for example1 an         
important factor in the early stage of  
speech-teaching is the nursery rhyme4 ,a
 little child1 towards the end of the   
first year1 having accumulated a really 
very comprehensive selection of sounds  
and noises by that time1 begins to      
imitate first the associated motions1   
and then the sounds of various nursery  
rhymes--8,pat-a-cake10 for example4 ,in 
the book ,i imagine1 there would be1    
among many other things1 a series of    
little versicles1 old and new1 in which1

 to the accompaniment of simple         
gestures1 all the elementary sounds of  
the language could be easily and        
agreeably made familiar to the child's  
ears4 ,footnote3 ,messrs4 ,heath of     
,boston1 ,u4,s4,a41 have sent me a book 
of ,nursery ,rhymes1 arranged by ,mr4   
,charles ,welsh1 which is certainly the 
best thing ,i have seen in this way4 ,it
 is worthy of note that the neglect of  
pedagogic study in ,great ,britain is   
forcing the intelligent ,british parent 
and teacher to rely more and more upon  
,american publishers for children's     
books4 ,the work of ,english writers is 
often very tasteful and pretty1 but of  
the smallest educational value4   ,and  
the same book ,i think might well       
contain a list of foundation things and 
words and certain elementary forms of   
expression which the child should become
 perfectly familiar with in the first   
three or four years of life4 ,much of   
each little child's vocabulary is its   
personal adventure1 and ,heaven save us 

all from system in excess6 ,but ,i think
 it would be possible for a subtle      
psychologist to trace through the easy  
natural tangle of the personal          
briar-rose of speech certain necessary  
strands1 that hold the whole growth     
together and render its later expansion 
easy and swift and strong4 ,whatever    
else the child gets1 it must get these  
fundamental strands well and early if it
 is to do its best4 ,if they do not     
develop now their imperfection will     
cause delay and difficulty later4 ,there
 are1 for example1 among these          
fundamental necessities1 idioms to      
express comparison1 to express position 
in space and time1 elementary           
conceptions of form and colour1 of tense
 and mood1 the pronouns and the like4   
,no doubt1 in one way or another1 most  
of these forms are acquired by every    
child1 but there is no reason why their 
acquisition should not be watched with  
the help of a wisely framed list1 and   
any deficiency deliberately and         

carefully supplied4 ,it would have to be
 a wisely framed list1 it would demand  
the utmost effort of the best           
intelligence1 and that is why something 
more than the tradesman enterprise of   
publishers is needed in this work4 ,the 
publisher's ideal of an author of an    
educational work is a clever girl in her
 teens working for pocket-money4 ,what  
is wanted is a little quintessential    
book better and cheaper than any        
publisher1 publishing for gain1 could   
possibly produce1 a book so good that   
imitation would be difficult1 and so    
cheap and universally sold that no      
imitation would be profitable4  ,upon   
this foundation of a sound accent and a 
basic vocabulary must be built the      
general fabric of the language4 ,for the
 most part this must be done in the     
school4 ,at present in ,great ,britain a
 considerable proportion of             
schoolmasters and schoolmistresses--more
 particularly those in secondary and    
private schools--are too ill-educated to

 do this properly2 there is excellent   
reason for supposing things are very    
little better in ,america2 and1 to begin
 with1 it must be the care of every good
 ,new ,republican to bring about a      
better state of things in this most     
lamentable profession4 ,until the       
teacher can read and write1 in the      
fullest sense of these words1 it is idle
 to expect him or her to teach the pupil
 to do these things4 ,as matters are at 
present1 the attempt is scarcely made4  
,in the elementary and lower secondary  
schools ill-chosen reading-books are    
scampered through and abandoned all too 
soon in favour of more pretentious      
8subjects10 and a certain preposterous  
nonsense called ,english ,grammar is    
passed through the pupil--stuff which   
happily no mind can retain4 ,little     
girls and boys of twelve or thirteen1   
who cannot understand1 and never will   
understand anything but the vulgarest   
,english1 and who will never in their   
lives achieve a properly punctuated     

letter1 are taught such mysteries as    
that there are eight--,i believe it is  
eight--sorts of nominative1 and that    
there is 7or is not7 a gerundive in     
,english1 and trained month after month 
and year after year to perform the      
oddest operations1 a non-analytical     
analysis1 and a ritual called parsing   
that must be seen to be believed4 ,it is
 no good mincing the truth about all    
this sort of thing4 ,these devices are  
resorted to by the school teachers of   
the present just as the ,rules of       
,double and ,single ,alligation and     
,double ,rule of ,three1 and all the    
rest of that solemn tomfoolery1 were    
8taught0 by the arithmetic teachers in  
the academies of the eighteenth century1
 because they are utterly ignorant1 and 
know themselves to be utterly ignorant1 
of the reality of the subject1 and      
because1 therefore1 they have to humbug 
the parent and pass the time by unreal  
inventions4 ,the case is not a bit      
better in the higher grade schools4     

,they do not do so much of the bogus    
teaching of ,english1 but they do       
nothing whatever in its place4  ,now it 
is little use to goad the members of an 
ill-trained1 ill-treated1 ill-organized1
 poorly respected and much-abused       
,footnote3 ,peccavi4 profession with    
reproaches for doing what they cannot   
do1 or to clamour for legislation that  
will give more school time or heavier   
subsidies to the pretence of teaching   
what very few people are able to teach4 
,we all know how atrociously ,english is
 taught1 but proclaiming that will not  
mend matters a bit1 it will only render 
matters worse by making schoolmasters   
and schoolmistresses shameless and      
effortless1 unless we also show how well
 ,english may be taught4 ,the sane      
course is to begin by establishing the  
proper way to do the thing1 to develop a
 proper method and demonstrate what can 
be done by that method in a few selected
 schools1 to prepare and render         
acceptable the necessary class-books1   

and then to use examination and         
inspector1 grant in aid1 training       
college1 lecture1 book and pamphlet to  
spread the sound expedients4 ,we want an
 ,english ,language ,society1 of        
affluent and vigorous people1 that will 
undertake this work4 ,and one chief duty
 of that society will be to devise1 to  
arrange and select1 to print handsomely1
 to illustrate beautifully and to sell  
cheaply and vigorously everywhere1 a    
series of reading books1 and perhaps of 
teachers' companions to these reading   
books1 that shall serve as the basis of 
instruction in ,standard ,english       
throughout the whole world4 ,these      
books1 as ,i conceive them1 would begin 
as reading primers1 they would progress 
through a long series of subtly graded  
stories1 passages and extracts until    
they had given the complete range of our
 tongue4 ,they would be read from1      
recited from1 quoted in exemplification 
and imitated by the pupils4 ,such       
splendid matter as ,henley and          

,whibley's collection of ,elizabethan   
,prose1 for example1 might well find a  
place toward the end of that series of  
books4 ,there would be an anthology of  
,english lyrics1 of all the best short  
stories in our language1 of all the best
 episodes4 ,from these readers the pupil
 would pass1 still often reading and    
reciting aloud1 to such a series of     
masterpieces as an efficient ,english   
,language ,society could force upon     
every school4 ,at present in ,english   
schools a library is an exception rather
 than a rule1 and your clerical         
head-master on public occasions will    
cheerfully denounce the 8trash0 reading1
 8snippet0 reading habits of the age1   
with that defect lying like a feather on
 his expert conscience4 ,a school       
without an easily accessible library of 
at least a thousand volumes is really   
scarcely a school at all--it is a       
dispensary without bottles1 a kitchen   
without a pantry4 ,for all that1 if the 
inquiring ,new ,republican find two     

hundred linen-covered volumes of the    
,eric1 or ,little by ,little type1 mean 
goody-goody thought dressed in its      
appropriate language1 stored away in    
some damp cupboard of his son's school1 
and accessible once a week1 he may feel 
assured things are above the average    
there4 ,my imaginary ,english ,language 
,society would make it a fundamental    
duty1 firstly to render that library of 
at least a thousand volumes or so       
specially cheap and easily procurable1  
and secondly1 by pamphlets and          
agitation1 to render it a compulsory    
minimum requirement for every grade of  
school4 ,it is far more important1 and  
it would be far less costly even as     
things are1 than the cheapest sort of   
chemical laboratory a school could have1
 and it should cost scarcely more than a
 school piano4  ,i know very little of  
the practical teaching of ,english1 my  
own very fragmentary knowledge of the   
more familiar clichs of our tongue was  
acquired in a haphazard fashion1 but ,i 

am inclined to think that in addition to
 much reading aloud and recitation from 
memory the work of instruction might    
consist very largely of continually more
 extensive efforts towards original     
composition4 ,paraphrasing is a good    
exercise1 provided that it does not     
consist in turning good and beautiful   
,english into bad4 ,i do not see why it 
should not follow the reverse direction4
 ,selected passages of mean1            
stereotyped1 garrulous or inexact prose 
might very well be rewritten1 under the 
direction of an intelligent master4     
,retelling a story that has just been   
read and discussed1 with a change of    
incident perhaps1 would also not be a   
bad sort of exercise1 writing passages  
in imitation of set passages and the    
like4 ,written descriptions of things   
displayed to a class should also be     
instructive4 ,caught at the right age1  
most little girls1 and many little boys 
,i believe1 would learn very pleasantly 
to write simple verse4 ,this they should

 be encouraged to read aloud4 ,at a     
later stage the more settled poetic     
forms1 the ballade1 the sonnet1 the     
rondeau1 for example1 should afford a   
good practice in handling language4     
,pupils should be encouraged to import  
fresh words into their work--even if the
 effect is a little startling at        
times--they should hunt the dictionary  
for material4 ,a good book for the upper
 forms in schools dealing in a really   
intelligent and instructive way with    
,latin and ,greek1 so far as it is      
necessary to know these languages in    
order to use and manipulate technical   
,english freely1 would1 ,i conceive1 be 
of very great service4 ,it must be a    
good exercise to write precise          
definitions of words4 ,logic also is an 
integral portion of the study of the    
mother-tongue4  ,but to throw out       
suggestions in this way is an easy task4
 ,the educational papers are full of    
this sort of thing1 educational         
conferences resound with it4 ,what the  

world is not full of is the capacity to 
organize these things1 to drag them1    
struggling and clinging to a thousand   
unanticipated difficulties1 from the    
region of the counsel of perfection to  
the region of manifest practicability4  
,for that there is needed attention1    
industry1 and an intelligent use of a   
fair sum of money4 ,we want an          
industrious committee1 and we want one  
or two rich men4 ,a series of books1 a  
model course of instruction1 has to be  
planned and made1 tried over1           
criticised1 revised and altered4 ,when  
the right way is no longer indicated by 
prophetic persons pointing in a mist1   
but marked out1 levelled1 mapped and    
fenced1 then the scholastic profession1 
wherever the ,english language is       
spoken1 has to be lured and driven along
 it4 ,the ,new ,republican must make his
 course cheap1 attractive1 easy for the 
teacher and good for the teacher's      
pocket and reputation4 ,just as there   
are plays that1 as actors say1 8act     

themselves10 so1 with a profession that 
is rarely at its best and often at its  
worst1 and which at its worst consists  
of remarkably dull young men and        
remarkably dreary young women1 those who
 want ,english well taught must see to  
it that they provide a series of books  
and instructors that will teach by      
themselves1 whatever the teacher does to
 prevent them4  ,surely this enterprise 
of text-books and teachers1 of standard 
phonographs and cheaply published       
classics1 is no fantastic impossible    
dream6 ,so far as money goes--if only   
money were the one thing needful--a     
hundred thousand pounds would be a      
sufficient fund from first to last for  
all of it4 ,yet modest as its           
proportions are1 its consequences1 were 
it done by able men throwing their      
hearts into it1 might be of incalculable
 greatness4 ,by such expedients and     
efforts as these we might enormously    
forward the establishment of that       
foundation of a world-wide spacious     

language1 the foundation upon which     
there will arise for our children       
subtler understandings1 ampler          
imaginations1 sounder judgments and     
clearer resolutions1 and all that makes 
at last a nobler world of men4  ,but in 
this discussion of school libraries and 
the like1 we wander a little from our   
immediate topic of mental beginnings4   
#c   ,at the end of the fifth year1 as  
the natural outcome of its instinctive  
effort to experiment and learn1 acting  
amidst wisely ordered surroundings1 the 
little child should have acquired a     
certain definite foundation for the     
educational structure4 ,it should have a
 vast variety of perceptions stored in  
its mind1 and a vocabulary of three or  
four thousand words1 and among these1   
and holding them together1 there should 
be certain structural and cardinal      
ideas4 ,they are ideas that will have   
been gradually and imperceptibly        
instilled1 and they are necessary as the
 basis of a sound mental existence4     

,there must be1 to begin with1 a        
developing sense and feeling for truth  
and for duty as something distinct and  
occasionally conflicting with immediate 
impulse and desire1 and there must be   
certain clear intellectual elements     
established already almost impregnably  
in the mind1 certain primary            
distinctions and classifications4 ,many 
children are called stupid1 and begin   
their educational career with needless  
difficulty through an unsoundness of    
these fundamental intellectual elements1
 an unsoundness in no way inherent1 but 
the result of accident and neglect4 ,and
 a starting handicap of this sort may go
 on increasing right through the whole  
life4  ,the child at five1 unless it is 
colour blind1 should know the range of  
colours by name1 and distinguish them   
easily1 blue and green not excepted2 it 
should be able to distinguish pink from 
pale red and crimson from scarlet4      
,footnote3 ,there could be a set of     
colour bands in the book that the       

,english ,language ,society might       
publish4 ,many children through the     
neglect of those about them do not      
distinguish these colours until a very  
much later age4 ,i think also--in spite 
of the fact that many adults go vague   
and ignorant on these points--that a    
child of five may have been taught to   
distinguish between a square1 a circle1 
an oval1 a triangle and an oblong1 and  
to use these words4 ,it is easier to    
keep hold of ideas with words than      
without them1 and none of these words   
should be impossible by five4 ,the child
 should also know familiarly by means of
 toys1 wood blocks and so on1 many      
elementary solid forms4 ,it is matter of
 regret that in common language we have 
no easy1 convenient words for many of   
these forms1 and instead of being learnt
 easily and naturally in play1 they are 
left undistinguished1 and have to be    
studied later under circumstances of    
forbidding technicality4 ,it would be   
quite easy to teach the child in an     

incidental way to distinguish cube1     
cylinder1 cone1 sphere 7or ball71       
prolate spheroid 7which might be called 
8egg071 oblate spheroid 7which might be 
called 8squatty ball071 the pyramid1 and
 various parallelepipeds1 as1 for       
example1 the square slab1 the oblong    
slab1 the brick1 and post4 ,he could    
have these things added to his box of   
bricks by degrees1 he would build with  
them and combine them and play with them
 over and over again1 and absorb an     
intimate knowledge of their properties1 
just at the age when such knowledge is  
almost instinctively sought and is most 
pleasant and easy in its acquisition4   
,these things need not be specially     
forced upon him4 ,in no way should he be
 led to emphasize them or give a        
priggish importance to his knowledge of 
them4 ,they will come into his toys and 
play mingled with a thousand other      
interests1 the fortifying powder of     
clear general ideas1 amidst the jam of  
play4  ,in addition the child should be 

able to count1 ,footnote3 ,there can be 
little doubt that many of us were taught
 to count very badly1 and that we were  
hampered in our arithmetic throughout   
life by this defect4 ,counting should be
 taught be means of small cubes1 which  
the child can arrange and rearrange in  
groups4 ,it should have at least over a 
hundred of these cubes--if possible a   
thousand2 they will be useful as toy    
bricks1 and for innumerable purposes4   
,our civilization is now wedded to a    
decimal system of counting1 and1 to     
begin with1 it will be well to teach the
 child to count up to ten and to stop   
there for a time4 ,it is suggested by   
,mrs4 ,mary ,everest ,boole that it is  
very confusing to have distinctive names
 for eleven and twelve1 which the child 
is apt to class with the single numbers 
and contrast with the teens1 and she    
proposes at the beginning 7,the         
,cultivation of the ,mathematical       
,imagination1 ,colchester3 ,benham      
,co47 to use the words 8one-ten10       

8two-ten10  thirteen1 fourteen1 etc41   
for the second decade in counting4 ,her 
proposal is entirely in harmony with the
 general drift of the admirably         
suggestive diagrams of number order     
collected by ,mr4 ,francis ,gallon4     
,diagram after diagram displays the same
 hitch at twelve1 the predominance in   
the mind of an individualized series    
over quantitatively equal spaces until  
the twenties are attained4 ,many        
diagrams also display the mental scar of
 the clock face1 the early counting is  
overmuch associated with a dial4 ,one   
might perhaps head off the establishment
 of that image1 and supply a more       
serviceable foundation for memories by  
equipping the nursery with a vertical   
scale of numbers divided into equal     
parts up to two or three hundred1 with  
each decade tinted4 ,when the child has 
learnt to count up to a hundred with    
cubes1 it should be given an abacus1 and
 it should also be encouraged to count  
and check quantities with all sorts of  

things1 marbles1 apples1 bricks in a    
wall1 pebbles1 spots on dominoes1 and so
 on2 taught to play guessing games with 
marbles in a hand1 and the like4 ,the   
abacus1 the hundred square and the      
thousand cube1 will then in all         
probability become its cardinal         
numerical memories4 ,playing cards      
7without corner indices7 and dominoes   
supply good recognizable arrangements of
 numbers1 and train a child to grasp a  
number at a glance4 ,the child should   
not be taught the ,arabic numerals until
 it has counted for a year or more4     
,experience speaks here4 ,i know one    
case only too well of a man who learnt  
his ,arabic numerals prematurely1 before
 he had acquired any sound experimental 
knowledge of numerical quantity1 and1 as
 a consequence1 his numerical ideas are 
incurably associated with the           
peculiarities of the figures4 ,when he  
hears the word seven he does not really 
think of seven or seven-ness at all1    
even now1 he thinks of a number rather  

like four and very unlike six4 ,then    
again1 six and nine are mysteriously and
 unreasonably linked in his mind1 and so
 are three and five4 ,he confuses       
numbers like sixty-three and sixty-five1
 and finds it hard to keep seventy-four 
distinct from forty-seven4              
,consequently1 when it came to the      
multiplication table1 he learnt each    
table as an arbitrary arrangement of    
relationships1 and with an extraordinary
 amount of needless labour and          
punishment4 ,but obviously with cubes or
 abacus at hand1 it would be the easiest
 thing in the world for a child to      
construct and learn its own             
multiplication table whenever the need  
arose4 it should be capable of some     
mental and experimental arithmetic1 and 
,i am told that a child of five should  
be able to give the sol-fa names to     
notes1 and sing these names at their    
proper pitch4 ,possibly in social       
intercourse the child will have picked  
up names for some of the letters of the 

alphabet1 but there is no great hurry   
for that before five certainly1 or even 
later4 ,there is still a vast amount of 
things immediately about the child that 
need to be thoroughly learnt1 and a     
premature attack on letters divides     
attention from these more appropriate   
and educational objects4 ,it should1 for
 the reason given in the footnote1 be   
still ignorant of the ,arabic numerals4 
,it should be able to handle a pencil   
and amuse itself with freehand of this  
sort3--and its mind should be quite     
uncontaminated by that imbecile drawing 
upon squared paper by means of which    
ignorant teachers destroy both the      
desire and the capacity to sketch in so 
many little children4 ,such sketching   
could be enormously benefited by a      
really intelligent teacher who would    
watch the child's efforts1 and draw with
 the child just a little above its      
level4 ,for example1 the teacher might  
stimulate effort by rejoining to such a 
sketch as the above1 something in this  

vein3--  ,the child will already be a   
great student of picture-books at five1 
something of a critic 7after the manner 
of the realistic school71 and it will be
 easy to egg it almost imperceptibly to 
a level where copying from simple       
outline illustrations will become       
possible4 ,about five1 a present of some
 one of the plastic substitutes for     
modelling clay now sold by educational  
dealers1 plasticine for example1 will be
 a discreet and acceptable present to   
the child--if not to its nurse4  ,the   
child's imagination will also be awake  
and active at five4 ,he will look out on
 the world with anthropomorphic 7or     
rather with pdomorphic7 eyes4 ,he will  
be living on a great flat earth--unless 
some officious person has tried to      
muddle his wits by telling him the earth
 is round2 amidst trees1 animals1 men1  
houses1 engines1 utensils1 that are all 
capable of being good or naughty1 all   
fond of nice things and hostile to nasty
 ones1 all thumpable and perishable1 and

 all conceivably esurient4 ,and the     
child should know of ,fairy ,land4 ,the 
beautiful fancy of the 8,little         
,people10 even if you do not give it to 
him1 he will very probably get for      
himself2 they will lurk always just out 
of reach of his desiring curious eyes1  
amidst the grass and flowers and behind 
the wainscot and in the shadows of the  
bedroom4 ,he will come upon their       
traces2 they will do him little         
kindnesses4 ,their affairs should       
interweave with the affairs of the      
child's dolls and brick castles and toy 
furniture4 ,at first the child will     
scarcely be in a world of sustained     
stories1 but very eager for anecdotes   
and simple short tales4  ,this is the   
hopeful foundation upon which at or     
about the fifth year the formal         
education of every child in a really    
civilized community ought to begin4     
,footnote3 ,one may note here1 perhaps1 
the desirability too often disregarded  
by over-solicitous parents1 and         

particularly by the parents of the      
solitary children who are now so common1
 of keeping the child a little out of   
focus1 letting it play by itself        
whenever it will1 never calling         
attention to it in a manner that awakens
 it to the fact of an audience1 never   
talking about it in its presence4       
,solitary children commonly get too much
 control1 they are forced and beguiled  
upward rather than allowed to grow1     
their egotism is over-stimulated1 and   
they miss many of the benefits of play  
and competition4 ,it seems a pity1 too1 
in the case of so many well-to-do       
people1 that having equipped nurseries  
they should not put them to a fuller    
use--if in no other way than by         
admitting foster children4 ,none of this
 has been very fully analyzed1 of course
 7there are enormous areas of valuable  
research in these matters waiting for   
people of intelligence and leisure1 or  
of intelligence and means71 but the     
opinion that solitary children are      

handicapped by their loneliness is very 
strong4 ,it is nearly certain that as a 
rule they make less agreeable boys and  
girls1 but to me at any rate it is not  
nearly so certain that they make adult  
failures4 ,it would be interesting to   
learn just what proportion of solitary  
children there is on the roll of those  
who have become great in our world4 ,one
 thinks of ,john ,ruskin1 a particularly
 fine specimen of the highly focussed   
single son4 ,prig perhaps he was1 but   
this world has a certain need of such   
prigs4 ,a correspondent 7a              
schoolmistress of experience7 who has   
collected statistics in her own         
neighbourhood1 is strongly of opinion   
not only that solitary children are     
below the average1 but that all elder   
children are inferior in quality4 ,i do 
not believe this1 but it would be       
interesting and valuable if some one    
could find time for a wide and thorough 
investigation of this question4     ,v4 
,,the ,,man-,,making ,,forces ,,of ,,the

 ,,modern ,,state   ,so far we have     
concerned ourselves with the            
introductory and foundation matter of   
the ,new ,republican project1 with the  
measures and methods that may be        
resorted to1 firstly1 if we would raise 
the general quality of the children out 
of whom we have to make the next        
generation1 and1 secondly1 if we would  
replace divergent dialects and partial  
and confused expression by a uniform1   
ample and thorough knowledge of ,english
 throughout the ,english-speaking world4
 ,these two things are necessary        
preliminaries to the complete attainment
 of the more essential nucleus in the   
,new ,republican idea4 ,so much has been
 discussed4 ,this essential nucleus1    
thus stripped1 reveals itself as the    
systematic direction of the moulding    
forces that play upon the developing    
citizen1 towards his improvement1 with a
 view to a new generation of            
individuals1 a new social state1 at a   
higher level than that at which we live 

to-day1 a new generation which will     
apply the greater power1 ampler         
knowledge and more definite will our    
endeavours will give it1 to raise its   
successor still higher in the scale of  
life4 ,or we may put the thing in       
another and more concrete and vivid way4
 ,on the one hand imagine an average    
little child let us say in its second   
year4 ,we have discussed all that can be
 done to secure that this average little
 child shall be well born1 well fed1    
well cared for1 and we will imagine all 
that can be done has been done4         
,accordingly1 we have a sturdy1         
beautiful healthy little creature to go 
upon1 just beginning to walk1 just      
beginning to clutch at things with its  
hands1 to reach out to and apprehend    
things with its eyes1 with its ears1    
with the hopeful commencement of speech4
 ,we want to arrange matters so that    
this little being shall develop into its
 best possible adult form4 ,that is our 
remaining problem4  ,is our contemporary

 average citizen the best that could    
have been made out of the vague         
extensive possibilities that resided in 
him when he was a child of two8 ,it has 
been shown already that in height and   
weight he1 demonstrably1 is not1 and it 
has been suggested1 ,i hope almost as   
convincingly1 that in that complex      
apparatus of acquisition and expression1
 language1 he is also needlessly        
deficient4 ,and even upon this defective
 foundation1 it is submitted1 he still  
fails1 morally1 mentally1 socially1     
aesthetically1 to be as much as he might
 be4 8,as much as he might be10 is far  
too ironically mild4 ,the average       
citizen of our great state to-day is1 ,i
 would respectfully submit1 scarcely    
more than a dirty clout about his own   
buried talents4  ,i do not say he might 
not be infinitely worse1 but can any one
 believe that1 given better conditions1 
he might not have been infinitely       
better8 ,is it necessary to argue for a 
thing so obvious to all clear-sighted   

men8 ,is it necessary1 even if it were  
possible1 that ,i should borrow the     
mantle of ,mr4 ,george ,gissing or the  
force of ,mr4 ,arthur ,morrison1 and set
 myself in cold blood to measure the    
enormous defect of myself and my fellows
 by the standards of a remote           
perfection1 to gauge the extent of this 
complex muddle of artificial and        
avoidable shortcomings through which we 
struggle8 ,must one1 indeed1 pass in    
review once more1 bucolic stupidity1    
commercial cunning1 urban vulgarity1    
religious hypocrisy1 political          
clap-trap1 and all the raw disorder of  
our incipient civilization before the   
point will be conceded8 ,what benefit is
 there in any such revision8 rather it  
may overwhelm us with the magnitude of  
what we seek to do4 ,let us not dwell on
 it1 on all the average civilized man   
still fails to achieve2 admit his       
imperfection1 and for the rest let us   
keep steadfastly before us that fair1   
alluring and reasonable conception of   

all that1 even now1 the average man     
might be4  ,yet one is tempted by the   
effective contrast to put against that  
clean and beautiful child some vivid    
presentation of the average thing1 to   
sketch in a few simple lines the mean   
and graceless creature of our modern    
life1 his ill-made clothes1 his clumsy1 
half-fearful1 half-brutal bearing1 his  
coarse defective speech1 his dreary     
unintelligent work1 his shabby1         
impossible1 bathless1 artless1          
comfortless home2 one is provoked to    
suggest him in some phase of typical    
activity1 8enjoying himself0 on a ,bank 
,holiday1 or rejoicing1 peacock feather 
in hand1 hat askew1 and voice completely
 gone1 on some occasion of public       
festivity--on the defeat of a           
numerically inferior enemy for example1 
or the decision of some great           
international issue at baseball or      
cricket4 ,this1 one would say1 we have  
made out of that1 and so point the ,new 
,republican question1 8,cannot we do    

better80 ,but the thing has been done so
 often without ever the breath of a     
remedy4 ,our business is with remedies4 
,we mean to do better1 we live to do    
better1 and with no more than a glance  
at our present failures we will set     
ourselves to that4  ,to do better we    
must begin with a careful analysis of   
the process of this man's making1 of the
 great complex of circumstances which   
mould the vague possibilities of the    
average child into the reality of the   
citizen of the modern state4  ,we may   
begin upon this complex most hopefully  
by picking out a few of the conspicuous 
and typical elements and using them as a
 basis for an exhaustive classification4
 ,to begin with1 of course1 there is the
 home4 ,for our present purpose it will 
be convenient to use 8home0 as a general
 expression for that limited group of   
human beings who share the board and    
lodging of the growing imperial citizen1
 and whose personalities are in         
constant1 close contact with his until  

he reaches fifteen or sixteen4          
,typically1 the chief figures of this   
group are mother1 brothers and sisters1 
and father1 to which are often added    
nursemaid1 governess1 and other         
servants4 ,beyond these are playmates   
again4 ,beyond these acquaintances      
figure4 ,home has indeed nowadays1 in   
our world1 no very definite             
boundaries--no such boundaries as it    
has1 for example1 on the veldt4 ,in the 
case of a growing number of ,english    
upper middle-class children1 moreover1  
and of the children of a growing element
 in the life of the eastern ,united     
,states1 the home functions are         
delegated in a very large degree to the 
preparatory school4 ,it is a distinction
 that needs to be emphasized that many  
so-called schools are really homes1     
often very excellent homes1 with which  
schools1 often very inefficient schools1
 are united4 ,all this we must lump     
together--it is1 indeed1 woven together 
almost inextricably--when we speak of   

home as a formative factor4 ,the home1  
so far as its hygienic conditions go1 we
 have already dealt with1 and we have   
dealt1 too1 with the great neglected    
necessity1 the absolute necessity if our
 peoples are to keep together1 of making
 and keeping the language of the home   
uniform throughout our world-wide       
community4 ,purely intellectual         
development beyond the matter of        
language we may leave for a space4      
,there remains the distinctive mental   
and moral function of the home1 the     
determination by precept1 example1 and  
implication of the cardinal habits of   
the developing citizen1 his general     
demeanour1 his fundamental beliefs about
 all the common and essential things of 
life4  ,this group of people1 who       
constitute the home1 will be in constant
 reaction upon him4 ,if as a whole they 
bear themselves with grace and serenity1
 say and do kindly things1 control rage1
 and occupy themselves constantly1 they 
will do much to impose these qualities  

upon the new-comer4 ,if they quarrel one
 with another1 behave coarsely and      
spitefully1 loiter and lounge           
abundantly1 these things will also stamp
 the child4 ,a raging father1 a scared  
deceitful mother1 vulgarly acting1      
vulgarly thinking friends1 all leave an 
almost indelible impress4 ,precept may  
play a part in the home1 but it is a    
small part1 unless it is endorsed by    
conduct4 ,what these people do1 on the  
whole1 believe in and act upon1 the     
child will tend to believe in and act   
upon2 what they believe they believe1   
but do not act upon1 the child will     
acquire also as a non-operative belief2 
their practices1 habits1 and prejudices 
will be enormously prepotent in his     
life4 ,if1 for example1 the parent talks
 constantly of the contemptible         
dirtiness of ,boers and foreigners1 and 
of the extreme beauty of cleanliness    
and--even obviously--rarely washes1 the 
child will grow to the same professions 
and the same practical denial4 ,this    

home circle it is that will describe    
what1 in modified ,herbartian           
phraseology1 one may call the child's   
initial circle of thought2 it is a      
circle many things will subsequently    
enlarge and modify1 but of which they   
have the centering at least and the     
establishment of the radial trends1     
almost beyond redemption4 ,the effect of
 home influence1 indeed1 constitutes    
with most of us a sort of secondary     
heredity1 interweaving with1 and        
sometimes almost indistinguishable from1
 the real unalterable primary heredity1 
a moral shaping by suggestion1 example1 
and influence1 that is a sort of        
spiritual parallel to physical          
procreation4  ,it is not simply         
personalities that are operative in the 
home influence4 ,there is also the      
implications of the various relations   
between one member of the home circle   
and another4 ,i am inclined to think    
that the social conceptions1 for        
example1 that are accepted in a child's 

home world are very rarely shaken in    
afterlife4 ,people who have been brought
 up in households where there is an     
organized under-world of servants are   
incurably different in their social     
outlook from those who have passed a    
servantless childhood4 ,they never quite
 emancipate themselves from the         
conception of an essential class        
difference1 of a class of beings        
inferior to themselves4 ,they may       
theorise about equality--but theory is  
not belief4 ,they will do a hundred     
things to servants that between equals  
would be1 for various reasons1          
impossible4 ,the ,englishwoman and the  
,anglicised ,american woman of the more 
pretentious classes honestly regards a  
servant as physically1 morally1 and     
intellectually different from herself1  
capable of things that would be         
incredibly arduous to a lady1 capable of
 things that would be incredibly        
disgraceful1 under obligations of       
conduct no lady observes1 incapable of  

the refinement to which every lady      
pretends4 ,it is one of the most amazing
 aspects of contemporary life1 to       
converse with some smart1 affected1     
profoundly uneducated1 flirtatious woman
 about her housemaid's followers4 ,there
 is such an identity2 there is such an  
abyss4 ,but at present that contrast is 
not our concern4 ,our concern at present
 is with the fact that the social       
constitution of the home almost         
invariably shapes the fundamental social
 conceptions for life1 just as its      
average temperament shapes manners and  
bearing and its moral tone begets moral 
predisposition4 ,if the average sensual 
man of our civilization is noisy and    
undignified in his bearing1 disposed to 
insult and despise those he believes to 
be his social inferiors1 competitive and
 disobliging to his equals2 abject1     
servile1 and dishonest to those he      
regards as his betters2 if his wife is a
 silly1 shallow1 gossiping spendthrift1 
unfit to rear the children she          

occasionally bears1 perpetually snubbing
 social inferiors and perpetually       
cringing to social superiors1 it is     
probable that we have to blame the home1
 not particularly any specific class of 
homes1 but our general home atmosphere1 
for the great part of these             
characteristics4 ,if we would make the  
average man of the coming years gentler 
in manner1 more deliberate in judgment1 
steadier in purpose1 upright1           
considerate1 and free1 we must look     
first to the possibility of improving   
the tone and quality of the average     
home4  ,now the substance and           
constitution of the home1 the relations 
and order of its various members1 have  
been1 and are1 traditional4 ,but it is a
 tradition that has always been capable 
of modification in each generation4 ,in 
the unlettered1 untravelling past1 the  
factor of tradition was altogether      
dominant4 ,sons and daughters married   
and set up homes1 morally1              
intellectually1 economically1 like those

 of their parents4 ,over great areas    
homogeneous traditions held1 and it     
needed wars and conquests1 or it needed 
missionaries and persecutors and        
conflicts1 or it needed many generations
 of intercourse and filtration before a 
new tradition could replace or graft    
itself upon the old4 ,but in the past   
hundred years or so the home conditions 
of the children of our ,english-speaking
 population have shown a disposition to 
break from tradition under influences   
that are increasing1 and to become much 
more heterogeneous than were any home   
conditions before4 ,the ways in which   
these modifications of the old home     
tradition have arisen will indicate the 
means and methods by which further      
modifications may be expected and       
attempted in the future4  ,modification 
has come to the average home tradition  
through two distinct1 though no doubt   
finally interdependent channels4 ,the   
first of these channels is the channel  
of changing economic necessities1 using 

the phrase to cover everything from     
domestic conveniences at the one extreme
 to the financial foundation of the home
 at the other1 and the next is the      
influx of new systems of thought1 of    
feeling1 and of interpretation about the
 general issues of life4  ,there are in 
,great ,britain three main              
interdependent systems of home tradition
 undergoing modification and            
readjustment4 ,they date from the days  
before mechanism and science began their
 revolutionary intervention in human    
affairs1 and they derive from the three 
main classes of the old aristocratic1   
agricultural1 and trading state1 namely1
 the aristocratic1 the middle1 and the  
labour class4 ,there are local1 there   
are even racial modifications1 there are
 minor classes and subspecies1 but the  
rough triple classification will serve4 
,in ,america the dominant home tradition
 is that of the transplanted ,english   
middle class4 ,the ,english aristocratic
 tradition has flourished and faded in  

the ,southern ,states2 the ,british     
servile and peasant tradition has never 
found any growth in ,america1 and has1  
in the persons of the ,irish chiefly1   
been imported in an imperfect condition1
 only to fade4 ,the various home        
traditions of the nineteenth century    
immigrants have either1 if widely       
different1 succumbed1 or if not very    
different assimilated themselves to the 
ruling tradition4 ,the most marked      
non-,british influence has been the     
intermixture of ,teutonic               
,protestantism4 ,in both countries now  
the old home traditions have been and   
are being adjusted to and modified by   
the new classes1 with new relationships 
and new necessities1 that the revolution
 in industrial organization and domestic
 conveniences has created4  ,the        
interplay of old tradition and new      
necessities becomes at times very       
curious4 ,consider1 for example1 the    
home influences of the child of a       
shopman in a large store1 or those of   

the child of a skilled operative--an    
engineer of some sort let us say--in    
,england4 ,both these are new types in  
the ,english social body2 the former    
derives from the old middle class1 the  
class that was shopkeeping in the towns 
and farming in the country1 the class of
 the ,puritans1 the ,quakers1 the first 
manufacturers1 the class whose mentally 
active members become the dissenters1   
the old ,liberals1 and the original ,new
 ,englanders4 ,the growth of large      
businesses has raised a portion of this 
class to the position of ,sir ,john     
,blundell ,maple1 ,sir ,thomas ,lipton1 
the intimate friend of our ,king1 and   
our brewer peers2 it has raised a rather
 more numerous section to the red plush 
glories of ,wagon-,lit trains and their 
social and domestic equivalents1 and it 
has reduced the bulk of the class to the
 status of employees for life4 ,but the 
tradition that our ,english shopman is  
in the same class as his master1 that he
 has been apprentice and improver1 and  

is now assistant1 with a view to        
presently being a master himself1 still 
throws its glamour over his life and his
 home1 and his child's upbringing4 ,they
 belong to the middle class1 the black  
coat and silk-hat class1 and the silk   
hat crowns the adolescence of their boys
 as inevitably as the toga made men in  
ancient ,rome4 ,their house is built1   
not for convenience primarily1 but to   
realize whatever convenience is possible
 after the rigid traditional            
requirements have been met2 it is the   
extreme and final reduction of the plan 
of a better class house1 and the very   
type of its owner4 ,as one sees it in   
the ,london suburbs devoted to clerks   
and shopmen1 it stands back a yard or so
 from the road1 with a gate and a       
railing1 and a patch1 perhaps two feet  
wide1 of gravel between its front and   
the pavement4 ,this is the last pathetic
 vestige of the preliminary privacies of
 its original type1 the gates1 the      
drive-up1 the front lawn1 the shady     

trees1 that gave a great impressive     
margin to the door4 ,the door has a     
knocker 7with an appeal to realities1   
8ring also07 and it opens into a narrow 
passage1 perhaps four feet wide1 which  
still retains the title of 8hall40 ,oak 
staining on the woodwork and marbled    
paper accentuate the lordly memory4     
,people of this class would rather die  
than live in a house with a front door1 
even had it a draught-stopping inner    
door1 that gave upon the street4        
,instead of an ample kitchen in which   
meals can be taken and one other room in
 which the rest of life goes on1 these  
two covering the house site1 the social 
distinction from the servant invades the
 house space first by necessitating a   
passage to a side-door1 and secondly by 
cutting up the interior into a          
8dining-room0 and a 8drawing-room40     
,economy of fuel throughout the winter  
and economy of the best furniture       
always1 keeps the family in the         
dining-room pretty constantly1 but there

 you have the drawing-room as a concrete
 fact4 ,though the drawing-room is      
inevitable1 the family will manage      
without a bath-room well enough4 ,they  
may1 or they may not1 occasionally wash 
all over4 ,there are probably not fifty 
books in the house1 but a daily paper   
comes and ,tit ,bits or ,pearson's      
,weekly1 or1 perhaps1 ,m4,a4,p41 ,modern
 ,society1 or some such illuminant of   
the upper circles1 and a cheap fashion  
paper1 appear at irregular intervals to 
supplement this literature4  ,the wife  
lives to realize the ideal of the       
8ladylike0--lady she resigns to the     
patrician--and she insists upon a       
servant1 however small4 ,this poor      
wretch of a servant1 often a mere child 
of fourteen or fifteen1 lives by herself
 in a minute kitchen1 and sleeps in a   
fireless attic4 ,to escape vulgar       
associates1 the children of the house   
avoid the elementary schools--the       
schools called in ,america public       
schools--where there are trained1       

efficient teachers1 good apparatus1 and 
an atmosphere of industry1 and go to one
 of those wretched dens of disorderly   
imposture1 a middle-class school1 where 
an absolute failure to train or educate 
is seasoned with religious cant1 lessons
 in piano-playing1 lessons in ,french   
8made in ,england10 mortarboard caps for
 the boys1 and a high social tone4 ,and 
to emphasize the fact of its social     
position1 this bookless1 bathless family
 tips6 ,the plumber touches his hat for 
a tip1 the man who moves the furniture1 
the butcher-boy at ,christmas1 the      
dustman2 these things also1 the respect 
and the tip1 at their minimum           
dimensions4 ,everything is at its       
minimum dimensions1 it is the last      
chipped1 dwarfed1 enfeebled state of a  
tradition that has1 in its time1 played 
a fine part in the world4 ,this much of 
honour still clings to it1 it will      
endure no tip1 no charity1 no           
upper-class control of its privacy4     
,this is the sort of home in which the  

minds of thousands of young ,englishmen 
and ,englishwomen receive their first   
indelible impressions4 ,can one expect  
them to escape the contagion of its     
cramped pretentiousness1 its dingy      
narrowness1 its shy privacy of social   
degradation1 its essential sordidness   
and inefficiency8  ,our skilled         
operative1 on the other hand1 will      
pocket his tip4 ,he is on the other side
 of the boundary4 ,he presents a rising 
element coming from the servile mass4   
,probably his net income equals or      
exceeds the shopman's1 but there is no  
servant1 no black coat and silk hat1 no 
middle-class school in his scheme of    
things4 ,he calls the shopman 8,sir10   
and makes no struggle against his native
 accent4 ,in his heart he despises the  
middle class1 the mean tip-givers1 and  
he is inclined to overrate the gentry or
 big tippers4 ,he is much more sociable1
 much noisier1 relatively shameless1    
more intelligent1 more capable1 less    
restrained4 ,he is rising against his   

tradition1 and almost against his will4 
,the serf still bulks large in him4 ,the
 whole trend of circumstance is to      
substitute science for mere rote skill  
in him1 to demand initiative and an     
intelligent self-adaptation to new      
discoveries and new methods1 to make him
 a professional man and a job and       
pieceworker after the fashion of the    
great majority of professional men4     
,against all these things the serf      
element in him fights4 ,he resists      
education and clings to apprenticeship1 
he fights for time-work1 he obstructs   
new inventions1 he clings to the ideal  
of short hours1 high pay1 shirk and let 
the master worry4 ,his wife is a far    
more actual creature than the clerk's2  
she does the house herself in a rough1  
effectual fashion1 his children get far 
more food for mind and body1 and far    
less restraint4 ,you can tell the age of
 the skilled operative within a decade  
by the quantity of books in his home2   
the younger he is the more numerous     

these are likely to be4 ,and the younger
 he is the more likely he is to be alive
 to certain general views about his     
rights and his place in the social      
scale1 the less readily will his finger 
go to his cap at the sight of           
broad-cloth1 or his hand to the         
proffered half-crown4 ,he will have     
listened to ,trade ,union organizers and
 ,socialist speakers2 he will have read 
the special papers of his class4 ,the   
whole of this home is1 in comparison    
with the shopman's1 wide open to new    
influences4 ,the children go to a ,board
 ,school1 and very probably afterwards  
to evening classes--or music-halls4     
,here again is a new type of home1 in   
which the ,english of #aibj are being   
made in thousands1 and which is forced a
 little way up the intellectual and     
moral scale every year1 a little further
 from its original conception of labour1
 dependence1 irresponsibility1 and      
servility4  ,compare1 again1 the home   
conditions of the child of a            

well-connected ,british shareholder     
inheriting1 let us say1 seven or eight  
hundred a year1 with the home of exactly
 the same sort of person deriving from  
the middle class4 ,on the one hand1 one 
will find the old aristocratic ,british 
tradition in an instructively distorted 
state4 ,all the assumptions of an       
essential lordliness remain--and none of
 the duties4 ,all the pride is there    
still1 but it is cramped1 querulous1 and
 undignified4 ,that lordliness is so    
ample that for even a small family the  
income ,i have named will be no more    
than biting poverty1 there will be a    
pervading quality of struggle in this   
home to avoid work1 to frame            
arrangements1 to discover cheap1 loyal  
servants of the old type1 to discover   
six per cent4 investments without risk1 
to interest influential connections in  
the prospects of the children4 ,the     
tradition of the ruling class1 which    
sees in the public service a pension    
scheme for poor relations1 will glow    

with all the colours of hope4 ,great    
sacrifices will be made to get the boys 
to public schools1 where they can revive
 and expand the family connections4     
,they will look forward as a matter of  
course to positions and appointments1   
for the want of which men of gifts and  
capacity from other social strata will  
break their hearts1 and they will fill  
these coveted places with a languid1    
discontented incapacity4 ,great         
difficulty will be experienced in       
finding schools for the girls from which
 the offspring of tradesmen are         
excluded4 ,vulgarity has to be jealously
 anticipated4 ,in a period when         
,smartness 7as distinguished from       
,vulgarity7 is becoming an ideal1 this  
demands at times extremely subtle       
discrimination4 ,the art of credit will 
be developed to a high level4  ,now in  
the other family economically           
indistinguishable from this1 a family   
with seven or eight hundred a year from 
investments1 which derives from the     

middle class1 the tradition is one that1
 in spite of the essential              
irresponsibility of the economic        
position1 will urge this family towards 
exertion as a duty4 ,as a rule the      
resultant lies in the direction of      
pleasant1 not too arduous exertion1 the 
arts are attacked with great earnestness
 of intention1 literature1 8movements0  
of many sorts are ingredients in these  
homes4 ,many things that are imperative 
to the aristocratic home are regarded as
 needless1 and in their place appear    
other things that the aristocrat would  
despise1 books1 instruction1 travel in  
incorrect parts of the world1 games1    
that most seductive development of      
modern life1 played to the pitch of     
distinction4 ,into both these homes     
comes literature1 comes the ,press1     
comes the talk of alien minds1 comes the
 observation of things without1         
sometimes reinforcing the tradition1    
sometimes insidiously glossing upon it  
or undermining it1 sometimes 8letting   

daylight through it02 but much more into
 the latter type than into the former4  
,and slowly the two fundamentally       
identical things tend to assimilate     
their superficial difference1 to        
homologize their traditions1 each       
generation sees a relaxation of the     
aristocratic prohibitions1 a 8gentleman0
 may tout for wines nowadays--among     
gentlemen--he may be a journalist1 a    
fashionable artist1 a schoolmaster1 his 
sisters may 8act10 while1 on the other  
hand1 each generation of the            
ex-commercial shareholder reaches out   
more earnestly towards refinement1      
towards tone and quality1 towards       
etiquette1 and away from what is        
8common0 in life4  ,so in these typical 
cases one follows the strands of        
tradition into the new conditions1 the  
new homes of our modern state4 ,in      
,america one finds exactly the same new 
elements shaped by quite parallel       
economic developments1 shopmen in a     
large store1 skilled operatives1 and    

independent shareholders developing     
homes not out of a triple strand of     
tradition1 but out of the predominant   
home tradition of an emancipated middle 
class1 and in a widely different        
atmosphere of thought and suggestion4   
,as a consequence1 one finds1 ,i am     
told1 a skilled operative already with  
no eye 7or only an angry eye7 for tips1 
sociable shopmen1 and shareholding      
families1 frankly common1 frankly       
intelligent1 frankly hedonistic1 or only
 with the most nave and superficial     
imitation of the haughty incapacity1 the
 mean pride1 the parasitic lordliness of
 the just-independent1 well-connected   
,english4  ,these rough indications of  
four social types will illustrate the   
quality of our proposition1 that home   
influence in the making of men resolves 
itself into an interplay of one         
substantial and two modifying elements1 
namely3--  7#a7 ,tradition4  7#b7       
,economic conditions4  7#c7 ,new ideas1 
suggestions1 interpretations1 changes in

 the general atmosphere of thought in   
which a man lives and which he mentally 
breathes4  ,the net sum of which three  
factors becomes the tradition for the   
next generation4  ,both the modifying   
elements admit of control4 ,how the     
economic conditions of homes may be     
controlled to accomplish ,new           
,republican ends has already been       
discussed with a view to a hygienic     
minimum1 and obviously the same1 or     
similar1 methods may be employed to     
secure less materialistic benefits4 ,you
 can make a people dirty by denying them
 water1 you can make a people cleaner by
 cheapening and enforcing bath-rooms4   
,man is indeed so spiritual a being that
 he will turn every materialistic       
development you force upon him into     
spiritual growth4 ,you can aerate his   
house1 not only with air1 but with      
ideas4 ,build1 cheapen1 render alluring 
a simpler1 more spacious type of house  
for the clerk1 fill it with             
labour-saving conveniences1 and leave no

 excuse and no spare corners for the    
8slavey10 and the slavey--and all that  
she means in mental and moral           
consequence--will vanish out of being4  
,you will beat tradition4 ,make it easy 
for ,trade ,unions to press for shorter 
hours of work1 but make it difficult for
 them to obstruct the arrival of        
labour-saving appliances1 put the means 
of education easily within the reach of 
every workman1 make promotion from the  
ranks1 in the ,army1 in the ,navy1 in   
all business concerns1 practicable and  
natural1 and the lingering              
discolouration of the serf taint will   
vanish from the workman's mind4 ,the    
days of mystic individualism have       
passed1 few people nowadays will agree  
to that strange creed that we must deal 
with economic conditions as though they 
were inflexible laws4 ,economic         
conditions are made and compact of the  
human will1 and by tariffs1 by trade    
regulation and organization1 fresh      
strands of will may be woven into the   

complex4 ,the thing may be              
extraordinarily intricate and difficult1
 abounding in unknown possibilities and 
unsuspected dangers1 but that is a plea 
for science and not for despair4        
,controllable1 too1 is the influx of    
modifying suggestions into our homes1   
however vast and subtle the enterprise  
may seem4 ,but here we touch for the    
first time a question that we shall now 
continue to touch upon at other points1 
until at last we shall clear it and     
display it as the necessarily central   
question of the whole matter of         
man-making so far as the human will is  
concerned1 and that is the preservation 
and expansion of the body of human      
thought and imagination1 of which all   
conscious human will and act is but the 
imperfect expression and realization1 of
 which all human institutions and       
contrivances1 from the steam-engine to  
the ploughed field1 and from the blue   
pill to the printing press1 are no more 
than the imperfect symbols1 the rude    

mnemonics and memoranda4  ,but this     
analysis of the modifying factors in the
 home influence1 this formulation of its
 controllable elements1 has now gone as 
far as the purpose of this paper        
requires4 ,it has worked out to this1   
that the home1 so far as it is not      
traditional organization1 is really only
 on the one hand an aspect of the       
general economic condition of the state1
 and on the other of that still more    
fundamental thing1 its general          
atmosphere of thought4 ,our analysis    
refers back the man-maker to these two  
questions4 ,the home1 one gathers1 is   
not to be dealt with separately or      
simply4 ,nor1 on the other hand1 are    
these questions to be dealt with merely 
in relation to their home application4  
,as the citizen grows up1 he presently  
emerges from his home influences to a   
more direct and general contact with    
these two things1 with the ,fact of the 
modern state and with the ,thought of   
the modern state1 and we must consider  

each of these in relation to his        
development as a whole4  ,the next group
 of elements in the man-making complex  
that occurs to one after the home1 is   
the school4 ,let me repeat a distinction
 already drawn between the home element 
in boarding-schools and the school      
proper4 ,while the child is out of the  
school-room1 playing--except when it is 
drilling or playing under               
direction--when it is talking with its  
playmates1 walking1 sleeping1 eating1 it
 is under those influences that it has  
been convenient for me to speak of as   
the home influence4 ,the schoolmaster   
who takes boarders is1 ,i hold1 merely a
 substitute for the parent1 the         
household of boarders merely a          
substitute for the family4 ,what is     
meant by school here1 is that which is  
possessed in common by day school and   
boarding-school--the schoolroom and the 
recess playground part4 ,it is something
 which the savage and the barbarian     
distinctively do not possess as a phase 

in their making1 and scarcely even its  
rudimentary suggestion4 ,it is a new    
element correlated with the             
establishment of a wider political order
 and with the use of written speech4    
,now ,i think it will be generally      
conceded that whatever systematic       
intellectual training the developing    
citizen gets1 as distinguished from his 
natural1 accidental1 and incidental     
development1 is got in school or in its 
subsequent development of college1 and  
with that ,i will put aside the question
 of intellectual development altogether 
for a later1 fuller discussion4 ,my     
point here is simply to note the school 
as a factor in the making of almost     
every citizen in the modern state1 and  
to point out1 what is sometimes         
disregarded1 that it is only one of many
 factors in that making4 ,the tendency  
of the present time is enormously to    
exaggerate the importance of school in  
development1 to ascribe to it powers    
quite beyond its utmost possibilities1  

and to blame it for evils in which it   
has no share4 ,and in the most          
preposterous invasions of the duties of 
parent1 clergyman1 statesman1 author1   
journalist1 of duties which are in truth
 scarcely more within the province of a 
schoolmaster than they are within the   
province of a butcher1 the real and     
necessary work of the school is too     
often marred1 crippled1 and lost sight  
of altogether4 ,we treat the complex1   
difficult and honourable task of        
intellectual development as if it were  
within the capacity of any earnest but  
muddle-headed young lady1 or any        
half-educated gentleman in orders2 we   
take that for granted1 and we demand in 
addition from them the 8formation of    
character10 moral and ethical training  
and supervision1 aesthetic guidance1 the
 implanting of a taste for the ,best in 
literature1 for the ,best in art1 for   
the finest conduct2 we demand the clue  
to success in commerce and the seeds of 
a fine passionate patriotism from these 

necessarily very ordinary persons4  ,one
 might think schoolmasters and          
schoolmistresses were inaccessible to   
general observation in the face of these
 stupendous demands4 ,if we exacted such
 things from our butcher over and above 
good service in his trade1 if we        
insisted that his meat should not only  
build up honest nerve and muscle1 but   
that it should compensate for all that  
was slovenly in our homes1 dishonest in 
our economic conditions1 and slack and  
vulgar in our public life1 he would very
 probably say that it took him all his  
time to supply sound meat1 that it was a
 difficult and honourable thing to      
supply sound meat1 that the slackness of
 business-men and statesmen in the      
country1 the condition of the arts and  
sciences1 wasn't his business1 that     
however lamentable the disorders of the 
state1 there was no reasonable prospect 
of improving it by upsetting the        
distribution of meat1 and1 in short1    
that he was a butcher and not a         

,cosmos-healing quack4 8,you must have  
meat10 he would say1 8anyhow40 ,but the 
average schoolmaster and schoolmistress 
does not do things in that way4  ,what a
 school may do for the developing       
citizen1 the original and the developed 
function of the school1 and how its true
 work may best be accomplished1 we shall
 discuss later4 ,but it may be well to  
expand a little more fully here the     
account of what the school has no       
business to attempt1 and what the       
scholastic profession is1 as a whole1   
quite incapable of doing1 and to point  
to the really responsible agencies in   
each case4  ,now1 firstly1 with regard  
to all that the schoolmaster and        
schoolmistress means by the 8formation  
of character40 ,a large proportion of   
the scholastic profession will profess1 
and a still larger proportion of the    
public believes1 that it is possible by 
talk and specially designed instruction1
 to give a boy or girl a definite bias  
towards 8truth10 towards acts called    

8healthy0 7a word it would puzzle the   
ordinary schoolmaster or schoolmistress 
extremely to define1 glib as they are   
with it71 towards honour1 towards       
generosity1 enterprise1 self-reliance1  
and the like4 ,the masters in our public
 schools are far from blameless in this 
respect1 and you may gauge the quality  
of many of these gentlemen pretty       
precisely by their disposition towards  
the 8school pulpit0 line of business4   
,half an hour's 8straight talk to the   
boys10 impromptu vague sentimentality   
about ,earnestness1 ,thoroughness1 ,true
 ,patriotism1 and so forth1 seems to    
assuage the conscience as nothing else  
could do1 for weeks of ill-prepared1    
ill-planned teaching1 and years of      
preoccupation with rowing-boats and     
cricket4 ,the more extreme examples of  
this type will say in a tone of manly   
apology1 8,it does the boys good to tell
 them plainly what ,i think about       
serious things0--when the simple fact of
 the case is too often that he does all 

he can not to think about any things of 
any sort whatever1 except cricket and   
promotion4 ,schoolmistresses1 again1    
will sometimes come near boasting to the
 inquiring parent of our 8ethical hour10
 and if you probe the facts you will    
find that means no more and no less than
 an hour of floundering egotism1 in     
which a poor illogical soul1 with a sort
 of naive indecency1 talks nonsense     
about 8,ideals10 about the ,higher and  
the ,better1 about ,purity1 and about   
many secret and sacred things1 things   
upon which wise men are often profoundly
 uncertain1 to incredulous or imitative 
children4 ,all that is needed to do this
 sort of thing abundantly and freely is 
a certain degree of aggressive egotism1 
a certain gift of stupidity1 good       
intentions1 and a defective sense of    
educational possibilities and           
limitations4  ,in addition to moral     
discussions1 that at the best are very  
second-rate eloquence1 and at the worst 
are respect destroying1 mind destroying 

gabble1 there are various forms of      
8ethical0 teaching1 advocated and       
practised in ,america and in the        
elementary schools of this country4 ,for
 example1 a story of an edifying sort is
 told to the children1 and comments are 
elicited upon the behaviour of the      
characters4 8,would you have done that80
 8,oh1 no1 teacher60 8,why not80        
8,because it would be mean40 ,the       
teacher goes into particulars1 whittling
 away at the verdict1 and at last the   
fine point of the lesson stands out4    
,now it may be indisputable that such   
lessons can be conducted effectively and
 successfully by exceptionally brilliant
 teachers1 that children may be given an
 excellent code of good intentions1 and 
a wonderful skill in the research for   
good or bad motives for any given course
 of action they may or may not want to  
take1 but that they can be              
systematically trained by the average   
teacher at our disposal in this         
desirable 8subject0 is quite another    

question4 ,it is one of the things that 
the educational reformer must guard     
against most earnestly1 the persuasion  
that what an exceptional man can do ever
 and again for display purposes can be  
done successfully day by day in schools4
 ,this applies to many other things     
besides the teaching of ethics4         
,professor ,armstrong can give          
delightfully instructive lessons in     
chemistry according to the heuristic    
method1 but in the hands of the average 
teacher by whom teaching must be done   
for the next few years the heuristic    
system will result in nothing but a     
pointless fumble4 ,mr4 ,mackinder       
teaches geography--inimitably--just to  
show how to do it4 ,mr4 ,david          
,devant--the brilliant ,egyptian ,hall  
conjuror--will show any assembly of     
parents how to amuse children quite     
easily1 but for some reason he does not 
present his legerdemain as a new        
discovery in educational method4  ,to   
our argument that this sort of teaching 

is not within the capacity of such      
teachers as we have1 or are likely to   
have1 we can1 fortunately enough1 add   
that whatever is attempted can be done  
far better through other agencies4 ,more
 or less unknown to teachers there      
exists a considerable amount of         
well-written literature1 true stories   
and fiction1 in which1 without any      
clumsy insistence upon moral points1    
fine actions are displayed in their     
elementary fineness1 and baseness is    
seen to be base4 ,there are also a few  
theatres1 and there might be more1 in   
which fine action is finely displayed4  
,now one nobly conceived and nobly      
rendered play will give a stronger moral
 impression than the best schoolmaster  
conceivable1 talking ethics for a year  
on end4 ,one great and stirring book may
 give an impression less powerful1      
perhaps1 but even more permanent4       
,practically these things are as good as
 example--they are example4 ,surround   
your growing boy or girl with a generous

 supply of good books1 and leave writer 
and growing soul to do their business   
together without any scholastic control 
of their intercourse4 ,make your state  
healthy1 your economic life healthy and 
honest1 be honest and truthful in the   
pulpit1 behind the counter1 in the      
office1 and your children will need no  
specific ethical teaching2 they will    
inhale right4 ,and without these things 
all the ethical teaching in the world   
will only sour to cant at the first wind
 of the breath of the world4  ,quite    
without ethical pretension at all the   
school is of course bound to influence  
the moral development of the child4     
,that most important matter1 the habit  
and disposition towards industry1 should
 be acquired there1 the sense of        
thoroughness in execution1 the profound 
belief that difficulty is bound to yield
 to a resolute attack--all these things 
are the necessary by-products of a good 
school4 ,a teacher who is punctual1     
persistent1 just1 who tells the truth1  

and insists upon the truth1 who is      
truthful1 not merely technically but in 
a constant search for exact expression1 
whose own share of the school work is   
faultlessly done1 who is tolerant to    
effort and a tireless helper1 who is    
obviously more interested in serious    
work than in puerile games1 will beget  
essential manliness in every boy he     
teaches4 ,he need not lecture on his    
virtues4 ,a slack1 emotional1           
unpunctual1 inexact1 and illogical      
teacher1 a fawning loyalist1 an         
incredible pietist1 an energetic snob1 a
 teacher as eager for games1 as         
sensitive to social status1 as easy1    
kindly1 and sentimental1 and as shy     
really of hard toil as--as some         
teachers--is none the better for ethical
 flatulence4 ,there is a good deal of   
cant in certain educational circles1    
there is a certain type of educational  
writing in which 8love0 is altogether   
too strongly present2 a reasonably      
extensive observation of school-children

 and school-teachers makes one doubt    
whether there is ever anything more than
 a very temperate affection and a still 
more temperate admiration on either     
side4 ,children see through their       
teachers amazingly1 and what they do not
 understand now they will understand    
later4 ,for a teacher to lay hands on   
all the virtues1 to associate them with 
his or her personality1 to smear        
characteristic phrases and expressions  
over them1 is as likely as not to give  
the virtues unpleasant associations4    
,better far1 save through practice1 to  
leave them alone altogether4  ,and what 
is here said of this tainting of moral  
instruction with the personality of the 
teacher applies still more forcibly to  
religious instruction4 ,here1 however1  
,i enter upon a field where ,i am       
anxious to avoid dispute4 ,to my mind   
those ideas and emotions that centre    
about the idea of ,god appear at once   
too great and remote1 and too intimate  
and subtle for objective treatment4 ,but

 there are a great number of people1    
unfortunately1 who regard religion as no
 more than geography1 who believe that  
it can be got into daily lessons of one 
hour1 and adequately done by any poor   
soul who has been frightened into       
conformity by the fear of dismissal4    
,and having this knobby1 portable creed1
 and believing sincerely that lip       
conformity is alone necessary to        
salvation1 they want to force every     
teacher they can to acquire and impart  
its indestructible1 inflexible recipes1 
and they are prepared to enforce this at
 the price of inefficiency in every     
other school function4 ,we must all     
agree--whatever we believe or           
disbelieve--that religion is the crown  
of the edifice we build4 ,but it will   
simply ruin a vital part of the edifice 
and misuse our religion very greatly if 
we hand it over to the excavators and   
bricklayers of the mind1 to use as a    
cheap substitute for the proper         
intellectual and ethical foundations2   

for the ethical foundation which is     
schooling and the ethical foundation    
which is habit4 ,i must confess that    
there is only one sort of man whose     
insistence upon religious teaching in   
schools by ordinary school teachers ,i  
can understand1 and that is the         
downright ,atheist1 the man who believes
 sensual pleasure is all that there is  
of pleasure1 and virtue no more than a  
hood to check the impetuosity of youth  
until discretion is acquired1 the man   
who believes there is nothing else in   
the world but hard material fact1 and   
who has as much respect for truth and   
religion as he has for stable manure4   
,such a man finds it convenient to      
profess a lax version of the popular    
religion1 and he usually does so1 and   
invariably he wants his children        
8taught0 religion1 because he so utterly
 disbelieves in ,god1 goodness1 and     
spirituality that he cannot imagine     
young people doing even enough right to 
keep healthy and prosperous1 unless they

 are humbugged into it4  ,equally       
unnecessary is the scholastic attempt to
 take over the relations of the child to
 8nature10 art1 and literature4 ,to read
 the educational journals1 to hear the  
scholastic enthusiast1 one would think  
that no human being would ever discover 
there was any such thing as 8nature0    
were it not for the schoolmaster--and   
quotation from ,wordsworth4 ,and this   
nature1 as they present it1 is really   
not nature at all1 but a factitious     
admiration for certain isolated aspects 
of the universe conventionally regarded 
as 8natural40 ,few schoolmasters have   
discovered that for every individual    
there are certain aspects of the        
universe that especially appeal1 and    
that that appeal is part of the         
individuality--different from every     
human being1 and quite outside their    
range4 ,certain things that have been   
rather well treated by poets and artists
 7for the most part dead and of         
,academic standing7 they regard as      

,nature1 and all the rest of the world1 
most of the world in which we live1 as  
being in some way an intrusion upon this
 classic4 ,they propound a wanton and   
illogical canon4 ,trees1 rivers1        
flowers1 birds1 stars--are1 and have    
been for many centuries ,nature--so are 
ploughed fields--really the most        
artificial of all things--and all the   
apparatus of the agriculturist1 cattle1 
vermin1 weeds1 weed-fires1 and all the  
rest of it4 ,a grassy old embankment to 
protect low-lying fields is ,nature1 and
 so is all the mass of apparatus about a
 water-mill2 a new embankment to store  
an urban water supply1 though it may be 
one mass of splendid weeds1 is          
artificial1 and ugly4 ,a wooden windmill
 is ,nature and beautiful1 a sky-sign   
atrocious4 ,mountains have become       
,nature and beautiful within the last   
hundred years--volcanoes even4          
,vesuvius1 for example1 is grand and    
beautiful1 its smell of underground     
railway most impressive1 its night      

effect stupendous1 but the glowing      
cinder heaps of ,burslem1 the wonders of
 the ,black ,country sunset1 the        
wonderful fire-shot nightfall of the    
,five ,towns1 these things are horrid   
and offensive and vulgar beyond the     
powers of scholastic language4 ,such a  
mass of clotted inconsistencies1 such a 
wild confusion of vicious mental        
practices as this1 is the stuff the     
schoolmaster has in mind when he talks  
of children acquiring a love of ,nature4
 ,they are to be trained1 against all   
their mental bias1 to observe and quote 
about the canonical natural objects and 
not to observe1 but instead to shun and 
contemn everything outside the canon1   
and so to hand on the orthodox ,love of 
,nature to another generation4 ,one may 
present the triumph of scholastic       
nature-teaching1 by the figure of a     
little child hurrying to school along   
the ways of a busy modern town4 ,she    
carries a faded cut-flower1 got at      
considerable cost from a botanical      

garden1 and as she goes she counts its  
petals1 its stamens1 its bracteoles4    
,her love of ,nature1 her 8powers of    
observation10 are being trained4 ,about 
her1 all unheeded1 is a wonderful life  
that she would be intent upon but for   
this precious training of her mind2     
great electric trains loom wonderfully  
round corners1 go droning by1 spitting  
fire from their overhead wires2 great   
shop windows display a multitudinous    
variety of objects2 men and women come  
and go about a thousand businesses2 a   
street-organ splashes a spray of notes  
at her as she passes1 a hoarding        
splashes a spray of colour4  ,the shape 
and direction of one's private          
observation is no more the              
schoolmaster's business than the shape  
and direction of one's nose4 ,it is1    
indeed1 possible to certain gifted and  
exceptional persons that they should not
 only see acutely1 but abstract and     
express again what they have seen4 ,such
 people are artists--a different kind of

 people from schoolmasters altogether4  
,into all sorts of places1 where people 
have failed to see1 comes the artist    
like a light4 ,the artist cannot create 
nor can he determine the observation of 
other men1 but he can1 at any rate1 help
 and inspire it4 ,but he and the        
pedagogue are temperamentally different 
and apart4 ,they are at opposite poles  
of human quality4 ,the pedagogue with   
his canon comes between the child and   
,nature only to limit and obscure4 ,his 
business is to leave the whole thing    
alone4  ,if the interpretation of nature
 is a rare and peculiar gift1 the       
interpretation of art and literature is 
surely an even rarer thing4 ,hundreds of
 schoolmasters and schoolmistresses who 
could not write one tolerable line of   
criticism1 will stand up in front of    
classes by the hour together and issue  
judgments on books1 pictures1 and all   
that is comprised under the name of art4
 ,think of it6 ,here is your great      
artist1 your great exceptional mind     

groping in the darknesses beneath the   
surface of life1 half apprehending      
strange elusive things in those         
profundities1 and striving--striving    
sometimes to the utmost verge of human  
endeavour--to give that strange         
unsuspected mystery expression1 to shape
 it1 to shadow it in form and wonder of 
colour1 in beautiful rhythms1 in        
phantasies of narrative1 in gracious and
 glowing words4 ,so much in its         
essential and precious degree is art4   
,think of what the world must be in the 
wider vision of the great artist4       
,think1 for example1 of the dark        
splendours amidst which the mind of     
,leonardo clambered2 the mirror of      
tender lights that reflected into our   
world the iridescent graciousness of    
,botticelli6 ,then to the faint and     
faded intimations these great men have  
left us of the things beyond our scope1 
comes the scholastic intelligence1      
gesticulating instructively1 and in too 
many cases obscuring for ever the naive 

vision of the child4 ,the scholastic    
intelligence1 succulently appreciative1 
blind1 hopelessly blind to the fact that
 every great work of art is a strenuous1
 an almost despairing effort to express 
and convey1 treats the whole thing as   
some foolish riddle--8explains it to the
 children40 ,as if every picture was a  
rebus and every poem a charade6 8,little
 children10 he says1 8this teaches      
you0--and out comes the platitude6  ,of 
late years1 in ,great ,britain more     
particularly1 the ,school has been      
called upon to conquer still other      
fields4 ,it has become apparent that in 
this monarchy of ours1 in which honour  
is heaped high upon money-making1 even  
if it is money-making that adds nothing 
to the collective wealth or efficiency1 
and denied to the most splendid public  
services unless they are also           
remunerative2 where public applause is  
the meed of cricketers1 hostile         
guerillas1 clamorous authors1           
yacht-racing grocers1 and hopelessly    

incapable generals1 and where suspicion 
and ridicule are the lot of every man   
working hard and living hard for any end
 beyond a cabman's understanding2 in    
this world-wide ,empire whose           
,government is entrusted as a matter of 
course to peers and denied as a matter  
of course to any man of humble origin2  
where social pressure of the most urgent
 kind compels every capable business    
manager to sell out to a company and    
become a 8gentleman0 at the very        
earliest opportunity1 the national      
energy is falling away4 ,that driving   
zeal1 that practical vigour that once   
distinguished the ,english is           
continually less apparent4 ,our workmen 
take no pride in their work any longer1 
they shirk toil and gamble4 ,and what is
 worse1 the master takes no pride in the
 works2 he1 too1 shirks toil and        
gambles4 ,our middle-class young men1   
instead of flinging themselves into     
study1 into research1 into literature1  
into widely conceived business          

enterprises1 into so much of the public 
service as is not preserved for the sons
 of the well connected1 play games1     
display an almost oriental slackness in 
the presence of work and duty1 and seem 
to consider it rather good form to do   
so4 ,and seeking for some reason and    
some remedy for this remarkable         
phenomenon1 a number of patriotic       
gentlemen have discovered that the      
,schools1 the ,schools are to blame4    
,something in the nature of ,reform has 
to be waved over our schools4  ,it would
 be a wicked deed to write anything that
 might seem to imply that our ,schools  
were not in need of very extensive      
reforms1 or that their efficiency is not
 a necessary preliminary condition to   
general public efficiency1 but1 indeed1 
the ,schools are only one factor in a   
great interplay of causes1 and the      
remedy is a much ampler problem than any
 ,education ,act will cure4 ,take a     
typical young ,englishman1 for example1 
one who has recently emerged from one of

 our public schools1 one of the sort of 
young ,englishmen for whom all          
commissions in the ,army are practically
 reserved1 who will own some great      
business1 perhaps1 or direct companies1 
and worm your way through the tough hide
 of style and restraint he has acquired1
 get him to talk about women1 about his 
prospects1 his intimate self1 and see   
for yourself how much of him1 and how   
little of him1 his school has made4     
,test him on politics1 on the national  
future1 on social relationships1 and    
lead him if you can to an utterance or  
so upon art and literature4 ,you will be
 astonished how little you can either   
blame or praise the teaching of his     
school for him4 ,he is ignorant1        
profoundly ignorant1 and much of his    
style and reserve is draped over that2  
he does not clearly understand what he  
reads1 and he can scarcely write a      
letter2 he draws1 calculates and thinks 
no better than an errand boy1 and he has
 no habit of work2 for that much perhaps

 the school must answer4 ,and the       
school1 too1 must answer for the fact   
that although--unless he is one of the  
small specialized set who 8swat0 at     
games--he plays cricket and football    
quite without distinction1 he regards   
these games as much more important than 
military training and things of that    
sort1 spends days watching his school   
matches1 and thumbs and muddles over the
 records of county cricket to an amazing
 extent4 ,but these things are indeed   
only symptons1 and not essential factors
 in general inefficiency4 ,there are    
much wider things for which his school  
is only mediately or not at all to      
blame4 ,for example1 he is not only     
ignorant and inefficient and secretly   
aware of his ignorance and inefficiency1
 but1 what is far more serious1 he does 
not feel any strong desire to alter the 
fact2 he is not only without the habit  
of regular work1 but he does not feel   
the defect because he has no desire     
whatever to do anything that requires   

work in the doing4 ,and you will find   
that this is so because there is woven  
into the tissue of his being a profound 
belief that work and knowledge 8do not  
pay10 that they are rather ugly and     
vulgar characteristics1 and that they   
make neither for happiness nor success4 
,he did not learn that at school1 nor at
 school was it possible he should       
unlearn it4 ,he acquired that belief    
from his home1 from the conversation of 
his equals1 from the behaviour of his   
inferiors2 he found it in the books and 
newspapers he has read1 he breathed it  
in with his native air4 ,he regards it  
as manifest ,fact in the life about him4
 ,and he is perfectly right4 ,he lives  
in a country where stupidity is1 so to  
speak1 crowned and throned1 and where   
honour is a means of exchange2 and he   
draws his simple1 straight conclusions4 
,the much-castigated gentleman with the 
ferule is largely innocent in this      
account4  ,if1 too1 you ransack your    
young ,englishman for religion1 you will

 be amazed to find scarcely a trace of  
,school4 ,in spite of a ceremonial      
adhesion to the religion of his fathers1
 you will find nothing but a profound   
agnosticism4 ,he has not even the faith 
to disbelieve4 ,it is not so much that  
he has not developed religion as that   
the place has been seared4 ,in his time 
his boyish heart has had its stirrings1 
he has responded with the others to     
8,onward1 ,christian ,soldiers10 the    
earnest moments of the school pulpit1   
and all those first vague things4 ,but  
limited as his reading is1 it has not   
been so limited that he does not know   
that very grave things have happened in 
matters of faith1 that the doctrinal    
schemes of the conventional faith are   
riddled targets1 that creed and ,bible  
do not mean what they appear to mean1   
but something quite different and       
indefinable1 that the bishops1 socially 
so much in evidence1 are intellectually 
in hiding4  ,here again is something the
 school did not cause1 the school cannot

 cure4  ,and in matters sexual1 in      
matters political1 in matters social1   
and matters financial you will find that
 the flabby1 narrow-chested1            
under-trained mind that hides in the    
excellent-looking body of the typical   
young ,englishman is encumbered with an 
elaborate duplicity4 ,under the cloak of
 a fine tradition of good form and fair 
appearances you will find some intricate
 disbeliefs1 some odd practices4 ,you   
will trace his moral code chiefly to his
 school-fellows1 and the intimates of   
his early manhood1 and could you trace  
it back you would follow an unbroken    
tradition from the days of the          
,restoration4 ,so soon as he pierces    
into the realities of the life about    
him1 he finds enforcement1 ample and    
complete1 for the secret code4 ,the     
schoolmaster has not touched it2 the    
school pulpit has boomed over its       
development in vain4 ,nor has the       
schoolmaster done anything for or       
against the young man's political views1

 his ideas of social exclusiveness1 the 
peculiar code of honour that makes it   
disgraceful to bilk a cabman and        
permissible to obtain goods on credit   
from a tradesman without the means to   
pay4 ,all this much of the artificial   
element in our young ,english gentleman 
was made outside the school1 and is to  
be remedied only by extra-scholastic    
forces4  ,school is only one necessary  
strand in an enormous body of formative 
influence4 ,at first that mass of       
formative influence takes the outline of
 the home1 but it broadens out as the   
citizen grows until it reaches the      
limits of his world4 ,and his world1    
just like his home1 resolves itself into
 three main elements4 ,first1 there is  
the traditional element1 the creation of
 the past2 secondly1 there is the       
contemporary interplay of economic and  
material forces2 and thirdly1 there is  
literature1 using that word for the     
current thought about the world1 which  
is perpetually tending on the one hand  

to realize itself and to become in that 
manner a material force1 and on the     
other to impose fresh interpretations   
upon things and so become a factor in   
tradition4 ,now the first of these      
elements is a thing established4 ,and it
 is the possibility of intervening      
through the remaining two that it is now
 our business to discuss4     ,,vi4     
,,schooling   ,we left the child whose  
development threads through this        
discussion ripe to begin a little       
schooling at the age of five4 ,we have  
cleared the ground since then of a great
 number of things that have got         
themselves mixed up in an illegitimate  
way with the idea of school1 and we can 
now take him on again through his       
8schooling0 phases4 ,let us begin by    
asking what we require and then look to 
existing conditions to see how far we   
may hope to get our requirements4 ,we   
will assume the foundation described in 
the fourth paper has been well and truly
 laid1 that we have a number of other   

similarly prepared children available to
 form a school1 and that we have also   
teachers of fair average intelligence1  
conscience1 and aptitude4 ,we will ask  
what can be done with such children and 
teachers1 and then we may ask why it is 
not universally done4  ,even after our  
clarifying discussion1 in which we have 
shown that schooling is only a part1 and
 by no means the major part1 of the     
educational process1 and in which we    
have distinguished and separated the    
home element in the boarding-school from
 the schooling proper1 there still      
remains something more than a simple    
theme in schooling4 ,after all these    
eliminations we remain with a mixed     
function and mixed traditions1 and it is
 necessary now to look a little into the
 nature of this mixture4  ,the modern   
school is not a thing that has evolved  
from a simple germ1 by a mere process of
 expansion4 ,it is the coalescence of   
several things4 ,in different countries 
and periods you will find schools taking

 over this function and throwing out    
that1 and changing not only methods but 
professions and aims in the most        
remarkable manner4 ,what has either been
 teachable or has seemed teachable in   
human development has played a part in  
some curriculum or other4 ,beyond the   
fact that there is class instruction and
 an initial stage in which the pupil    
learns to read and write1 there is      
barely anything in common4 ,but that    
initial stage is to be noted2 it is the 
thing the ,hebrew schoolboy1 the ,tamil 
schoolboy1 the ,chinese schoolboy1 and  
the ,american schoolboy have in common4 
,so much1 at any rate1 of the school    
appears wherever there is a written     
language1 and its presence marks a stage
 in the civilizing process4 ,as ,i have 
already pointed out in my book          
8,anticipations10 the presence of a     
reading and writing class of society and
 the existence of an organized nation   
7as distinguished from a tribe7 appear  
together4 ,when tribes coalesce into    

nations1 schools appear4 ,this first and
 most universal function of the school  
is to initiate a smaller or greater     
proportion of the population into the   
ampler world1 the more efficient        
methods1 of the reading and writing man4
 ,and with the disappearance of the     
slave and the mere labourer from the    
modern conception of what is necessary  
in the state1 there has now come about  
an extension of this initiation to the  
whole of our ,english-speaking          
population4 ,and in addition to reading 
and writing the vernacular1 there is    
also almost universally in schools      
instruction in counting1 and wherever   
there is a coinage1 in the values and   
simpler computation of coins4  ,in      
addition to the vernacular teaching1 one
 finds in the schools--at any rate the  
schools for males--over a large part of 
the world1 a second element1 which is   
always the language of what either is or
 has been a higher and usually a        
dominant civilization4 ,typically1 there

 is a low or imitative vernacular       
literature or no literature at all1 and 
this second language is the key to all  
that literature involves--general views1
 general ideas1 science1 poetic         
suggestion and association4 ,through    
this language the vernacular citizen    
escapes from his parochial and national 
limitations to a wide commonweal of     
thought4 ,such was ,greek at one time to
 the ,roman1 such was ,latin to the     
,bohemian1 the ,german1 the ,englishman 
or the ,spaniard of the middle ages1 and
 such it is to-day to the ,roman        
,catholic priest2 such is ,arabic to the
 ,malay1 written ,chinese to the        
,cantonese or the ,corean1 and ,english 
to the ,zulu or the ,hindoo4 ,in        
,germany and ,france1 to a lesser degree
 in ,great ,britain1 and to a still     
lesser degree in the ,united ,states1 we
 find1 however1 an anomalous condition  
of things4 ,in each of these countries  
civilization has long since passed into 
an unprecedented phase1 and each of     

these countries has long since developed
 a great living mass of literature in   
which its new problems are1 at any rate1
 approached4 ,there is scarcely a work  
left in ,latin or ,greek that has not   
been translated into and assimilated and
 more or less completely superseded by  
,english1 ,french1 and ,german works2   
but the schoolmaster1 heedless of these 
things1 still arrests the pupil at the  
old portal1 fumbles with the keys1 and  
partially opens the door into a         
ransacked treasure-chamber4 ,the        
language of literature and of civilized 
ideas is1 for the ,english-speaking     
world to-day1 ,english--not the weak1   
spoken dialect of each class and        
locality1 but the rich and splendid     
language in which and with which our    
literature and philosophy grow4 ,that1  
however1 is by the way4 ,our point at   
present is that the exhaustive teaching 
of a language so that it may serve as a 
key to culture is a second function in  
the school4  ,we find in a broad survey 

of schools in general that there has    
also been a disposition to develop a    
special training in thought and         
expression either in the mother tongue  
7as in the ,roman schools of ,latin     
oratory71 or in the culture tongue 7as  
in ,roman schools of ,greek oratory71   
and we find the same element in the     
mediaeval trivium4 ,quintilian's        
conception of education1 the reader will
 remember1 was oratory4 ,this aspect of 
school work was the traditional and     
logical development of the culture      
language-teaching4 ,but as in ,europe   
the culture language has ceased to be   
really a culture language but merely a  
reasonless survival1 and its teaching   
has degenerated more and more into      
elaborate formalities supposed to have  
in some mystical way 8high educational  
value10 and for the most part conducted 
by men unable either to write or speak  
the culture language with any freedom or
 vigour1 this crown of cultivated       
expression has become more and more     

inaccessible4 ,it is too manifestly     
stupid--even for our public             
schoolmasters--to think of carrying the 
8classical grind0 to that pitch1 and1 in
 fact1 they carry no part of the        
education to that pitch4 ,there is no   
deliberate and professed training at all
 in logical thought--except for the use 
of ,euclid's ,elements to that end--nor 
in expression in any language at all1 in
 the great mass of modern schools4 ,this
 is a very notable point about the      
schools of the present period4  ,but1 on
 the other hand1 the schools of the     
modern period have developed masses of  
instruction that were not to be found in
 the schools of the past4 ,the school   
has reached downward and taken over1    
systematized1 and on the whole1 ,i      
think1 improved that preliminary        
training of the senses and the          
observation that was once left to the   
spontaneous activity of the child among 
its playmates and at home4 ,the         
kindergarten department of a school is a

 thing added to the old conception of   
schooling1 a conversion of the all too  
ample school hours to complete and      
rectify the work of the home1 to make   
sure of the foundation of sense         
impressions and elementary capabilities 
upon which the edifice of schooling is  
to rise4 ,in ,america it has grown1 as a
 wild flower transferred to the         
unaccustomed richness of garden soil    
will sometimes do1 rankly and in        
relation to the more essential          
schooling1 aggressively1 and become a   
highly vigorous and picturesque weed4   
,one must bear in mind that ,froebel's  
original thought was rather of the      
mother than of the schoolmistress1 a    
fact the kindergarten invaders of the   
school find it convenient to forget4 ,i 
believe we shall be carrying out his    
intentions as well as the manifest      
dictates of common sense if we do all in
 our power by means of simply and       
clearly written books for nurses and    
mothers to shift very much of the       

kindergarten back to home and playroom  
and out of the school altogether4       
,correlated with this development1 there
 has been a very great growth in our    
schools of what is called manual        
training and of the teaching of drawing4
 ,neither of these subjects entered into
 the school idea of any former period1  
so far as my not very extensive         
knowledge of educational history goes4  
,modern1 too1 is the development of     
efficient mathematical teaching2 so     
modern that for too many schools it is  
still a thing of tomorrow4 ,the         
arithmetic 7without ,arabic numerals1 be
 it remembered7 and the geometry of the 
mediaeval quadrivium were astonishingly 
clumsy and ineffectual instruments in   
comparison with the apparatus of modern 
mathematical method4 ,and while the     
mathematical subjects of the quadrivium 
were taught as science and for their own
 sakes1 the new mathematics is a sort of
 supplement to language1 affording a    
means of thought about form and quantity

 and a means of expression1 more exact1 
compact1 and ready than ordinary        
language4 ,the great body of physical   
science1 a great deal of the essential  
fact of financial science1 and endless  
social and political problems are only  
accessible and only thinkable to those  
who have had a sound training in        
mathematical analysis1 and the time may 
not be very remote when it will be      
understood that for complete initiation 
as an efficient citizen of one of the   
new great complex world-wide states that
 are now developing1 it is as necessary 
to be able to compute1 to think in      
averages and maxima and minima1 as it is
 now to be able to read and write4 ,this
 development of mathematical teaching is
 only another aspect of the necessity   
that is bringing the teaching of drawing
 into schools1 the necessity that is so 
widely1 if not always very intelligently
 perceived1 of clearheadedness about    
quantity1 relative quantity1 and form1  
that our highly mechanical1 widely      

extended1 and still rapidly extending   
environments involve4  ,arithmetic and  
geometry were taught in the mediaeval   
school as sciences1 in addition the     
quadrivium involved the science of      
astronomy1 and now that the necessary   
fertilizing inundation of our general   
education by the classical languages and
 their literatures subsides1 science of 
a new sort reappears in our schools4 ,i 
must confess that a lot of the science  
teaching that appears in schools        
nowadays impresses me as being a very   
undesirable encumbrance of the          
curriculum4 ,the schoolman's science    
came after the training in language and 
expression1 late in the educational     
scheme1 and it aimed1 it                
pretended--whatever its final effect    
was--to strengthen and enlarge the mind 
by a noble and spacious sort of         
knowledge4 ,but the science of the      
modern school pretends merely to be a   
teaching of useful knowledge2 the       
vistas1 the tremendous implications of  

modern science are conscientiously      
disregarded1 and it is in effect too    
often no more than a diversion of school
 energies to the acquisition of         
imperfectly analyzed misstatements about
 entrails1 elements1 and electricity1   
with a view--a quite unjustifiable      
view--to immediate profitable hygienic  
and commercial application4 ,whether    
there is any educational value in the   
school-teaching of science we may       
discuss later4 ,for the present we may  
note it simply as a revived and         
developing element4  ,on the other hand1
 while these things expand in the modern
 school1 there are declining elements1  
once in older schemes of scholastic work
 much more evident4 ,in the culture of  
the mediaeval knight1 for example1 and  
of the eighteenth-century young lady1   
elegant accomplishments1 taught         
disconnected from the general           
educational scheme and for themselves1  
played a large part4 ,the               
eighteenth-century young lady was taught

 dancing1 deportment1 several           
instruments of music1 how to pretend to 
sketch1 how to pretend to know ,italian1
 and so on4 ,the dancing still          
survives--a comical mitigation of high  
school austerities--and there is also a 
considerable interruption of school work
 achieved by the music-master4 ,if there
 is one thing that ,i would say with    
certainty has no business whatever in   
schools1 it is piano-teaching4 ,the     
elementary justification of the school  
is its organization for class-teaching  
and work in unison1 and there is        
probably no subject of instruction that 
requires individual tuition quite so    
imperatively as piano-playing2 there is 
no subject so disadvantageously         
introduced where children are gathered  
together4 ,but to every preparatory and 
girls' school in ,england--,i do not    
know if the same thing happens in       
,america--the music-master comes once or
 twice a week1 and with a fine disregard
 of the elementary necessities of       

teaching1 children are called one by    
one1 out of whatever class they happen  
to be attending1 to have their          
music-lesson4 ,either the whole of the  
rest of the class must mark time at some
 unnecessary exercise until the missing 
member returns1 or one child must miss  
some stage1 some explanation that will  
involve a weakness1 a lameness for the  
rest of the course of instruction4 ,not 
only is the actual music-lesson a       
nuisance in this way1 but all day the   
school air is loaded with the oppressive
 tinkling of racked and rackety pianos4 
,nothing1 ,i think1 could be more       
indicative of the real value the        
,english school-proprietor sets on      
school-teaching than this easy admission
 of the music-master to hack and riddle 
the curriculum into rags4 ,footnote #a3 
,piano playing as an accomplishment is a
 nuisance and encumbrance to the school 
course and a specialization that surely 
lies within the private ,home province4 
,to learn to play the piano properly    

demands such an amount of time and toil 
that ,i do not see how we can possibly  
include it in the educational scheme of 
the honourable citizens of the coming   
world state4 ,to half learn it1 to half 
learn anything1 is a training in        
failure4 ,but it is probable that a     
different sort of music teaching        
altogether--a teaching that would aim1  
not at instrumentalization1 but at      
intelligent appreciation--might find a  
place in a complete educational scheme4 
,the general ignorance that pervades1   
and in part inspires these papers1 does1
 in the matter of music1 become special1
 profound1 and distinguished4 ,it seems 
to me1 however1 that what the cultivated
 man or woman requires is the ability to
 read a score intelligently rather than 
to play it--to distinguish the threads1 
the values1 of a musical composition1 to
 have a quickened ear rather than a     
disciplined hand4 ,i owe to my friend1  
,mr4 ,graham ,wallas1 the suggestion    
that the piano is altogether too        

exacting an instrument to use as the    
practical vehicle for such instruction1 
and that something simpler and          
cheaper--after the fashion of the old   
spinet--is required4 ,possibly some day 
a teacher of genius will devise and     
embody in a book a course of class      
lessons1 sustained by simple practice   
and written work1 that would attain this
 end4 ,but1 indeed1 after all is said   
and done1 music is the most detached and
 the purest of arts1 the most accessory 
of attainments4 ,apart from the piano   
work1 the special teaching of elegant   
accomplishments seems just at present on
 the wane4 ,and on the whole ,i think   
what one might call useful or catchpenny
 accomplishments are also passing their 
zenith--shorthand lessons1 book-keeping 
lessons1 and such-like impostures upon  
parental credulity4  ,there is1 however1
 a thing that was once done in schools  
as a convenient accomplishment1 and     
which has--with that increase in        
communication which is the salient      

material fact of the nineteenth         
century--developed in ,western ,europe  
to the dimensions of a political        
necessity1 and that is the teaching of  
one or more modern foreign languages4   
,the language-teaching of all previous  
periods has been done with a view to    
culture1 artistic1 as in the case of    
,elizabethan ,italian1 or intellectual  
as with ,english ,latin4 ,but the       
language-teaching of to-day is          
deliberately1 almost conscientiously1   
not for culture4 ,it would1 ,i am sure1 
be a very painful and shocking thought  
indeed to an ,english parent to think   
that ,french was taught in school with a
 view to reading ,french books4 ,it is  
taught as a vulgar necessity for        
purposes of vulgar communication4 ,the  
stirring together of the populations    
that is going on1 the fashion and       
facilities for travel1 the production of
 the radii from the trading foci1 are   
rapidly making a commonplace knowledge  
of ,french1 ,german1 and ,italian a     

necessity to the merchant and tradesman1
 and the ever more extensive travelling 
class4 ,so that so far as ,europe goes1 
one may very well regard this modern    
modern-language teaching as--with the   
modern mathematics--an extension of the 
trivium1 of the apparatus1 that is1 of  
thought and expression4 ,footnote3 ,in  
the ,united ,states there is less sense 
of urgency about modern languages1 but  
sooner or later the ,american may wake  
up to the need of ,spanish in his       
educational schemes4 ,it is an extension
 and a very doubtful improvement4 ,it is
 a modern necessity1 a rather irksome   
necessity1 of little or no essential    
educational value1 an unavoidable duty  
the school will have to perform4        
,footnote3 ,in one way the foreign      
language may be made educationally very 
useful1 and that is as an exercise in   
writing translations into good ,english4
  ,there are two subjects in the modern 
,english school that stand by themselves
 and in contrast with anything one finds

 in the records of ancient and oriental 
schools1 as a very integral part of what
 is regarded as our elementary general  
education4 ,they are of very doubtful   
value in training the mind1 and most of 
the matter taught is totally forgotten  
in adult life4 ,these are history and   
geography4 ,these two subjects          
constitute1 with ,english grammar and   
arithmetic1 the four obligatory subjects
 for the very lowest grade of the       
,london ,college of ,preceptors'        
examinations1 for example4 ,the         
examination papers of this body reveal  
the history as an affair of dated       
events1 a record of certain wars and    
battles1 and legislative and social     
matters quite beyond the scope of a     
child's experience and imagination4     
,scholastic history ends at #agjj or    
#ahjj1 always long before it throws the 
faintest light upon modern political or 
social conditions4 ,the geography is1   
for the most part1 topography1 with a   
smattering of quantitative facts1       

heights of mountains1 for example1      
populations of countries1 and lists of  
obsolete manufactures and obsolete trade
 conditions4 ,any one who will take the 
trouble to run through the text-books of
 these subjects gathered together in the
 library of the ,london ,teachers'      
,guild1 will find that the history is   
generally taught without maps1 pictures1
 descriptive passages1 or anything to   
raise it above the level of an arid     
misuse of memory2 and the highest levels
 to which ordinary school geography has 
attained are to be found in the little  
books of the late ,professor            
,meiklejohn4 ,these two subjects are    
essentially 8information0  subjects4    
,they differ in prestige rather than in 
educational quality from school         
chemistry and natural history1 and their
 development marks the beginning of that
 great accumulation of mere knowledge   
which is so distinctive of this present 
civilization4  ,there are1 no doubt1    
many minor subjects1 but this revision  

will at least serve to indicate the     
scope and chief varieties of school     
work4 ,out of some such miscellany it is
 that in most cases the student passes  
to specialization1 to a different and   
narrower process which aims at a        
specific end1 to the course of the      
,college4 ,in some cases this           
specialized course may be correlated    
with a real and present practice1 as in 
the case of the musical1 medical1 and   
legal faculties of our universities2 it 
may be correlated with obsolete needs   
and practices and regardless of modern  
requirements1 as in the case of the     
student of divinity who takes his orders
 and comes into a world full of the     
ironical silences that follow great     
controversies1 nakedly ignorant of      
geology1 biology1 psychology1 and modern
 biblical criticism2 or it may have no  
definite relation to special needs1 and 
it may profess to be an upward          
prolongation of schooling towards a sort
 of general wisdom and culture1 as in   

the case of the ,british 8,arts0        
degrees4 ,the ordinary ,oxford1         
,cambridge1 or ,london ,b4,a4 has a     
useless smattering of ,greek1 he cannot 
read ,latin with any comfort1 much less 
write or speak that tongue2 he knows a  
few unedifying facts round and about the
 classical literature1 he cannot speak  
or read ,french with any comfort2 he has
 an imperfect knowledge of the ,english 
language1 insufficient to write it      
clearly1 and none of ,german1 he has a  
queer1 old-fashioned1 and quite useless 
knowledge of certain rudimentary        
sections of mathematics1 and an odd     
little bite out of history4 ,he knows   
practically nothing of the world of     
thought embodied in ,english literature1
 and absolutely nothing of contemporary 
thought2 he is totally ignorant of      
modern political or social science1 and 
if he knows anything at all about       
evolutionary science and heredity it is 
probably matter picked up in a casual   
way from the magazines4 ,art is a sealed

 book to him4 ,still1 the               
inapplicability of his higher education 
to any professional or practical need in
 the world is sufficiently obvious1 it  
seems1 to justify the claim that it has 
put him on a footing of thought and     
culture above the level of a shopman4   
,it is either that or nothing4 ,and     
without deciding between these          
alternatives1 we may note here for our  
present purpose1 that the conception of 
a general upward prolongation of        
schooling beyond adolescence1 as        
distinguished from a specific upward    
prolongation into professional training1
 is necessary to the complete           
presentation of the school and college  
scheme in the modern state4  ,there has 
always been a tendency to utilize the   
gathering together of children in       
schools for purposes irrelevant to      
schooling proper1 but of some real or   
fancied benefit4 ,wherever there is a   
priestly religion1 the lower type of    
religious fanatic will always look to   

the schools as a means of doctrinal     
dissemination2 will always be seeking to
 replace efficiency by orthodoxy upon   
staff and management2 and1 with an      
unconquerable1 uncompromising           
persistency1 will seek perpetually      
either to misconduct or undermine2 and  
the struggle to get him out and keep him
 out of the school1 and to hold the     
school against him1 will be one of the  
most necessary and thankless of ,new    
,republican duties4 ,i have1 however1   
already adduced reasons that ,i think   
should appeal to every religious mind1  
for the exclusion of religious teaching 
from school work4 ,the school gathering 
also affords opportunity for training in
 simple unifying political conceptions2 
the salutation of the flag1 for example1
 or of the idealized effigies of ,king  
and ,queen4 ,the quality of these       
conceptions we shall discuss later4 ,the
 school also gives scope for physical   
training and athletic exercises that    
are1 under the crowded conditions of a  

modern town1 almost impossible except by
 its intervention4 ,and it would be the 
cheapest and easiest way of raising the 
military efficiency of a country1 and an
 excellent thing for the moral tone and 
public order of a people1 to impose upon
 the school gathering half an hour a day
 of vigorous military drill4 ,the       
school1 too1 might very easily be linked
 more closely than it is at present with
 the public library1 and made a means of
 book distribution2 and its corridors   
may easily be utilized as a loan picture
 gallery1 in which good reproductions of
 fine pictures might bring the silent   
influence of the artist mind to bear4   
,but all these things are secondary     
applications of the school gathering2 at
 their best they are not conducted by   
the school-teacher at all1 and ,i remark
 upon them here merely to avoid any     
confusion their omission might occasion4
  ,now if we dip into this miscellany of
 things that figure and have figured in 
schools1 if we turn them over and look  

at them1 and seek to generalize about   
them1 we shall begin to see that the    
most persistently present1 and the      
living reality of it all1 is this3 to   
expand1 to add to and organize and      
supplement that apparatus of            
understanding and expression the savage 
possesses in colloquial speech4 ,the    
pressing business of the school is to   
widen the range of intercourse4         
,footnote3 ,this way of putting it may  
jar a little upon the more or less      
explicit preconceptions of many readers1
 who are in reality in harmony with the 
tone of thought of this paper4 ,they    
will have decided that the school work  
is to 8train the mind10 to 8teach the   
pupil to think10 or upon some similar   
phrase4 ,but ,i venture to think that   
most of these phrases are at once too   
wide and too narrow4 ,they are too wide 
because they ignore the spontaneous     
activity of the child and the           
extra-scholastic forces of              
mind-training1 and they are too narrow  

because they ignore the fact that we do 
not progress far with our thoughts      
unless we throw them out into objective 
existence by means of words1 diagrams1  
models1 trial essays4 ,even if we do not
 talk to others we must1 silently or    
vocally or visibly1 talk to ourselves at
 least to get on4 ,to acquire the means 
of intercourse is to learn to think1 so 
far as learning goes in the matter4 ,it 
is only secondarily--so far as schooling
 goes--or1 at any rate1 subsequently1   
that the idea of shaping1 or1 at least1 
helping to shape1 the expanded natural  
man into a citizen1 comes in4 ,it is    
only as a subordinate necessity that the
 school is a vehicle for the inculcation
 of facts4 ,the facts come into the     
school not for their own sake1 but in   
relation to intercourse4 ,it is only    
upon a common foundation of general     
knowledge that the initiated citizens of
 an educated community will be able to  
communicate freely together4 ,with the  
net of this phrase1 8widening the range 

of intercourse10 ,i think it is possible
 to gather together all that is         
essential in the deliberate purpose of  
schooling4 ,nothing that remains outside
 is of sufficient magnitude to be of any
 importance in the small-scale sketch of
 human development we are now making3-- 
,if we take this and hold to it as a    
guide1 and explore a scheme of school   
work1 in the direction it takes us1 we  
shall find it shaping itself 7for an    
,english-speaking citizen7 something    
after this fashion3    ,a4 ,direct means
 of understanding and expression4       
#a4 ,reading4       #b4 ,writing4       
#c4 ,pronouncing ,english correctly4    
,which studies will expand into--       
#d4 ,a thorough study of ,english as a  
culture language1 its origin1           
development1 and vocabulary1 and        
#e4 ,a sound training in ,english prose 
composition and          versification4 
,and in addition--        #f4 ,just as  
much of mathematics as one can get in4  
#g4 ,drawing and painting1 not as 8art10

 but to train and develop          the  
appreciation of form and colour1 and as 
a collateral          means of          
expression4      #h4 ,music perhaps to  
the same end4   ,b4 ,to speak the       
ordinary speech1 read with fair         
intelligence1    and write in a passably
 intelligible manner the foreign        
language    or languages1 the social1   
political1 and intellectual necessities 
of the time require4   ,and ,c4 ,a      
division arising out of ,a and expanding
 in the later        stages of the      
school course to continue and replace   
,a3 the        acquisition of the       
knowledge 7and of the art of acquiring  
further knowledge from books and facts7 
necessary to participate        in      
contemporary thought and life4  ,now    
this project is at once more modest in  
form and more ambitious in substance    
than almost any school scheme or        
prospectus the reader is likely to      
encounter4 ,let us 7on the assumption of
 our opening paragraph7 inquire what is 

needed to carry it into execution4 ,so  
far as #a and #b in this table go1 we   
have to recognize that since the        
development of elementary schools in    
,england introduced a spirit of         
endeavour into teaching1 there has been 
a steady progress in the art of         
education4 ,reading and writing are     
taught somehow or other to most people  
nowadays1 they are frequently taught    
quickly and well1 especially well1 ,i   
think1 in view of the raw material1 in  
many urban ,board ,schools in ,england1 
and there is nothing to do here but to  
inquire if anything can be done to make 
this teaching1 which is so exceptional  
in attaining its goal1 still quicker and
 easier1 and in bringing the average up 
to the level of the present best4 ,we   
have already suggested as the work of an
 imaginary ,english ,language ,society1 
how much might be done in providing     
everywhere1 cheaply and unavoidably1 the
 best possible reading-books1 and it is 
manifest that the standard of copy-books

 for writing might also be pressed      
upward by similar methods4 ,in addition1
 we have to consider--what is to me a   
most uncongenial subject--the possible  
rationalization of ,english spelling4 ,i
 will frankly confess ,i know ,english  
as much by sight as by sound1 and that  
any extensive or striking alteration1   
indeed that almost any alteration1 in   
the printed appearance of ,english1     
worries me extremely4 ,even such little 
things as ,mr4 ,bernard ,shaw's weakness
 for printing 8,i've0 as 8,ive10 and the
 ,american 8favor10  8thro10 and        
8catalog0 catch at my attention as it   
travels along the lane of meaning1 like 
trailing briars4 ,but ,i have to admit  
this habit of the old spelling1 which ,i
 am sure most people over               
four-and-twenty share with me1 will     
trouble neither me nor any one else who 
reads books now1 in the year #aiij4 ,i  
have to admit that the thing is an      
accident of my circumstances4 ,i have   
learnt to read and write in a certain   

way1 and ,i am concerned with the thing 
said and not with the vehicle1 and so it
 is that it distresses me when the      
medium behaves in an unusual way and    
distracts my attention from the thing it
 conveys4 ,but if it is true--and ,i    
think it must be true--that the         
extremely arbitrary spelling of         
,english--and more especially of the    
more familiar ,english words--greatly   
increases the trouble of learning to    
read and write1 ,i do not think the     
mental comfort of one or two generations
 of grown-up people must be allowed to  
stand in the way of a permanent economy 
in the educational process4 ,i believe  
even that such a reader as ,i might come
 to be very easy in the new way4 ,but   
whatever is done must be done widely1   
simultaneously1 all over the            
,english-speaking community1 and after  
the fullest consideration4 ,the local   
8spelling reform0 of a few half-educated
 faddists here and there1 helps not at  
all1 is a mere nuisance4 ,this is a     

thing to be worked out in a scientific  
way by the students of phonetics2 they  
must have a complete alphabet settled   
for good1 a dictionary ready1           
reading-books well tested1 the whole    
system polished and near perfection     
before the thing passes out of the      
specialists' hands4 ,the really         
practical spelling-reformer will devote 
his guineas to endowing chairs of       
phonetics and supporting publication in 
phonetic science1 and his time to study 
and open-minded discussion4 ,such       
organisations as the ,association       
,phontique ,internationale1 may be      
instanced4 ,systems concocted in a      
hurry1 in a half-commercial or wholly   
commercial and in a wholly presumptuous 
manner1 pushed like religious panaceas  
and advertised like soap--,pitman's     
,system1 ,barnum's ,system1 ,quackbosh  
the ,gifted ,postman's ,system1 and all 
that sort of thing--do nothing but      
vulgarize1 discredit1 and retard this   
work4  ,before a system of phonetic     

spelling can be established1 it is      
advisable that a standard pronunciation 
of ,english should exist4 ,with that    
question also these papers have already 
dealt4 ,but for the sake of emphasis ,i 
would repeat here the astonishment that 
has grown upon me as ,i have given my   
mind to these things1 that1 save for    
local exceptions1 there should be no    
pressure even upon those who desire to  
become teachers in our schools or       
preachers in our pulpits1 to attain a   
qualifying minimum of correct           
pronunciation4  ,now directly we pass   
beyond these first three elementary     
matters1 reading1 writing1 and          
pronunciation1 and come to the fourth   
and fifth items of our scheme1 to the   
complete mastery of ,english that is1 we
 come upon a difficulty that is all too 
completely disregarded in educational   
discussions--always by those who have   
had no real scholastic experience1 and  
often by those who ought to know better4
 ,it is extremely easy for a political  

speaker or a city magnate or a military 
reformer or an irresponsible writer1 to 
proclaim that the schoolmaster must mend
 his ways forthwith1 give up this       
pointless ,latin of his1 and teach his  
pupils the ,english language            
8thoroughly0--with much emphasis on the 
8thoroughly10 but it is quite another   
thing for the schoolmaster to obey our  
magnificent directions4 ,for the plain1 
simple1 insurmountable fact is this1    
that no one knows how to teach ,english 
as in our vague way we critics imagine  
it taught2 that no working schoolmaster 
alive can possibly give the thing the   
concentrated attention1 the experimental
 years necessary for its development1   
that it is worth nobody's while1 and    
that 7except in a vein of exalted       
self-sacrifice7 it will probably not be 
worth any one's while to do so for many 
years unless some ,new ,republicans     
conspire to make it so4 ,the teaching of
 ,english requires its ,sturm1 its      
energetic modern renascence             

schoolmasters1 its set of school books1 
its branches and grades1 before it can  
become a discipline1 even to compare    
with the only subject taught with any   
shadow of orderly progressive           
thoroughness in secondary schools1      
namely1 ,latin4 ,at present our method  
in ,english is a foolish caricature of  
the ,latin method2 we spend a certain   
amount of time teaching children        
classificatory bosh about the eight     
sorts of ,nominative ,case1 a certain   
amount of time teaching them the        
8derivation0 of words they do not       
understand1 glance shyly at             
,anglo-,saxon and at ,grimm's ,law1     
indulge in a specific reminiscence of   
the ,latin method called parsing1       
supplement with a more modern           
development called the analysis of      
sentences1 give a course of exercises in
 paraphrasing 7for the most part the    
conversion of good ,english into bad71  
and wind up with lessons in             
8,composition0 that must be seen to be  

believed4 ,essays are produced1 and the 
teacher noses blindly through the       
product for false concords1 prepositions
 at the end of sentences1 and1 if a     
person of peculiarly fine literary      
quality1 for the word 8reliable0 and the
 split infinitive4 ,these various       
exercises are so little parts of an     
articulate whole that they may be taken 
in almost any order and any relative    
quantity4 ,and in the result1 if some   
pupil should1 by a happy knack of       
apprehension1 win through this confusion
 to a sense of literary quality1 to the 
enterprise of even trying to write1 the 
thing is so rare and wonderful that     
almost inevitably he or she1 in a fine  
outburst of discovered genius1 takes to 
the literary life4 ,for the rest1 they  
will understand nothing but the flattest
 prose2 they will be deaf to everything 
but the crudest meanings2 they will be  
the easy victims of the boom1 and       
terribly shy of a pen4 ,they will revere
 the dead ,great and respect the new    

,academic1 read the living quack1 miss  
and neglect the living promise1 and     
become just a fresh volume of that      
atmosphere of azote1 in which our       
literature stifles4  ,now the           
schoolmaster is not to blame for this   
any more than he is to blame for        
sticking to ,latin4 ,it is no more      
possible for schoolmasters and          
schoolmistresses1 whose lives are       
encumbered with a voluminous mass of    
low-grade mental toil and worries and   
reasonable and unreasonable             
responsibilities1 to find the energy and
 mental freedom necessary to make any   
vital changes in the methods that       
text-books1 traditions1 and examinations
 force upon them1 than it is for a      
general medical practitioner to invent  
and make out of the native ore the steel
 implements some operation of frequent  
occurrence in his practice may demand4  
,if they are made1 and accessible by    
purchase and not too expensive1 he will 
get them2 if they are not he will have  

to fumble along with the next best      
thing2 and if nothing that is any good  
can be got1 then there is nothing for   
it1 though he be the noblest character1 
the finest intelligence that ever lived 
behind a brass plate1 but either to     
shirk that operation altogether or to   
run the chance of making a disastrous   
mess of it4  ,scolding the schoolmaster1
 gibing at the schoolmaster1 guying1    
afflicting and exasperating the         
schoolmaster in every conceivable way1  
is an amusement so entirely congenial to
 my temperament that ,i do not for one  
moment propose to abandon it4 ,it is a  
devil ,i have1 and ,i admit it4 ,he     
insults schoolmasters and bishops in    
particular1 and ,i do not cast him out1 
but at the same time ,i would most      
earnestly insist that all that sort of  
thing does nothing whatever to advance  
education1 that it is a mere outbreak of
 personal grace-notes so far as this    
discussion goes4 ,the real practical    
needs in the matter are a properly      

worked-out method1 a proper set of      
school books1 and then a progressive    
alteration of examinations in ,english1 
to render that method and that set of   
school books imperative4 ,these are     
needs the schoolmaster and              
schoolmistress can do amazingly little  
to satisfy4 ,of course1 when these      
things are ready and the pressure to    
enforce them begins to tell on the      
schools1 schoolmasters and              
schoolmistresses1 having that almost    
instinctive dread of any sort of change 
that all hard-worked and rather worried 
people acquire1 will obstruct and have  
to be reckoned with1 but that is a      
detail in the struggle and not a        
question of general objective4 ,and to  
satisfy those real practical needs1 what
 is wanted is in the first place an     
organizer1 a reasonable sum of money1   
say ten thousand pounds for ten years1  
and access for experimental purposes to 
a variety of schools4 ,this organizer   
would set himself to secure the whole   

time and energy and interest of a dozen 
or so of good men2 they would include   
several expert teachers1 a clear-headed 
pedagogic expert or so1 a keen          
psychologist perhaps with a penetrating 
mind--for example1 one might try and    
kidnap ,professor ,william ,james in his
 next ,sabbatical year--one or two      
industrious young students1 a literary  
critic perhaps1 a philologist1 a        
grammarian1 and set them all1 according 
to their several gifts and faculties1   
towards this end4 ,at the end of the    
first year this organizer would print   
and publish for the derision of the     
world in general and the bitter attacks 
of the men he had omitted from the      
enterprise in particular1 for review in 
the newspapers and for trial in         
enterprising schools1 a 8course0 in the 
,english language and composition4 ,his 
team of collaborators1 revised perhaps1 
probably weeded by a quarrel or so and  
supplemented by the ablest of the       
hostile critics1 would then1 working    

with all their time and energy1 revise  
the course for the second year4 ,and you
 would repeat the process for ten years4
 ,in the end at the cost of             
#ajj1jjj--really a quite trivial sum for
 the object in view--there would exist  
the scheme1 the method1 the primers and 
text-books1 the ,school ,dictionary1 the
 examination syllabus1 and all that is  
now needed for the proper teaching of   
,english4 ,you would have1 moreover1 in 
the copyrights of the course an asset   
that might go far to recoup those who   
financed the enterprise4  ,it is        
precisely this difficulty about         
text-books and a general scheme that is 
the real obstacle to any material       
improvement in our mathematical         
teaching4 ,professor ,perry1 in his     
opening address to the ,engineering     
,section of the ,british ,association at
 ,belfast1 expressed an opinion that the
 average boy of fifteen might be got to 
the infinitesimal calculus4 ,as a matter
 of fact the average ,english boy of    

fifteen has only just looked at         
elementary algebra4 ,but every one who  
knows anything of educational science   
knows1 that by the simple expedient of  
throwing overboard all that             
non-educational1 mind-sickening and     
complex rubbish about money and weights 
and measures1 practice1 interest1 8rule 
of three10 and all the rest of the      
solemn clap-trap invented by the masters
 of the old ,academy for ,young         
,gentlemen to fool the foolish          
predecessors of those who clamour for   
commercial education to-day1 and by     
setting aside the pretence in teaching  
geometry1 that algebraic formulae and   
the decimal notation are not yet        
invented1 little boys of nine may be got
 to apply quadratic equations to        
problems1 plot endless problems upon    
squared paper1 and master and apply the 
geometry covered by the earlier books of
 ,euclid with the utmost ease4 ,but to  
do this with a class of boys at present 
demands so much special thought1 so much

 private planning1 so much sheer toil on
 the part of the teacher1 that it       
becomes practically impossible4 ,the    
teacher must arrange the whole course   
himself1 invent his examples1 or hunt   
them laboriously through a dozen books2 
he must be not only teacher1 but        
text-book4 ,i know of no ,school        
,arithmetic which does not groan under a
 weight of sham practical work1 and that
 does not1 with an absurd priggishness1 
exclude the use of algebraic symbols4   
,except for one little volume1 ,i know  
of no sane book which deals with        
arithmetic and elementary algebra under 
one cover or gives any helpful exercises
 or examples in squared paper           
calculations4 ,such books1 ,i am told1  
exist in the seclusion of publishers'   
stock-rooms1 but if ,i1 enjoying as ,i  
do much more leisure and opportunity of 
inquiry than the average mathematical   
master1 cannot get at them1 how can we  
expect him to do so8 ,and the thing to  
do now is obviously to discover or      

create these books1 and force them      
kindly but firmly into the teachers'    
hands4  ,the problem is much simpler in 
the case of mathematical teaching than  
in the case of ,english1 because the    
educational theory and method have been 
more thoroughly discussed4 ,there is no 
need for the ten years of experiment and
 trial ,i have suggested for the        
organization of ,english teaching4 ,the 
mathematical reformer may begin now at a
 point the ,english language reformer   
will not reach for some years4 ,suppose 
now a suitably authenticated committee  
were to work out--on the basis of       
,professor ,perry's syllabus perhaps--a 
syllabus of school mathematics1 and then
 make a thorough review of all the      
mathematical textbooks on sale          
throughout the ,english-speaking world1 
admitting some perhaps as of real       
permanent value for teaching of the new 
type1 provisionally recognizing others  
as endurable1 but with clear            
recommendations for their revision and  

improvement1 and condemning the others  
specifically by name4 ,let them make it 
clear that this syllabus and report will
 be respected by all public examining   
bodies2 let them spend a hundred pounds 
or so in the intelligent distribution of
 their report1 and the scholastic       
profession will not be long before it is
 equipped with the recommended books4   
,meanwhile1 the ,english and ,american  
scholastic publishers will become       
extremely active1 the warned books will 
be revised1 and new books will be       
written in competition for the enormous 
prize of the committee's final approval1
 an activity that a second review1 after
 an interval of five or six years1 will 
recognize and reward4  ,such measures as
 these will be worth reams of essays in 
educational papers and ,parents'        
,reviews1 worth thousands of inspiring  
and suggestive lectures at pedagogic    
conferences4 ,if1 indeed1 such essays   
and such lectures do any good at all4   
,the more one looks into scholastic     

affairs the more one is struck not only 
by the futility but the positive        
mischievousness of much of what passes  
for educational liberalism4 ,the        
schoolmaster is criticised vehemently   
for teaching the one or two poor useless
 subjects he can in a sort of way teach1
 and practically nothing is done to help
 or equip him to teach anything else4   
,by reason of this uproar1 the world is 
full now of anxious muddled parents1    
their poor brains buzzing with echoes of
 ,froebel1 ,tolstoy1 ,herbert ,spencer1 
,ruskin1 ,herbart1 ,colonel ,parker1    
,mr4 ,harris1 ,matthew ,arnold1 and the 
,morning ,post1 trying to find something
 better4 ,they know nothing of what is  
right1 they only know very1 very clearly
 that the ordinary school is extremely  
wrong4 ,they are quite clear they don't 
want 8cram0 7though they haven't the    
remotest idea what cram is71 and they   
have a pretty general persuasion that   
failure at examination is a good test of
 a sound education4 ,and in response to 

their bleating demand there grows a fine
 crop of ,quack ,schools2 schools       
organized on lines of fantastic         
extravagance1 in which bee-keeping takes
 the place of ,latin1 and gardening     
supersedes mathematics1 in which boys   
play tennis naked to be cured of ,false 
,shame1 and the numerical exercises     
called bookkeeping and commercial       
correspondence are taught to the sons of
 parents 7who can pay a hundred guineas 
a year71 as ,commercial ,science4 ,the  
subjects of study in these schools come 
and go like the ravings of a disordered 
mind2 8,greek ,history0 7in an hour or  
so a week for a term7 is followed by    
8,italian ,literature10 and this gives  
place to the production of a            
,shakesperian play that ultimately      
overpowers and disorganizes the whole   
curriculum4 ,ethical lessons and the    
school pulpit flourish1 of course4 ,a   
triennial walk to a chalk-pit is ,field 
,geology1 and vague half-holiday        
wanderings are ,botany ,rambles4 8,art0 

of the copper punching variety replaces 
any decent attempt to draw1 and an      
extreme expressiveness in music         
compensates for an almost deliberate    
slovenliness of technique4 ,even the    
ladies' seminaries of the ,georgian days
 could scarcely have produced a parallel
 to the miscellaneous incapacity of the 
victim of these 8modern0 schools1 and it
 becomes daily more necessary for those 
who have the interests of education at  
heart to disavow with the most          
unmistakable emphasis these catch-parent
 impostures4  ,with the other subjects  
under the headings of ,a and ,b1 it is  
not necessary to deal at any length     
here4 ,drawing begins at home1 and a    
child should have begun to sketch freely
 before the formal schooling commences4 
,it is the business of the school to    
teach drawing and not to teach 8art10   
which1 indeed1 is always an individual  
and spontaneous thing1 and it need only 
concern itself directly with those      
aspects of drawing that require         

direction4 ,of course1 an hour set aside
 from the school time in which boys or  
girls may do whatever they please with  
paper1 ink1 pens1 pencils1 compasses1   
and water-colour would be a most        
excellent and profitable thing1 but that
 scarcely counts 7except in the ,quack  
,schools7 as teaching4 ,as a matter of  
fact1 teaching absolutely spoils all    
that sort of thing4 ,a course in model  
drawing and in perspective1 however1 is 
really a training in seeing things1 it  
demands rigorous instruction and it must
 be the backbone of school drawing1 and1
 in addition1 studies may be made from  
flowers that would not be made without  
direction3 topography 7and much else7   
may be learnt by copying good explicit  
maps2 chronology 7to supplement the     
child's private reading of history7 by  
the construction of time charts2 and    
much history also by drawing and        
colouring historical maps4 ,with        
geometrical drawing one passes          
insensibly into mathematics4 ,and so    

much has been done not only to          
revolutionize the teaching of modern    
languages1 but also to popularize the   
results1 that ,i may content myself with
 a mere mention of the names of         
,rippmann1 ,s4 ,alge1 ,hlzel1 and ,gouin
 as typical of the new ways4  ,there    
remains the question of ,c1 the amount  
of ,information that is to take a place 
in schooling4 ,now there is one         
8subject0 that it would be convenient to
 include1 were it only for the sake of  
the mass of exercise and illustration it
 supplies to the mathematical course1   
and that is the science of ,physics4 ,in
 addition1 the science of physics1 since
 it culminates in a clear understanding 
and use of the terminology of the       
aspects of energy and a clear sense of  
adequate causation1 is fundamentally    
necessary to modern thought4 ,practical 
work is1 no doubt1 required for the     
proper understanding of physical        
science1 and so far it must enter into  
schooling1 but it may be pointed out    

here that in many cases the educational 
faddist is overdoing the manual side of 
science study to a ridiculous extent4   
,things have altered very much at the   
,royal ,college of ,science1 no doubt1  
since my student days1 but fifteen years
 ago the courses in elementary physics  
and in elementary geology were quite    
childishly silly in this respect4 ,both 
these courses seemed to have been       
inspired by that eminent educationist1  
,mr4 ,squeers1 and the sequel to        
spelling 8window0 was always to 8go and 
clean one40 ,the science in each course 
in those days could have been acquired  
just as well in a fortnight as in half a
 year4 ,one muddled away three or four  
days etching a millimetre scale with    
hydrofluoric acid on glass--to no       
earthly end that ,i could discover--and 
a week or so in making a needless       
barometer4 ,in the course in geology1   
days and days were spent in drawing     
ideal crystalline forms and colouring   
them in water-colours1 apparently in    

order to get a totally false idea of a  
crystal1 and weeks in the patient       
copying of microscopic rock sections in 
water-colours4 ,effectual measures of   
police were taken to prevent the flight 
of the intelligent student from these   
tiresome duties4 ,the mischief done in  
this way is very great4 ,it deadens the 
average students and exasperates and    
maddens the eager ones4 ,i am inclined  
to think that a very considerable       
proportion of what passes as 8practical0
 science work1 for which costly         
laboratories are built and expensive    
benches fitted1 consists of very similar
 solemnities1 and it cannot be too      
strongly urged that 8practical0 work    
that does not illuminate is mere waste  
of the student's time4  ,this physics   
course would cover an experimental      
quantitative treatment of the electric  
current1 it would glance in an          
explanatory way at many of the phenomena
 of physical geography1 and it would be 
correlated with a study of the general  

principles of chemistry4 ,a detailed    
knowledge of chemical compounds is not a
 part of general education1 it keeps    
better in reference books than in the   
non-specialized head1 and it is only the
 broad conceptions of analysis and      
combination1 and of the relation of     
energy to chemical changes1 that have to
 be attained4 ,beyond this1 and the     
application of map drawing to give      
accurate ideas and to awaken interest in
 geography and history1 it is open to   
discussion whether any ,fact subject    
need be taught as schooling at all4     
,ensure the full development of a man's 
mental capacity1 and he will get his    
,fact as he needs it4 ,and if his mind  
is undeveloped he can make no use of any
 fact he has4 ,the subject called       
8,human ,physiology0 may be at once     
dismissed as absurdly unsuitable for    
school use4 ,one is always meeting      
worthy people who 8don't see why        
children should not know something about
 their own bodies10 and who are not     

apparently aware that the medical       
profession after some generations of    
fairly systematic inquiry knows         
remarkably little4 ,save for some       
general anatomy1 it is impossible to    
teach school-children anything true     
about the human body1 because the       
explanation of almost any physiological 
process demands a knowledge of physical 
and chemical laws much sounder and      
subtler than the average child can      
possibly attain4 ,and as for botany1    
geology1 history1 and geography 7beyond 
the range already specified71 these are 
far better relegated to the school      
library and the initiative of each      
child4 ,every child has its specific    
range of interest1 and its specific way 
of regarding things4 ,in geology1 for   
example1 one boy may be fascinated by   
the fossil hunting1 another will find   
his interest in the effects of structure
 in scenery1 and a third1 with more     
imagination1 will give his whole mind to
 the reconstruction of the past1 and    

will pore over maps of ,pleistocene     
,europe and pictures of ,silurian       
landscape with the keenest appreciation4
 ,each will be bored1 or at least not   
greatly interested1 by what attracts the
 others4 ,let the children have an      
easily accessible library--that is the  
crying need of nine hundred and         
ninety-nine out of a thousand schools   
to-day1 a need every school-seeking     
parent may do something to remedy--and  
in that library let there be one or two 
good densely illustrated histories1     
illustrated travels1 bound volumes of   
such a publication as ,newnes' ,wide    
,world ,magazine 7,i name these         
publications haphazard--there are       
probably others as good or better71     
,hutchinson and ,co4's ,living ,animals 
of the ,world1 the ,rev4 ,h4 ,n4        
,hutchinson's ,extinct ,monsters1 the   
,badminton volumes on big game shooting1
 mountaineering1 and yachting1 ,kerner's
 8,botany10 collections of 8,the        
,hundred ,best ,pictures0 sort1         

collections of views of towns and of    
scenery in different parts of the world1
 and the like4 ,then let the            
schoolmaster set aside five hours a week
 as the minimum for reading1 and let the
 pupils read during that time just      
whatever they like1 provided only that  
they keep silence and read4 ,if the     
schoolmaster or schoolmistress comes in 
at all here1 it should be to stimulate  
systematic reading occasionally by      
setting a group of five or six pupils to
 8get up0 some particular subject--a    
report on 8animals that might still be  
domesticated10 for example--and by      
showing them conversationally how to    
read with a slip of paper at hand1      
gathering facts4 ,this sort of thing it 
is impossible to reduce to method and   
system1 and1 consequently1 it is the    
proper field for the teacher's          
initiative4 ,it is largely in order to  
leave time and energy for this that ,i  
am anxious to reduce the more rigorous  
elements in schooling to standard and   

text-book4  ,now all this schooling need
 not take more than twenty hours a week 
for its backbone or hard-work portion1  
its ,english1 mathematics1 science1 and 
exact drawing1 and twelve hours a week  
for its easier1 more individual         
employments of sketching1 painting1 and 
reading1 and this leaves a large margin 
of time for military drill and for      
physical exercises4 ,if we are to get   
the best result from the child's        
individuality1 we must leave a large    
portion of that margin at the child's   
own disposal1 it must be free to go for 
walks1 to 8muck about10  as schoolboys  
say1 to play games1 and 7within limits7 
to consort with companions of its own   
choosing--to follow its interests in    
short4 ,it is in this direction that    
,british middle-class education fails   
most signally at the present time4 ,the 
,english schoolboy and schoolgirl are   
positively hunted through their days4   
,they do not play--using the word to    
indicate a spontaneous employment into  

which imagination enters--at all4 ,they 
have games1 but they are so regulated   
that the imagination is eliminated2 they
 have exercises of various stereotyped  
sorts4 ,they are taken to and fro to    
these things in the care of persons one 
would call ushers unhesitatingly were it
 not that they also pretended to teach4 
,the rest of their waking time is       
preparation or supervised reading or    
walking under supervision4 ,their       
friendships are watched4 ,they are      
never1 never left alone4 ,the avowed    
ideal of many boarding schoolmasters is 
to 8send them to bed tired out40        
,largely this is due to a natural dread 
of accidents and scrapes1 that will make
 trouble for the school1 but there is   
also another cause4 ,if ,i may speak    
frankly and entirely as an              
unauthoritative observer1 ,i would say  
it is a regrettable thing that so large 
a proportion of ,british secondary      
schoolmasters and mistresses are        
unmarried4 ,the normal condition of a   

healthy adult is marriage1 and for all  
those who are not defective upon this   
side 7and that means an incapacity to   
understand many things7 celibacy is a   
state of unstable equilibrium and too   
often a quite unwholesome condition4    
,wherever there are celibate teachers ,i
 am inclined to suspect a fussiness1 an 
unreasonable watchfulness1 a disposition
 to pry1 an exaggeration of what are    
called 8,dangers10 a painful            
idealization of 8,purity40 ,it is a part
 of the normal development of the human 
being to observe with some particularity
 certain phenomena1 to entertain certain
 curiosities1 to talk of them to trusted
 equals--never1 be it noted1 except by  
perversion to parents or teachers--and  
there is not the slightest harm in these
 quite natural things1 unless they are  
forced back into an abashed solitude or 
associated by suggestion with           
conceptions of shame and disgust4 ,that 
is what happens in too many of our      
girls' schools and preparatory schools  

to-day1 and it is to that end mainly    
that youthful intimacies are            
discouraged1 youthful freedom is        
restricted1 and imagination and         
individuality warped and crippled4 ,it  
is astonishing how much of their        
adolescence grown-up people will        
contrive to forget4  ,so much for       
schooling and what may be done to better
 it in this ,new ,republican scheme of  
things4 ,the upward continuation of it  
into a general ,college course is an    
integral part of a larger question that 
we shall discuss at a later stage1 the  
larger question of the general          
progressive thought of the community as 
a whole4     ,,vii4 ,,political ,,and   
,,social ,,influences   ,there can be   
few people alive who have not remarked  
on occasion that men are the creatures  
of circumstances4 ,but it is one thing  
to state a belief of this sort in some  
incidental application1 and quite       
another to realize it completely4       
,towards such a completer realization we

 have been working in these papers1 in  
disentangling the share of inheritance  
and of deliberate schooling and         
training1 in the production of the      
civilized man4 ,the rest we have to     
ascribe to his world in general1 of     
which his home is simply the first and  
most intimate aspect4 ,in every         
developing citizen we have asserted     
there is a great mass of fluid and      
indeterminate possibility1 and this sets
 and is shaped by the world about him as
 wax is shaped by a mould4 ,it is       
rarely1 of course1 an absolutely exact  
and submissive cast that ensues2 few men
 and women are without some capacity for
 question and criticism1 but it is only 
very rare and obdurate material--only1  
as one says1 a very original            
personality--that does not finally take 
its general form and direction in this  
way4 ,and it is proposed in this paper  
to keep this statement persistently in  
focus1 instead of dismissing it as a    
platitude and thinking no more about it 

at all after the usual fashion1 while we
 examine certain broad social and       
political facts and conventions which   
constitute the general framework of the 
world in which the developing citizen is
 placed4 ,i would submit that at the    
present time with regard to such things 
as church and kingdom1 constitution and 
nationality1 we are altogether too much 
enslaved by the idea of 8policy10 and   
altogether too blind to the remoter1    
deeper1 and more lasting consequences of
 our public acts and institutions in    
moulding the next generation4 ,it will  
not1 ,i think1 be amiss to pass beyond  
policy for a space1 and to insist--even 
with heaviness--that however convenient 
an institution may be1 however much it  
may1 in the twaddle of the time1 be a   
8natural growth10 and however much the  
8product of a long evolution10 yet1 if  
it does not mould men into fine and     
vigorous forms1 it has to be destroyed4 
,we 8save the state0 for the sake of our
 children1 that1 at least1 is the ,new  

,republican view of the matter1 and if  
in our intentness to save the state we  
injure or sacrifice our children1 we    
destroy our ultimate for our proximate  
aim4  ,already it has been pointed out1 
with certain concrete instances1 how the
 thing that is1 asserts itself over the 
thing that is to be2 already a general  
indication has been made of the trend of
 the argument we are now about to       
develop and define4 ,that argument1     
briefly1 is this1 that to attain the    
ends of the ,new ,republic1 that is to  
say the best results from our birth     
possibilities1 we must continually make 
political forms1 social1 political and  
religious formul1 and all the rules and 
regulations of life the clearest1       
simplest1 and sincerest expression      
possible of what we believe about life  
and hope about life2 that whatever      
momentary advantage a generation may    
gain by accepting what is known to be a 
sham and a convention1 by keeping in use
 the detected imposture and the flawed  

apparatus1 is probably much more than   
made up for by the reaction of this     
acquiescence upon the future4 ,as the   
typical instance of a convenient        
convention that ,i am inclined to think 
is now reacting very badly upon our     
future1 the ,crown of the ,british      
,empire1 considered as the symbolical   
figurehead of a system of hereditary    
privilege and rule1 serves extremely    
well4 ,one may deal with this typical   
instance with no special application to 
the easy1 kindly1 amiable personality   
this crown adorns at the present time4  
,it is a question that may be dealt with
 in general terms4 ,what1 we would ask1 
are the natural1 inseparable            
concomitants of a system of hereditary  
rulers in a state1 looking at the thing 
entirely with an eye to the making of a 
greater mankind in the world8 ,how does 
it compare with the ,american conception
 of democratic equality1 and how do both
 stand with regard to the essential     
truth and purpose in things8 4 4 4  ,to 

state these questions is like opening   
the door of a room that has long been   
locked and deserted4 ,one has a lonely  
feeling4 ,there are quite remarkably no 
other voices here1 and the rusty hinges 
echo down empty passages that were quite
 threateningly full of men seventy or   
eighty years ago4 ,but ,i am only one   
very insignificant member of a class of 
inquirers in ,england who started upon  
the question 8why are we becoming       
inefficient80 a year or two ago1 and    
from that starting point it is ,i came  
to this4 4 4 4 ,i do not believe        
therefore that upon this dusty threshold
 ,i shall stand long alone4 ,we take    
most calmly the most miraculous of      
things1 and it is only quite recently   
that ,i have come to see as amazing this
 fact1 that while the greater mass of   
our ,english-speaking people is living  
under the profession of democratic      
,republicanism1 there is no party1 no   
sect1 no periodical1 no teacher either  
in ,great ,britain or ,america or the   

,colonies1 to hint at a proposal to     
abolish the aristocratic and monarchical
 elements in the ,british system4 ,there
 is no revolutionary spirit over here1  
and very little missionary spirit over  
there4 ,the great mass of the present   
generation on both sides of the         
,atlantic takes hardly any interest in  
this issue at all4 ,it is as if the     
question was an impossible one1 outside 
the range of thinkable things4 ,or1 as  
if the last word in this controversy was
 said before our grandfathers died4     
,but is that really so8 ,it is          
permissible to suggest that for a time  
the last word had been said1 and still  
to reopen the discussion now4 ,all these
 papers1 the very conception of ,new    
,republicanism1 rests on the            
assumption--presumptuous and offensive  
though it must needs seem to many--that 
new matter for thought altogether1 new  
apparatus and methods of inquiry1 and   
new ends1 have come into view since the 
early seventies1 when the last          

,republican voices in ,england died     
away4 ,we are enormously more aware of  
the ,future4 ,that1 we have already     
defined as the essential difference of  
our new outlook4 ,our fathers thought of
 the ,kingdom as it was to them1 they   
contrasted with that the immediate      
alternative1 and within these limits    
they were1 no doubt1 right in rejecting 
the latter4 ,so1 to them at any rate1   
the thing seemed judged4 ,but nowadays  
when we have said the ,kingdom is so and
 so1 and when we have decided that we do
 not wish to convert it into a ,republic
 upon the ,american or any other        
existing pattern before ,christmas1     
#aijd1 we consider we have only begun to
 look at the thing4 ,we have then to ask
 what is the future of the ,kingdom2 is 
it to be a permanent thing1 or is it to 
develop into and give place to some     
other condition8 ,we have to ask        
precisely the same question about the   
,american democracy and the ,american   
constitution4 ,is that latter           

arrangement going to last for ever8 ,we 
cannot help being contributory to these 
developments1 and if we have any        
pretensions to wisdom at all1 we must   
have some theory of what we intend with 
regard to these things2 political action
 can surely be nothing but folly1 unless
 it has a clear purpose in the future4  
,if these things are not sempiternal1   
then are we merely to patch the fabric  
as it gives way1 or are we going to set 
about rebuilding--piecemeal1 of course1 
and without closing the premises or     
stopping the business1 but1             
nevertheless1 on some clear and         
comprehensive plan8 ,if so1 what is the 
plan to be8 ,does it permit us to retain
 in a more or less modified form1 or    
does it urge us to get rid of1 the      
,british ,crown8 ,does it permit us to  
retain or does it urge us to modify the 
,american constitution8 ,that is the    
form1 it seems to me1 in which the      
question of ,republicanism as an        
alternative to existing institutions1   

must presently return into the field of 
public discussion in ,great ,britain2   
not as a question of political stability
 nor of individual rights this time1 but
 as an aspect of our general scheme1 our
 scheme to make the world more free and 
more stimulating and strengthening for  
our children and our children's         
children2 for the children both of our  
bodies and of our thoughts4  ,it is     
interesting to recall the assumptions   
under which the last vestiges of        
militant ,republicanism died out in     
,great ,britain4 ,as late as the middle 
years of the reign of ,queen ,victoria1 
there were many in ,england who were1   
and who openly professed themselves to  
be1 ,republicans1 and there was a widely
 felt persuasion that the country was   
drifting slowly towards the constitution
 of a democratic republic4 ,in those    
days it was that there came into being a
 theory1 strengthened by the withdrawal 
of the ,monarch from affairs1 which one 
still hears repeated1 that ,great       

,britain was a 8crowned republic10 that 
the crown was no more than a symbol     
retained by the 8innate good sense0 of  
the ,british people1 and that in some   
automatic way not clearly explained1    
such old-time vestiges of privilege as  
the ,house of ,lords would presently    
disappear4 ,one finds this confident    
belief in ,progress towards political   
equality--,progress that required no    
human effort1 but was inherent in the   
scheme of things--very strong in        
,dickens1 for example1 who spoke for the
 average ,englishman as no later writer 
can be said to have done4 ,this belief  
fell in very happily with that          
disposition to funk a crisis1 that      
vulgar dread of vulgar action which one 
must regretfully admit was all too often
 a characteristic of the nineteenth     
century ,english4 ,there was an idea    
among ,englishmen that to do anything   
whatever of a positive sort to bring    
about a ,republic was not only totally  
unnecessary but inevitably mischievous1 

since it evidently meant street fighting
 and provisional government by bold1    
bad1 blood-stained1 vulgar men1 in shirt
 sleeves as the essential features of   
the process4 ,and under the enervating  
influence of this great automatic       
theory--this theory that no one need    
bother because the thing was bound to   
come1 was indeed already arriving for   
all who had eyes to see--,republicanism 
did not so much die as fall asleep4 ,it 
was all right1 ,liberalism told us--the 
,crown was a legal fiction1 the ,house  
of ,lords was an interesting            
anachronism1 and in that faith it was1  
no doubt1 that the last of the          
,republicans1 ,mr4 ,bright and ,mr4     
,joseph ,chamberlain1 8kissed hands40   
,then1 presently1 the frantic politics  
of ,mr4 ,gladstone effected what        
probably no other human agency could    
have contrived1 and restored the        
prestige of the ,house of ,lords4       
,practically the ,crown has now gone    
unchallenged by press1 pulpit1 or       

platform speaker for thirty years1 and  
as a natural consequence there is just  
now a smaller proportion of men under   
forty who call themselves ,republicans  
even in private than there ever was     
since ,plutarch entered the circle of   
,english reading4 ,to-day the           
,aristocratic ,monarchy is an almost    
universally accepted fact in the        
,british ,empire1 and it has so complete
 an air of unshakable permanence to     
contrast with its condition in the early
 nineteenth century that even the fact  
that it is the only really concrete     
obstacle to a political reunion of the  
,english-speaking peoples at the present
 time1 seems merely a fact to avoid4    
,there are certain consequences that    
must follow from the unchallenged       
acceptation of an aristocratic monarchy1
 consequences that do not seem to be    
sufficiently recognized in this         
connection1 and it is to these that the 
reader's attention is now particularly  
drawn4 ,there are a great number of     

,british people who are more or less    
sincerely seeking the secret of national
 efficiency at present1 and ,i cannot   
help thinking that sooner or later1 in  
spite of their evident aversion1 they   
will be forced to look into this dusty  
chamber of thought for the clue to the  
thing they need4 ,the corner they will  
have to turn is the admission that no   
state and no people can be at its       
maximum efficiency until every public   
function is discharged by the man best  
able to perform it1 and that no         
,commonweal can be near efficiency until
 it is endeavouring very earnestly to   
bring that ideal condition of affairs   
about4 ,and when they have got round    
that corner they will have to face the  
fact that an ,hereditary ,monarchy is a 
state in which this principle is        
repudiated at a cardinal point1 a state 
in which one position1 which no amount  
of sophistication will prevent common   
men and women regarding as the most     
honourable1 powerful1 and responsible   

one of all1 which is indeed by that very
 fact alone a great and responsible one1
 is filled on purely genealogical       
grounds4 ,in a state that has also an   
aristocratic constitution this          
repudiation of special personal         
qualities is carried very much further4 
,reluctantly but certainly the seeker   
after national efficiency will come to  
the point that the aristocracy and their
 friends and connections must           
necessarily form a caste about the      
,king1 that their gradations must set   
the tone of the whole social body1 and  
that their political position must      
enable them to demand and obtain a      
predominating share in any              
administration that may be formed4 ,so  
long1 therefore1 as your constitution   
remains aristocratic you must expect to 
see men of quite ordinary ability1 quite
 ordinary energy1 and no exceptional    
force of character1 men frequently less 
clever and influential than their wives 
and lady friends1 controlling the public

 services1 a ,duke of ,norfolk managing 
so vital a business as the ,post ,office
 and succeeded by a ,marquis of         
,londonderry1 and a ,marquis of         
,lansdowne organizing military affairs1 
and nothing short of a change in your   
political constitution can prevent this 
sort of thing4 ,no one believes these   
excellent gentlemen hold these positions
 by merit or capacity1 and no one       
believes that from them we are getting  
anything like the best imaginable       
services in these positions4 ,these     
positions are held by the mere accident 
of birth1 and it is by the mere accident
 of birth the great mass of ,englishmen 
are shut out from the remotest hope of  
serving their country in such positions4
  ,and this evil of reserved places is  
not restricted by any means to public   
control4 ,you cannot both have a system 
and not have a system1 and the ,british 
have a system of hereditary aristocracy 
that infects the whole atmosphere of    
,english thought with the persuasion    

that what a man may attempt is          
determined by his caste4 ,it is here1   
and nowhere else1 that the clue to so   
much inefficiency as one finds it in    
contemporary ,british activity lies4    
,the officers of the ,british ,army     
instead of being sedulously picked from 
the whole population are drawn from a   
really quite small group of families1   
and1 except for those who are called    
8gentleman rankers10 to enlist is the   
very last way in the world to become a  
,british officer4 ,as a very natural    
corollary only broken men and           
unambitious men of the lowest class will
 consent to become ordinary private     
soldiers1 except during periods of      
extreme patriotic excitement4 ,the men  
who enter the ,civil ,service also1 know
 perfectly well that though they may    
possess the most brilliant              
administrative powers and develop and   
use themselves with relentless energy1  
they will never win for themselves or   
their wives one tithe of the public     

honour that comes by right to the heir  
to a dukedom4 ,a dockyard hand who uses 
his brains and makes a suggestion that  
may save the country thousands of pounds
 will get--a gratuity4  ,throughout all 
,english affairs the suggestion of this 
political system has spread4 ,the       
employer is of a different caste from   
his workmen1 the captain is of a        
different caste from his crew1 even the 
,teachers' ,register is specially       
classified to prevent 8young gentlemen0 
being taught by the only men who1 as a  
class1 know how to teach in ,england1   
namely1 the elementary teachers2        
everywhere the same thing is to be      
found4 ,and while it is1 it is absurd to
 expect a few platitudes about ,freedom1
 and snobbishness1 and a few pious hopes
 about efficiency1 to counteract the    
system's universal1 incessant teaching1 
its lesson of limited effort within     
defined possibilities4 ,only under one  
condition may such a system rise towards
 anything that may be called national   

vigour1 and that is when there exists a 
vigorous ,court which sets the fashion  
of hard work4 ,a keen ,king1 indifferent
 to feminine influence1 may1 for a time1
 make a keen nation1 but that is an     
exceptional state of affairs1 and the   
whole shape of the fabric gravitates    
towards relapse4 ,even under such an    
influence the social stratification will
 still1 in the majority of cases1       
prevent powers and posts falling to the 
best possible man4 ,in the majority of  
cases the best that can be hoped for1   
even then1 will be to see the best man  
in the class privileged in relation to  
any particular service1 discharging that
 service4 ,the most efficient nation in 
the world to-day is believed to be      
,germany1 which is--roughly speaking--an
 aristocratic monarchy1 it is dominated 
by a man of most unkingly force of      
character1 and by a noble tradition of  
educational thoroughness that arose out 
of the shames of utter defeat1 and1 as a
 consequence1 a great number of people  

contrive to forget that the most        
dazzling display of national efficiency 
the world has ever seen followed the    
sloughing of hereditary institutions by 
,france4 ,one credits ,napoleon too     
often with the vigour of his            
opportunity1 with the force and strength
 it was his privilege to misdirect and  
destroy4 ,and one forgets that this     
present ,german efficiency was          
paralleled in the eighteenth century by 
,prussia1 whose aristocratic system     
first winded ,republicans at ,valmy1 and
 showed at ,jena fourteen years after   
how much it had learnt from that        
encounter4  ,now our main argument lies 
in this3 that the great mass of a       
generation of children born into a      
country1 all those children who have no 
more than average intelligence and      
average moral qualities1 will accept the
 ostensible institutions of that country
 at their face value1 and will be almost
 entirely shaped and determined by that 
acceptance4 ,only a sustained undertone 

of revolutionary protest can prevent    
that happening4 ,they will believe that 
precedences represent real superiority1 
and they will honour what they see      
honoured1 and ignore what they see      
treated as of no account4 ,pious        
sentiment about ,equality and ,freedom  
will enter into the reality of their    
minds as little as a drop of water into 
a greasy plate4 ,they will act as little
 in general intercourse upon the        
proposition that 8the man's the gowd for
 a' that10 as they will upon the        
proposition that 8man is a spirit0 when 
it comes to the alternative of jumping  
over a cliff or going down by a ladder4 
,if1 however1 your children are not     
average children1 if you are so happy as
 to have begotten children of           
exceptional intelligence1 it does not   
follow that this fact will save them    
from conclusions quite parallel to those
 of the common child4 ,suppose they do  
penetrate the pretence that there is no 
intrinsic difference between the ,royal 

,family and the members of the peerage  
on the one hand1 and the average person 
in any other class on the other2 suppose
 they discover that the whole scale of  
precedence and honour in their land is a
 stupendous sham2--what then8 ,suppose  
they see quite clearly that all these   
pretensions of an inviolate superiority 
of birth and breeding vanish at the     
touch of a ,whitaker ,wright1 soften to 
a glowing cordiality before the sunny   
promises of a ,hooley4 ,suppose they    
perceive that neither ,king nor lords   
really believe in their own lordliness1 
and that at any point in the system one 
may find men with hands for any man's   
tip1 provided it is only sufficiently   
large6 ,even then6--,how is that going  
to react upon our children's social     
conduct8  ,in ninety-nine cases out of a
 hundred they will accept the system    
still1 they will accept it with mental  
reservations4 ,they will see that to    
repudiate the system by more than a     
chance word or deed is to become        

isolated1 to become a discontented      
alien1 to lose even the qualified       
permission to do something in the world4
 ,in most cases they will take the oaths
 that come in their way and kiss the    
hands--just as the ,british elementary  
teachers bow unbelieving heads to       
receive the episcopal pat1 and just as  
the ,british sceptic in orders will     
achieve triumphs of ambiguity to secure 
the episcopal see4 ,and their reason for
 submission will not be absolutely      
despicable2 they will know there is no  
employment worth speaking of without it4
 ,after all1 one has only one life1 and 
it is not pleasant to pass through it in
 a state of futile abstinence from the  
general scheme4 ,life1 unfortunately1   
does not end with heroic moments of     
repudiation2 there comes a morrow to the
 ,everlasting ,nay4 ,one may begin with 
heroic renunciations and end in         
undignified envy and dyspeptic comments 
outside the door one has slammed on     
one's self4 ,in such reflections your   

children of the exceptional sort1 it may
 be after a youthful fling or two1 a    
8ransom0 speech or so1 will find        
excellent reasons for making their peace
 with things as they are1 just as if    
they were utterly commonplace4 ,they    
know that if they can boast a knighthood
 or a baronetcy or a ,privy             
,councillorship1 they will taste day by 
day and every day that respect1 that    
confidence from all about them that no  
one but a trained recluse despises4 ,and
 life will abound in opportunities4     
8,oh1 well60 they will say4 ,such things
 give them influence1 consideration1    
power to do things4  ,the beginning of  
concessions is so entirely reasonable   
and easy6 ,but the concessions go on4   
,each step upward in the ,british system
 finds that system more persistently    
about them4 ,when one has started out   
under a ,king one may find amiable but  
whom one may not respect1 admitted a    
system one does not believe in1 when one
 has rubbed the first bloom off one's   

honour1 it is infinitely easier to begin
 peeling the skin4 ,many a man whose    
youth was a dream of noble things1 who  
was all for splendid achievements and   
the service of mankind1 peers to-day1 by
 virtue of such acquiescences1 from     
between preposterous lawn sleeves or    
under a tilted coronet1 sucked as dry of
 his essential honour as a spider sucks 
a fly4  ,but this is going too far1 the 
reader will object6 ,there must be      
concessions1 there must be conformities1
 just as there must be some impurity in 
the water we drink and flaws in the     
beauty we give our hearts to1 and that1 
no doubt1 is true4 ,it is no reason why 
we should drink sewage and kneel to     
grossness and base stupidity4 ,to endure
 the worst because we cannot have the   
best is surely the last word of folly4  
,our business as ,new ,republicans is   
not to waste our lives in the pursuit of
 an unattainable chemical purity1 but to
 clear the air as much as possible4     
,practical ethics is1 after all1 a      

quantitative science4 ,in the reality of
 life there are few absolute cases1 and 
it is foolish to forego a great end for 
a small concession4 ,but to suffer so   
much ,royalty and ,privilege as an      
,englishman has to do before he may make
 any effectual figure in public life is 
not a small concession4 ,by the time you
 have purchased power you may find you  
have given up everything that made power
 worth having4 ,it would be a small     
concession1 ,i admit1 a mere personal   
self-sacrifice1 to pretend loyalty1     
kneel and kiss hands1 assist at         
,coronation mummeries1 and all the rest 
of it1 in order1 let us say1 to         
accomplish some great improvement in the
 schools of the country1 were it not for
 the fact that all these things must be 
done in the sight of the young1 that you
 cannot kneel to the ,king without      
presenting a kneeling example to the    
people1 without becoming as good a      
teacher of servility as though you were 
servile to the marrow4 ,there lies the  

trouble4 ,by virtue of this reaction it 
is that the shams and ceremonies we may 
fancy mere curious survivals1 mere kinks
 and tortuosities1 cloaks and           
accessories to-day1 will1 if we are     
silent and acquiescent1 be halfway to   
reality again in the course of a        
generation4 ,to our children they are   
not evidently shams2 they are powerful  
working suggestions4 ,human institutions
 are things of life1 and whatever weed  
of falsity lies still rooted in the     
ground has the promise and potency of   
growth4 ,it will tend perpetually1      
according to its nature1 to recover its 
old influence over the imagination1 the 
thoughts1 and acts of our children4     
,even when the whole trend of economic  
and social development sets against the 
real survival of such a social and      
political system as the ,british1 its   
pretensions1 its shape and implications 
may survive1 survive all the more       
disastrously because they are           
increasingly insincere4 ,indeed1 in a   

sense1 the ,british system1 the pyramid 
of ,king1 land-owning and land-ruling   
aristocracy1 yeomen and trading         
middle-class and labourers1 is dead--it 
died in the nineteenth century under the
 wheels of mechanism ,footnote3 ,i have 
discussed this fully in ,anticipations1 
,chapter ,,iii41 ,developing ,social    
,elements4--and the crude beginnings of 
a new system are clothed in its raiment1
 and greatly encumbered by that         
clothing4 ,our greatest peers are       
shareholders1 are equipped by marriage  
with the wealth of ,jews and ,americans1
 are exploiters of colonial resources   
and urban building enterprises2 their   
territorial titles are a mask and a lie4
 ,they hamper the development of the new
 order1 but they cannot altogether      
prevent the emergence of new men4 ,the  
new men come up to power one by one1    
from different enterprises1 with various
 traditions1 and one by one1 before they
 can develop a sense of class           
distinction and collective              

responsibility1 the old system with its 
organized 8,society0 captures them4 ,if 
it finds the man obdurate1 it takes his 
wife and daughters1 and it waylays his  
sons4 ,footnote3 ,it is not only        
,british subjects that are assimilated  
in this way1 the infection of the       
,british system1 the annexation of      
certain social strata in the ,republic  
by the ,british crown1 is a question for
 every thoughtful ,american4 ,america is
 less and less separate from ,europe1   
and the social development of the       
,united ,states cannot be a distinct    
process--it is inevitably bound up in   
the general social development of the   
,english-speaking community4 ,the taint 
has touched the ,american ,navy1 for    
example1 and there are those who        
discourage promotion from the ranks--the
 essential virtue of the democratic     
state--because men so promoted would be 
at a disadvantage when they met the     
officers of foreign navies1 who were by 
birth and training 8gentlemen40 ,when   

they met them socially no doubt was     
meant2 in war the disadvantage might    
prove the other way about4 ,because the 
hereditary kingdom and aristocracy of   
,great ,britain is less and less        
representative of economic reality1 more
 and more false to the real needs of the
 world1 it does not follow that it will 
disappear1 any more than malarial fever 
will disappear from a man's blood       
because it is irrelevant to the general 
purpose of his being4 ,these things will
 only go when a sufficient number of    
sufficiently capable and powerful people
 are determined they shall go4 ,until   
that time they will remain with us1     
influencing things about them for evil1 
as it lies in their nature to do4       
,before1 however1 any sufficiently great
 and capable body of men can be found to
 abolish these shams1 these shams that  
must necessarily hamper and limit the   
development of our children1 it is      
necessary that they should have some    
clear idea of the thing that is to      

follow1 and the real security of these  
obsolete institutions lies very largely 
in the fact that at present the thing   
that is to follow does not define       
itself4 ,it is too commonly assumed that
 the alternative to a more or less      
hereditary government is democratic     
republicanism of the ,american type1 and
 the defence of the former consists     
usually in an indictment of the latter1 
complicated in very illogical cases by  
the assertion 7drawn from the ,french   
instance7 that ,republics are unstable4 
,but it does not follow that because one
 condemns the obvious shams of the      
,british system that one must accept the
 shams of the ,united ,states4 ,while in
 ,great ,britain we have a system that  
masks and hampers the best of our race  
under a series of artificial            
inequalities1 the ,united ,states theory
 of the essential equality of all men is
 equally not in accordance with the     
reality of life4 ,in ,america1 just as  
in ,england1 the intelligent child grows

 up to discover that the pretensions of 
public life are not justified1 and quite
 equally to be flawed in thought and    
action by that discovery4  ,the         
,american atmosphere has one great and  
indisputable superiority over the       
,british3 it insists upon the right of  
every citizen1 it almost presents it as 
a duty1 to do all that he possibly can  
do2 it holds out to him even the highest
 position in the state as a possible    
reward for endeavour4 ,up to the point  
of its equality of opportunity surely no
 sane ,englishman can do anything but   
envy the ,american state4 ,in ,america  
8presumption0 is not a sin4 ,all the    
vigorous enterprise that differentiates 
the ,american from the ,englishman in   
business flows quite naturally from     
that2 all the patriotic force and       
loyalty of the common ,american1 which  
glows beside the ,english equivalent as 
the sun beside the moon1 glows even     
oppressively4 ,but apart from these     
inestimable advantages ,i do not see    

that the ,american has much that an     
,englishman need envy4 ,there are       
certainly points of inferiority in the  
,american atmosphere1 influences in     
development that are bad1 not only in   
comparison with what is ideally         
possible1 but even in comparison with   
,english parallels4  ,for example1 the  
theory that every man is as good as his 
neighbour1 and possibly a little better1
 has no check for fools1 and instead of 
the respectful silences of ,england     
there seems--to the ordinary ,english   
mind--an extraordinary quantity of crude
 and unsound judgments in ,america4 ,one
 gets an impression that the sort of    
mind that is passively stupid in        
,england is often actively silly in     
,america1 and1 as a consequence1        
,american newspapers1 ,american         
discussions1 ,american social affairs   
are pervaded by a din that in ,england  
we do not hear and do not want to hear4 
,the real and steady development of     
,american scientific men is masked to   

the ,european observer1 and it must be  
greatly hampered by the copious         
silliness of the amateur discoverer1 and
 the ,american crop of new religions and
 new enthusiasms is a horror and a      
warning to the common ,british          
intelligence4 ,many people whose        
judgments are not absolutely despicable 
hold a theory that unhampered personal  
freedom for a hundred years has made out
 of the ,british type1 a type less      
deliberate and thorough in execution and
 more noisy and pushful in conduct1     
restless rather than indefatigable1 and 
smart rather than wise4 ,if ninety-nine 
people out of the hundred in our race   
are vulgar and unwise1 it does seem to  
be a fact that while the ,english fool  
is generally a shy and negative fool    
anxious to hide the fact1 the ,american 
fool is a loud and positive fool1 who   
swamps much of the greatness of his     
country to many a casual observer from  
,europe altogether4 ,american books1    
,american papers1 ,american manners and 

customs seem all for the ninety and     
nine4  ,deeper and graver than the      
superficial defects of manner and       
execution and outlook to which these    
charges point1 there are1 one gathers1  
other things that are traceable to the  
same source4 ,there is a report of      
profounder troubles in the ,american    
social body1 of a disease of corruption 
that renders ,american legislatures     
feeble or powerless against the great   
business corporations1 and of an extreme
 demoralization of the police force4    
,the relation of the local political    
organization to the police is fatally   
direct1 and that sense of ordered       
subordination to defined duties which   
distinguishes the best police forces of 
,europe fails4 ,men go into the police  
force1 we are told1 with the full       
intention of making it pay1 of acquiring
 a saleable power4  ,there is probably  
enough soundness in these impressions1  
and enough truth in these reports and   
criticisms1 to justify our saying that  

all is not ideally right with the       
,american atmosphere1 and that it is not
 to present ,american conditions we must
 turn in repudiating our ,british       
hereditary monarchy4 ,we have to seek   
some better thing upon which ,british   
and ,american institutions may converge4
 ,the ,american personal and social     
character1 just like the ,english       
personal and social character1 displays 
very grave defects1 defects that must   
now be reflected upon1 and must be in   
course of acquisition by the children   
who are growing up in the ,american     
state4 ,and since the ,american is still
 predominantly of ,british descent1 and 
since he has not been separated long    
enough from the ,british to develop     
distinct inherited racial               
characteristics1 and1 moreover1 since   
his salient characteristics are in sharp
 contrast with those of the ,british1 it
 follows that the difference in his     
character and atmosphere must be due    
mainly to his different social and      

political circumstances4 ,just as the   
relative defects of the common ,british1
 their apathy1 their unreasoning        
conservatism1 and their sordid scorn of 
intellectual things is bound up with    
their politico-social scheme1 so1 ,i    
believe1 the noisiness1 the mean        
practicalness1 and the dyspeptic-driving
 restlessness that are the shadows of   
,american life1 are bound up with the   
politico-social condition of ,america4  
,the ,englishman sticks in the mud1 and 
the ,american1 with a sort of violent   
meanness1 cuts corners1 and in both     
cases it is quite conceivable that the  
failure to follow the perfect way is    
really no symptom of a divergence of    
blood and race1 but the natural and     
necessary outcome of the mass of        
suggestion about them that constitutes  
their respective worlds4  ,the young    
,american grows up into a world pervaded
 by the theory of democracy1 by the     
theory that all men must have an equal  
chance of happiness1 possessions1 and   

power1 and in which that theory is      
expressed by a uniform equal suffrage4  
,no man shall have any power or         
authority save by the free consent and  
delegation of his fellows--that is the  
idea--and to the originators of this    
theory it seemed as obvious as anything 
could be that these suffrages would only
 be given to those who did really serve 
the happiness and welfare of the        
greatest number4 ,the idea was reflected
 in the world of business by a          
conception of free competition2 no man  
should grow rich except by the free     
preference of a great following of      
customers4 ,such is still the ,american 
theory1 and directly the intelligent    
young ,american grows up to hard facts  
he finds almost as much disillusionment 
as the intelligent young ,englishman4   
,he finds that in practice the free     
choice of a constituency reduces to two 
candidates1 and no more1 selected by    
party organizations1 and the free choice
 of the customer to the goods proffered 

by a diminishing number of elaborately  
advertised businesses2 he finds         
political instruments and business      
corporations interlocking altogether    
beyond his power of control1 and that   
the two ways to opportunity1 honour1 and
 reward are either to appeal coarsely to
 the commonest thoughts and feelings of 
the vulgar as a political agitator or   
advertising trader1 or else to make his 
peace with those who do4 ,and so he1    
too1 makes his concessions4 ,they are   
different concessions from those of the 
young ,englishman1 but they have this   
common element of gravity1 that he has  
to submit to conditions in which he does
 not believe1 he has to trim his course 
to a conception of living that is       
perpetually bending him from the        
splendid and righteous way4 ,the        
,englishman grows up into a world of    
barriers and locked doors1 the ,american
 into an unorganized1 struggling crowd4 
,there is an enormous premium in the    
,american's world upon force and        

dexterity1 and force in the case of     
common men too often degenerates into   
brutality1 and dexterity into downright 
trickery and cheating4 ,he has got to be
 forcible and dexterous within his      
self-respect if he can4 ,there is an    
enormous discount on any work that does 
not make money or give a tangible       
result1 and except in the case of those 
whose lot has fallen within certain     
prescribed circles1 certain oases of    
organized culture and work1 he must     
advertise himself even in science or    
literature or art as if he were a pill4 
,there is no recognition for him at all 
in the world1 except the recognition    
of--everybody4 ,there will be neither   
comfort nor the barest respect for him1 
however fine his achievement1 unless he 
makes his achievement known1 unless he  
can make enough din about it1 to pay4   
,he has got to shout down ninety-nine   
shouting fellow-citizens4 ,that is the  
cardinal fact in life for the great     
majority of ,americans who respond to   

the stirrings of ambition4 ,if in       
,britain capacity is discouraged because
 honours and power go by prescription1  
in ,america it is misdirected because   
honours do not exist and power goes by  
popular election and advertisement4 ,in 
certain directions--not by any means in 
all--unobtrusive merit1 soundness of    
quality that has neither gift nor       
disposition for 8push10 has a better    
chance in ,great ,britain than in       
,america4 ,a sort of duty to help and   
advance exceptional men is recognized at
 any rate1 even if it is not always     
efficiently discharged1 by the          
privileged class in ,england1 while in  
,america it is far more acutely felt1   
far more distinctly impressed upon the  
young that they must 8hustle0 or perish4
  ,it will be argued that this          
enumeration of ,american and ,british   
defects is a mere expansion of that     
familiar proposition of the logic       
textbooks1 8all men are mortal40 ,you   
have here1 says the objector1 one of two

 alternatives1 either you must draw your
 administrators1 your legislators1 your 
sources of honour and reward from a     
limited1 hereditary1 and                
specially-trained class1 who will hold  
power as a right1 or you must rely upon 
the popular choice exercised in the shop
 and at the polling booth4 ,what else   
can you have but inheritance or         
election1 or some blend of the two1     
blending their faults8 ,each system has 
its disadvantages1 and the disadvantages
 of each system may be minimized by     
education2 in particular by keeping the 
culture and code of honour of your      
ruling class high in the former case and
 by keeping your common schools         
efficient in the latter4 ,but the       
essential evils of each system          
are--essential evils1 and one has to    
suffer them and struggle against them1  
as one has to struggle perpetually with 
the pathogenic bacteria that infest the 
world4 ,the theory of monarchy is1 no   
doubt1 inferior to the democratic theory

 in stimulus1 but the latter fails in   
qualitative effect1 much more than the  
former4 ,there1 the objector submits1   
lies the quintessence of the matter4    
,both systems need watching1 need       
criticism1 the pruning knife and the    
stimulant1 and neither is bad enough to 
justify a revolutionary change to the   
other4 ,in some such conclusion as this 
most of the ,english people with whom   
one can discuss this question have come 
to rest1 and it is to this way of       
looking at the matter that one must     
ascribe the apathetic acquiescence in   
the ,british hereditary system1 upon    
which ,i have already remarked4 ,there  
is a frank and excessive admission of   
every real and imaginary fault of the   
,american system1 and with the          
proposition that we are on the horns of 
a dilemma1 the discussion is dismissed4 
,but are we indeed on the horns of a    
dilemma1 and is there no alternative to 
hereditary government tempered by       
elections1 or government by the ward    

politician and the polling booth8       
,cannot we have that sense and tradition
 of equal opportunity for all who are   
born into this world1 that generous and 
complete acknowledgment of the principle
 of promotion from the ranks that is the
 precious birthright of the ,american1  
without the political gerrymandering1   
the practical falsification1 that       
restricts that general freedom at last  
only to the energetic1 and that         
subordinates quality to quantity in     
every affair of life8 ,it is evident    
that for the ,new ,republican to admit  
that the thing is indeed a dilemma1 that
 there is nothing for it but to make the
 best of whichever bad thing we have at 
hand1 that we cannot have all we desire 
but only a greater or a lesser moiety1  
is a most melancholy and hampering      
admission4 ,and1 certainly1 no ,new     
,republican will agree without a certain
 mental struggle1 without a thorough and
 earnest inquiry into the possibility of
 a third direction4  ,this matter has   

two aspects1 it presents itself as two  
questions2 the question first of all of 
administration1 and the question of     
honour and privilege4 ,what is it that  
the ,new ,republican idea really        
requires in these two matters8 ,in the  
matter of administration it requires    
that every child growing up in a state  
should feel that he is part owner of his
 state1 completely free in his          
membership1 and equal in opportunity to 
all other children--and it also wants to
 secure the management of affairs in the
 hands of the very best men1 not the    
noisiest1 not the richest or most       
skilfully advertised1 but the best4 ,can
 these two things be reconciled8 ,in the
 matter of honour and privilege1 the    
,new ,republican idea requires a        
separation of honour from notoriety2 it 
requires some visible and forcible      
expression of the essential conception  
that there are things more honourable   
than getting either votes or money2 it  
requires a class and distinctions and   

privileges embodying that idea--and also
 it wants to ensure that through the    
whole range of life there shall not be  
one door locked against the effort of   
the citizen to accomplish the best that 
is in him4 ,can these two things be     
reconciled also8  ,i have the temerity  
to think that in both cases the         
conflicting requirements can be         
reconciled far more completely than is  
commonly supposed4  ,let us take1 first 
of all1 the question of the             
reconciliation as it is presented in the
 administration of public affairs4 ,the 
days have come when the most            
democratic-minded of men must begin to  
admit that the appointment of all rulers
 and officials by polling the manhood1  
or most of the manhood1 of a country    
does not work--let us say perfectly--and
 at no level of educational efficiency  
does it ever seem likely to work in the 
way those who established it hoped4 ,by 
thousands of the most varied experiments
 the nineteenth century has proved this 

up to the hilt4 ,the fact that elections
 can only be worked as a choice between 
two selected candidates1 or groups of   
candidates1 is the unforeseen and       
unavoidable mechanical defect of all    
electoral methods with large            
electorates4 ,education has nothing to  
do with that4 ,the elections for the    
,english ,university members are        
manipulated just as much as the         
elections in the least literate of the  
,irish constituencies4 ,footnote3 ,there
 is a very suggestive book on this      
aspect of our general question1 ,the    
,crowd1 by ,m4 ,gustave le ,bon1 which  
should interest any one who finds this  
paper interesting4 ,and the ,english    
reader who would like a fuller treatment
 of this question has now available also
 ,ostrogorski's great work1 ,democracy  
and the ,organization of ,political     
,parties4 ,it is not a question of      
accidentals1 but a question of the      
essential mechanism4 ,men have sought   
out and considered all sorts of devices 

for qualifying the present method by    
polling2 ,mills's plural voting for     
educated men will occur to the reader2  
,hare's system of vote collection1 and  
the negative voting of ,doctor ,grece2  
and the defects of these inventions have
 been sufficiently obvious to prevent   
even a trial4 ,the changes have been    
rung upon methods of counting2          
cumulative votes and the prohibition of 
plumping1 and so on1 have been tried    
without any essential modification of   
the results4 ,there are various devices 
for introducing 8stages0 in the         
electoral process2 the constituency     
elects electors1 who elect the rulers   
and officers1 for example1 and there is 
also that futile attempt to bring in the
 non-political specialist1 the method of
 electing governing bodies with power to
 8co-opt40 ,of course they 8co-opt0     
their fellow politicians1 rejected      
candidates1 and so on4 ,among other     
expedients that people have discussed1  
are such as would make it necessary for 

a man to take some trouble and display  
some foresight to get registered as a   
voter or to pass an examination to that 
end1 and such as would confront him with
 a voting paper so complex1 that only a 
very intelligent and painstaking man    
would be able to fill it up without     
disqualification4 ,it certainly seems a 
reasonable thing to require that the    
voter should be able at least to write  
out fully and spell correctly the name  
of the man of his choice4 ,except for   
the last1 there is scarcely any of these
 things but its adoption would          
strengthen the power of the political   
organizer1 which they aim to defeat4    
,any complication increases the need and
 the power of organization4 ,it is      
possible to believe--the writer         
believes--that with all this burthen of 
shortcomings1 the democratic election   
system is still1 on the whole1 better   
than a system of hereditary privilege1  
but that is no reason for concealing how
 defective and disappointing its        

practical outcome has been1 nor for     
resting contented with it in its present
 form4 ,footnote3 ,the statement of the 
case is not complete unless we mention  
that1 to the method of rule by          
hereditary rulers and the appointment of
 officials by noble patrons on the one  
hand1 and of rule by politicians        
exercising patronage on the other1 there
 is added in the ,british system the    
,chinese method of selecting officials  
by competitive examination4 ,within its 
limits this has worked as a most        
admirable corrective to patronage2 it is
 one of the chief factors in the        
cleanhandedness of ,british politicians1
 and it is continually importing fresh  
young men from outside to keep          
officialdom in touch with the general   
educated world4 ,but it does not apply1 
and it does not seem applicable1 to the 
broader issues of politics1 to the      
appointment and endorsement of          
responsible rulers and legislators1     
where a score of qualities are of more  

importance than those an examination can
 gauge4  ,is polling really essential to
 the democratic idea8 ,that is the      
question now very earnestly put to the  
reader4 ,we are so terribly under the   
spell of established conditions1 we are 
all so obsessed by the persuasion that  
the only conceivable way in which a man 
can be expressed politically is by      
himself voting in person1 that we do all
 of us habitually overlook a            
possibility1 a third choice1 that lies  
ready to our hands4 ,there is a way by  
means of which the indisputable evils of
 democratic government may be very      
greatly diminished1 without destroying  
or even diminishing--indeed1 rather     
enhancing--that invigorating sense of   
unhampered possibilities1 that the      
democratic idea involves4 ,there is a   
way of choosing your public servants of 
all sorts and effectually controlling   
public affairs on perfectly sound       
democratic principles1 without ever     
having such a thing as an election1 as  

it is now understood1 at all1 a way     
which will permit of a deliberate choice
 between numerous candidates--a thing   
utterly impossible under the current    
system--which will certainly raise the  
average quality of our legislators1 and 
be infinitely saner1 juster1 and more   
deliberate than our present method4     
,and1 moreover1 it is a way that is     
typically the invention of the ,english 
people1 and which they use to-day in    
another precisely parallel application1 
an application which they have          
elaborately tested and developed through
 a period of at least seven or eight    
hundred years1 and which ,i must confess
 myself amazed to think has not already 
been applied to our public needs4 ,this 
way is the ,jury system4 ,the ,jury     
system was devised to meet almost       
exactly the same problem that faces us  
to-day1 the problem of how on the one   
hand to avoid putting a man's life or   
property into the hands of a ,ruler1 a  
privileged person1 whose interest might 

be unsympathetic or hostile1 while on   
the other protecting him from the       
tumultuous judgments of a crowd--to save
 the accused from the arbitrary will of 
,king and ,noble without flinging him to
 the mob4 ,to-day it is exactly that    
problem over again that our peoples have
 to solve1 except that instead of one   
individual affair we have now our       
general affairs to place under a        
parallel system4 ,as the community that 
had originally been small enough and    
intimate enough to decide on the guilt  
or innocence of its members grew to     
difficult proportions1 there developed  
this system of selecting by lot a number
 of its common citizens who were sworn1 
who were then specially instructed and  
prepared1 and who1 in an atmosphere of  
solemnity and responsibility in absolute
 contrast with the uproar of a public   
polling1 considered the case and        
condemned or discharged the accused4    
,let me point out that this method is so
 universally recognized as superior to  

the common electoral method that any one
 who should propose to-day to take the  
fate of a man accused of murder out of  
the hands of a jury and place it in the 
hands of any ,british or ,american      
constituency whatever1 even in the hands
 of such a highly intelligent           
constituency as one of the ,british     
universities1 would be thought to be    
carrying crankiness beyond the border   
line of sanity4  ,why then should we not
 apply the ,jury system to the electoral
 riddle8  ,suppose1 for example1 at the 
end of the ,parliamentary term1 instead 
of the present method of electing a     
member of ,parliament1 we were1 with    
every precaution of publicity and with  
the most ingeniously impartial machine  
that could be invented1 to select a     
,jury by lot1 a ,jury sufficiently      
numerous to be reasonably representative
 of the general feeling of the community
 and sufficiently small to be able to   
talk easily together and to do the      
business without debating society       

methods--between twenty and thirty1 ,i  
think1 might be a good working          
number--and suppose we were1 after a    
ceremony of swearing them and perhaps   
after prayer or after a grave and       
dignified address to them upon the duty 
that lay before them1 to place each of  
these juries in comfortable quarters for
 a few days and isolated from the world1
 to choose its legislator4 ,they could  
hear1 in public1 under a time limit1 the
 addresses of such candidates as had    
presented themselves1 and they could    
receive1 under a limit of length and    
with proper precautions for publicity1  
such documents as the candidates chose  
to submit4 ,they could also1 in public1 
put any questions they chose to the     
candidates to elucidate their intentions
 or their antecedents1 and they might at
 any stage decide unanimously to hear no
 more of and to dismiss this or that    
candidate who encumbered their          
deliberations4 7,this latter would be an
 effectual way of suppressing the       

candidature of cranks1 and of           
half-witted and merely symbolical       
persons47 ,the ,jury between and after  
their interrogations and audiences would
 withdraw from the public room to       
deliberate in privacy4 ,their           
deliberations which1 of course1 would be
 frank and conversational to a degree   
impossible under any other conditions1  
and free from the dodges of the expert  
vote manipulator altogether1 would1 for 
example1 in the case of several         
candidates of the same or similar       
political colours1 do away with the     
absurdity of the split vote4 ,the       
jurymen of the same political hue could 
settle that affair among themselves     
before contributing to a final decision4
  ,this ,jury might have certain powers 
of inquest4 ,provision might be made for
 pleas against particular candidates2   
private individuals or the advocates of 
vigilance societies might appear against
 any particular candidate and submit the
 facts about any doubtful affair1       

financial or otherwise1 in which that   
candidate had been involved4 ,witnesses 
might be called and heard on any        
question of fact1 and the implicated    
candidate would explain his conduct4    
,and at any stage the ,jury might stop  
proceedings and report its selection for
 the vacant post4 ,then1 at the         
expiration of a reasonable period1 a    
year perhaps1 or three years or seven   
years1 another ,jury might be summoned  
to decide whether the sitting member    
should continue in office unchallenged  
or be subjected to a fresh contest4     
,this suggestion is advanced here in    
this concrete form merely to show the   
sort of thing that might be done2 it is 
one sample suggestion1 one of a great   
number of possible schemes of ,election 
by ,jury4 ,but even in this state of    
crude suggestion1 it is submitted that  
it does serve to show the practicability
 of a method of election more deliberate
 and thorough1 more dignified1 more     
calculated to impress the new generation

 with a sense of the gravity of the     
public choice1 and infinitely more      
likely to give us good rulers than the  
present method1 and that it would do so 
without sacrificing any essential good  
quality whatever inherent in the        
,democratic ,idea4 ,footnote3 ,there are
 excellent possibilities1 both in the   
,united ,states and in this ,empire1 of 
trying over such a method as this1 and  
of introducing it tentatively and       
piecemeal4 ,in ,great ,britain already  
there are quite different methods of    
election for ,parliament existing side  
by side4 ,in the ,hythe division of     
,kent1 for example1 ,i vote by ballot   
with elaborate secrecy2 in the          
,university of ,london ,i declare my    
vote in a room full of people4 ,the     
,british ,university constituencies1 or 
one of them1 might very readily be used 
as a practical test of this jury        
suggestion4 ,there is nothing1 ,i       
believe1 in the ,constitution of the    
,united ,states to prevent any one      

,state resorting to this                
characteristically ,anglo-,saxon method 
of appointing its representatives in    
,congress4 ,it is not only in political 
institutions that the method may be     
tried4 ,any societies or institutions   
that have to send delegates to a        
conference or meeting might very easily 
bring this conception to a practical    
test4 ,even if it does not prove        
practicable as a substitute for election
 by polling1 it might be found of some  
value for the appointment of members of 
the specialist type1 for whom at present
 we generally resort to co-option4 ,in  
many cases where the selection of       
specialists was desirable to complete   
public bodies1 juries of educated men of
 the ,british ,grand ,jury type might be
 highly serviceable4 ,the case for the  
use of the ,jury system becomes far     
stronger when we apply it to such       
problems as we now attempt to solve by  
co-opting experts upon various          
administrative bodies4  ,the necessity  

either of raising the quality of        
representative bodies or of replacing   
them not only in administration but in  
legislation by bureaucracies of         
officials appointed by elected or       
hereditary rulers1 is one that presses  
on all thoughtful men1 and is by no     
means an academic question needed to    
round off this ,new ,republican theory4 
,the necessity becomes more urgent every
 day1 as scientific and economic        
developments raise first one affair and 
then another to the level of public or  
quasi-public functions4 ,in the last    
century1 locomotion1 lighting1 heating1 
education1 forced themselves upon public
 control or public management1 and now  
with the development of ,trusts a whole 
host of businesses1 that were once the  
affair of competing private concerns1   
claim the same attention4 ,government by
 hustings' bawling1 newspaper clamour1  
and ward organization1 is more perilous 
every day and more impotent1 and unless 
we are prepared to see a government de  

facto of rich business organizers       
override the government de jure1 or to  
relapse upon a practical oligarchy of   
officials1 an oligarchy that will       
certainly decline in efficiency in a    
generation or so1 we must set ourselves 
most earnestly to this problem of       
improving representative methods4 ,it is
 in the direction of the substitution of
 the ,jury method for a general poll    
that the only practicable line of       
improvement known to the present writer 
seems to lie1 and until it has been     
tried it cannot be conceded that        
democratic government has been tried and
 exhaustively proved inadequate to the  
complex needs of the modern state4  ,so 
much for the question of administration4
 ,we come now to a second need in the   
modern state if it is to get the best   
result from the citizens born into it1  
and that is the need of honours and     
privileges to reward and enhance        
services and exceptional personal       
qualities and so to stir and ennoble    

that emulation which is1 under proper   
direction1 the most useful to the       
constructive statesman of all human     
motives4 ,in the ,united ,states titles 
are prohibited by the constitution1 in  
,great ,britain they go by prescription4
 ,but it is possible to imagine titles  
and privileges that are not hereditary1 
and that would be real symbols of human 
worth entirely in accordance with the   
,republican ,idea4 ,it is one of the    
stock charges against ,republicanism    
that success in ,america is either      
political or financial4 ,in ,england1 in
 addition1 success is also social1 and  
there is1 one must admit1 a sort of     
recognition accorded to intellectual    
achievement1 which some ,american       
scientific men have found reason to     
envy4 ,in ,america1 of course1 just as  
in ,great ,britain1 there exists that   
very enviable distinction1 the honorary 
degree of a university2 but in ,america 
it is tainted by the freedom with which 
bogus universities can be organized1 and

 by the unchallenged assumptions of     
quacks4 ,in ,great ,britain the honorary
 degree of a university1 in spite of the
 fact that it goes almost as a matter of
 course to every casual ,prince1 is a   
highly desirable recognition of public  
services4 ,beyond this there are certain
 ,british distinctions that might very  
advantageously be paralleled in         
,america1 the ,fellowship of the ,royal 
,society1 for example1 and that really  
very fine honour1 as yet untainted by   
the class of men who tout for           
baronetcies and peerages1 the ,privy    
,council4  ,there are certain points in 
this question that are too often        
overlooked4 ,in the first place1 honours
 and titles need not be hereditary2 in  
the second1 they need not be conferred  
by the political administration2 and1 in
 the third1 they are not only--as the   
,french ,legion of ,honour              
shows--entirely compatible with1 but    
they are a necessary complement to the  
,republican ,idea4  ,the bad results of 

entrusting honours to the ,government   
are equally obvious in ,france and      
,great ,britain4 ,they are predominantly
 given1 quite naturally1 for political  
services1 because they are given by     
politicians too absorbed to be aware of 
men outside the political world4 ,in    
,great ,britain the process is modified 
rather than improved by what one knows  
as court influence4 ,and in spite of the
 real and sustained efficiency of the   
,royal ,society in distinguishing       
meritorious scientific workers1 the     
,french ,academy1 which has long been   
captured by aristocratic dilettanti1 and
 the ,english ,royal ,academy of ,arts1 
demonstrate the essential defects and   
dangers of a body which fills its own   
gaps4 ,but there is no reason why a     
national system of honours and titles   
should not be worked upon a quite new   
basis1 suggested by these various       
considerations4 ,let us1 simply for     
tangibleness1 put the thing as a        
concrete plan for the reader's          

consideration4  ,there might1 for       
example1 be a lowest stage which would  
include--as the ,english knighthood once
 included--almost every citizen capable 
of initiative1 all the university       
graduates1 all the men qualified to     
practice the responsible professions1   
all qualified teachers1 all the men in  
the ,army and ,navy promoted to a       
certain rank1 all seamen qualified to   
navigate a vessel1 all the ministers    
recognized by properly organized        
religious bodies1 all public officials  
exercising command2 quasi-public        
organizations might nominate a certain  
proportion of their staffs1 and         
organized trade-unions with any claim to
 skill1 a certain proportion of their   
men1 their 8decent0 men1 and every      
artist or writer who could submit a     
passable diploma work2 it would be1 in  
fact1 a mark set upon every man or woman
 who was qualified to do something or   
who had done something1 as distinguished
 from the man who had done nothing in   

the world1 the mere common              
unenterprising esurient man4 ,it might  
carry many little privileges in public  
matters--for instance1 it might qualify 
for certain electoral juries4 ,and from 
this class the next rank might easily be
 drawn in a variety of ways4 ,in a      
modern democratic state there must be   
many fountains of honour4 ,that is a    
necessity upon which one cannot insist  
too much4 ,there must be no court1 no   
gang1 no traditional inalterable        
tribunal4 ,local legislative bodies1 for
 example1--in ,america1 state           
legislatures and in ,england1 county    
councils1--might confer rank on a       
limited number of men or women yearly2  
juries drawn from certain special       
constituencies1 from the roll of the    
medical profession1 or from the ,army1  
might assemble periodically to nominate 
their professional best1 the ,foreign or
 ,colonial ,office might confer         
recognition for political services1 the 
university governing bodies might be    

entrusted with the power--just as in the
 middle ages many great men could confer
 knighthood4 ,from among these          
distinguished gentlemen of the second   
grade still higher ranks might be drawn4
 ,local juries might select a local     
chief dignitary as their 8earl10 let us 
say1 from among the resident men of     
rank1 and there is no reason why certain
 great constituencies1 the medical      
calling1 the engineers1 should not      
specify one or two of their professional
 leaders1 their 8dukes40 ,there are many
 occasions of local importance when an  
honourable figure-head is needed4 ,the  
,british fall back on the local         
hereditary peer or invite a prince1 too 
often some poor creature great only by  
convention--and what the ,americans do  
,i do not know1 unless they use a ,boss4
 ,there are many occasions of something 
more than ceremonial importance when a  
responsible man publicly honoured and   
publicly known1 and not a professional  
politician1 is of the utmost            

convenience4 ,and there are endless     
affairs1 lists1 gatherings1 when the    
only alternative to rank is scramble4   
,for myself ,i would not draw the line  
at such minor occasions for precedence4 
,a ,second ,chamber is an essential part
 of the political scheme of all the     
,english-speaking communities1 and      
almost always it is intended to present 
stabler interests and a smaller and more
 selected constituency than the lower   
house4 ,from such a life nobility as ,i 
have sketched a ,second ,chamber could  
be drawn much as the ,irish             
representative peers in the ,house of   
,lords are drawn from the general       
peerage of ,ireland4 ,it would be far   
less party bound and far less mercenary 
than the ,american ,senate1 and far more
 intelligent and capable than the       
,british ,house of ,lords4 ,and either  
of these bodies could be brought under a
 process of deliberate conversion in    
this direction with scarcely any        
revolutionary shock at all4 ,footnote3  

,in the case of the ,house of ,lords1   
for example1 the process of conversion  
might begin by extending the ,scotch and
 ,irish system to ,england1 and         
substituting a lesser number of         
representative peers for the existing   
,english peerage4 ,then it would merely 
revive a question that was already under
 discussion in middle ,victorian times1 
to create non-hereditary peerages in the
 three kingdoms4 ,the several ,privy    
,councils might next be added to the    
three national constituencies by which  
and from which the representative peers 
were appointed1 and then advisory boards
 might be called from the various       
,universities and organized professions1
 and from authoritative ,colonial bodies
 to recommend men to be added to the    
voting peerage4 ,life peers already     
exist4 ,the law is represented by life  
peers4 ,the lords spiritual are         
representative life peers--they are the 
senior bishops1 and they are appointed  
to represent a corporation--the         

,established ,church4 ,so a generally   
non-hereditary functional nobility might
 come into being without any violent    
break with the present condition of     
things4 ,the conversion of the ,american
 ,senate would be a more difficult      
matter1 because the method of           
appointment of ,senators is more        
stereotyped altogether1 and1 since      
#ahjj1 unhappily quite bound up with the
 political party system4 ,the ,senate is
 not a body of varied and fluctuating   
origins into which new elements can be  
quietly inserted4 ,an ,english writer   
cannot estimate how dear the sacred     
brace of ,senators for each ,state may  
or may not be to the ,american heart4   
,but the possibility of ,congress       
delegating the power to appoint         
additional ,senators to certain         
non-political bodies1 or to juries of a 
specific constitution1 is at least      
thinkable as the beginning of a movement
 that would come at last into           
parallelism with that in the ,british   

,empire4  ,when these issues of public  
honour and efficient democratic         
administration have begun to move       
towards a definite solution1 the        
community will be in a position to      
extend the operation of the new methods 
towards a profounder revolution1 the    
control of private property4 8,we are   
all ,socialists nowadays10 and it is    
needless1 therefore1 to argue here at   
any length to establish the fact that   
beyond quite personal belongings all    
,property is the creation of society1   
and in reality no more than an          
administrative device4 ,at present1 in  
spite of some quite hideous and         
mischievous local aspects1 the          
institution of ,property1 even in land  
and the shares of quasi-public          
businesses1 probably gives as efficient 
a method of control1 and even it may be 
a more efficient method of control than 
any that could be devised to replace it 
under existing conditions4 ,we have no  
public bodies and no methods of check   

and control sufficiently trustworthy to 
justify extensive expropriations4 ,even 
the municipalization of industries needs
 to go slowly until municipal areas have
 been brought more into conformity with 
the conditions of efficient             
administration4 ,areas too cramped and  
areas that overlap spell waste and      
conflicting authorities1 and premature  
municipalization in such areas will lead
 only to the final triumph of the       
private company4 ,political efficiency  
must precede ,socialism4 ,footnote3 ,see
 ,appendix ,i4  ,but there can be no    
doubt that the spectacle of             
irresponsible property is a terribly    
demoralizing force in the development of
 each generation4 ,it is idle to deny   
that ,property1 both in ,great ,britain 
and ,america1 works out into a practical
 repudiation of that equality1 political
 democracy so eloquently asserts4 ,there
 is a fatalistic submission to          
inferiority on the part of an           
overwhelming majority of those born     

poor1 they hold themselves cheap in     
countless ways1 and they accept as      
natural the use of wealth for wanton    
pleasure and purposes absolutely        
mischievous1 they despair of effort in  
the public service1 and find their only 
hope in gambling1 sharp greedy trading1 
or in base acquiescences to the rich4   
,the good ,new ,republican can only     
regard our present system of ,property  
as a terribly unsatisfactory expedient  
and seek with all his power to develop a
 better order to replace it4  ,there are
 certain lines of action in this matter 
that cannot but be beneficial1 and it is
 upon these that the ,new ,republican   
will1 no doubt1 go4 ,one excellent      
thing1 for example1 would be to insist  
that beyond the limits of a reasonable  
amount of personal property1 the        
community is justified in demanding a   
much higher degree of efficiency in the 
property-holder than in the case of the 
common citizen1 to require him or her to
 be not only sane but capable1 equal    

mentally and bodily to a great charge4  
,the heir to a great property should    
possess a satisfactory knowledge of     
social and economic science1 and should 
have studied with a view to his great   
responsibilities4 ,the age of twenty-one
 is scarcely high enough for the        
management of a great estate1 and to    
raise the age of free administration for
 the owners of great properties1 and to 
specify a superannuation age would be a 
wise and justifiable measure4 ,footnote3
 ,something of the sort is already      
secured in ,france by the power of the  
,conseil de ,famille to expropriate a   
spendthrift4 ,there should also be a    
possibility of intervention in the case 
of maladministration1 and a code of     
offences--habitual drunkenness1 for     
example1 assaults of various            
kinds--offences that established the    
fact of unfitness and resulted in       
deposition1 might be drawn up4 ,it might
 be found desirable in the case of      
certain crimes and misdemeanours1 to add

 to existing penalties the transfer of  
all real or share properties to         
trustees4 ,vigorous confiscation is a   
particularly logical punishment for the 
proven corruption of public officers by 
any property owner or group of property 
owners4 ,rich men who bribe are a danger
 to any state4 ,beyond the limits of    
lunacy it might be possible to define a 
condition of malignancy or ruthlessness 
that would justify confiscation1        
attempts to form corners in the         
necessities of life1 for example1 could 
be taken as evidence of such a          
condition4 ,all such measures as this   
would be far more beneficial than the   
immediate improvement they would effect 
in public management4 ,they would infect
 the whole social body with the sense   
that property was saturated with        
responsibility and was in effect a      
trust1 and that would be a good         
influence upon rich and poor alike4     
,moreover1 as public bodies became more 
efficient and more trustworthy1 the     

principle already established in        
,british social polity by ,sir ,william 
,vernon ,harcourt's ,death ,duties1 the 
principle of whittling great properties 
at each transfer1 might be very         
materially extended4 ,every transfer of 
property might establish a state        
mortgage for some fraction of the value 
of that property4 ,the fraction might be
 small when the recipient was a public  
institution1 considerable in the case of
 a son or daughter1 and almost all for a
 distant relative or no kindred at all4 
,by such devices the evil influence of  
property acquired by mere accidents     
would be reduced without any great      
discouragement of energetic1            
enterprising1 and inventive men4 ,and a 
man ambitious to found a family might   
still found one if he took care to marry
 wisely and train and educate his       
children to the level of the position he
 designed for them4  ,while the ,new    
,republican brings such expedients as   
this to bear upon property from above1  

there will also be the expedients of the
 ,minimum ,wage and the ,minimum        
,standard of ,life1 already discussed in
 the third of these papers1 controlling 
it from below4 ,limited in this way1    
property will resemble a river that once
 swamped a whole country-side1 but has  
now been banked within its channel4     
,even when these expedients have been   
exhaustively worked out1 they will fall 
far short of that 8abolition of         
property0 which is the crude expression 
of ,socialism4 ,there is a certain      
measure of property in a state which    
involves the maximum of individual      
freedom4 ,either above or below that    
,optimum one passes towards slavery4    
,the ,new ,republican is a ,new         
,republican1 and he tests all things by 
their effect upon the evolution of man2 
he is a ,socialist or an ,individualist1
 a ,free ,trader or a ,protectionist1 a 
,republican or a ,democrat just so far1 
and only so far1 as these various       
principles of public policy subserve his

 greater end4  ,this crude sketch of a  
possible scheme of honour and privilege1
 and of an approximation towards the    
socialization of property will1 at any  
rate1 show that in this matter1 as in   
the matter of political control1 the    
alternative of the ,british system or   
the ,american system does not exhaust   
human possibilities4 ,there is also the 
,twentieth ,century ,system1 which we   
,new ,republicans have to discover and  
discuss and bring to the test of        
experience4 ,and for the sake of the    
education of our children1 which is the 
cardinal business of our lives1 we must 
refuse all convenient legal fictions and
 underhand ways1 and see to it that the 
system is as true to the reality of life
 and to right and justice as we can1 in 
our light and generation1 make it4 ,the 
child must learn not only from preacher 
and parent and book1 but from the whole 
frame and order of life about it1 that  
truth and sound living and service are  
the only trustworthy ways to either     

honour or power1 and that1 save for the 
unavoidable accidents of life1 they are 
very certain ways4 ,and then he will    
have a fair chance to grow up neither a 
smart and hustling cheat--for the       
,american at his worst is no more and no
 less than that--nor a sluggish         
disingenuous snob--as the ,briton too   
often becomes--but a proud1 ambitious1  
clean-handed1 and capable man4          
,,viii4 ,,the ,,cultivation ,,of ,,the  
,,imagination    #a   ,in the closing   
years of the school period comes the    
dawn of the process of adolescence1 and 
the simple egotism1 the egotistical     
affections of the child begin to be     
troubled by new interests1 new vague    
impulses1 and presently by a flood of as
 yet formless emotions4 ,the race1 the  
species1 is claiming the individual1    
endeavouring to secure the individual   
for its greater ends4 ,in the space of a
 few years the almost sexless boy and   
girl have become consciously sexual1 are
 troubled by the still mysterious       

possibilities of love1 are stirred to   
discontent and adventure1 are reaching  
out imaginatively or actively towards   
what is at last the recommencement of   
things1 the essential fact in the       
perennial reshaping of the order of the 
world4 ,this is indeed something of a   
second birth4 ,at its beginning the     
child we have known begins to recede1   
the new individuality gathers itself    
together with a sort of shy jealousy1   
and withdraws from the confident        
intimacy of childhood into a secret     
seclusion2 all parents know of that     
loss2 at its end we have an adult1      
formed and determinate1 for whom indeed 
the drama and conflict of life is still 
only beginning1 but who is1             
nevertheless1 in a very serious sense   
finished and made4 ,the quaint1 lovable1
 larval human being has passed then into
 the full imago1 before whom there is no
 further change in kind save age and    
decay4  ,this development of the sexual 
being1 of personal dreams1 and the adult

 imagination is already commencing in   
the early teens4 ,it goes on through all
 the later phases of the educational    
process1 and it ends1 or1 rather1 it is 
transformed by insensible degrees into  
the personal realities of adult life4   
,now this second birth within the body  
of the first differs in many fundamental
 aspects from that first4 ,the first    
birth and the body abound in inevitable 
things2 for example1 features1 gestures 
aptitudes1 complexions1 and colours1 are
 inherited beyond any power of          
perversion2 but the second birth is the 
unfolding not of shaped and settled     
things but of possibilities1 of         
extraordinarily plastic mental          
faculties4 ,no doubt there are in each  
developing individual dispositions      
towards this or that--tendencies1 a bias
 in the texture this way or that--but   
the form of it all is extraordinarily a 
matter of suggestion and the influence  
of deliberate and accidental moulding   
forces4 ,the universal ,will to live is 

there1 peeping out at first in little   
curiosities1 inquiries1 sudden disgusts1
 sudden fancies1 the stumbling1 slow    
realization that for this in a          
mysteriously predominant way we live1   
and growing stronger1 growing presently1
 in the great multitude of cases1 to    
passionate preferences and powerful     
desires4 ,this flow of sex comes like a 
great river athwart the plain of our    
personal and egoistic schemes1 a great  
river with its rapids1 with its deep and
 silent places1 a river of uncertain    
droughts1 a river of overwhelming       
floods1 a river no one who would escape 
drowning may afford to ignore4          
,moreover1 it is the very axis and      
creator of our world valley1 the source 
of all our power in life1 and the       
irrigator of all things4 ,in the        
microcosm of each individual1 as in the 
microcosm of the race1 this flood is a  
cardinal problem4  ,and from its very   
nature this is a discussion of especial 
difficulty1 because it touches all of   

us--except for a few peculiar souls--so 
intimately and so disturbingly4 ,i had  
purposed to call this paper 8,sex and   
the ,imagination10 and then ,i had a    
sudden vision of the thing that happens4
 ,the vision presented a casual reader  
seated in a library1 turning over books 
and magazines and casting much excellent
 wisdom aside1 and then suddenly1 as it 
were1 waking up at that title1 arrested1
 displaying a furtive alertness1        
reading1 flushed and eager1 nosing      
through the article4 ,that in a vignette
 is the trouble in all this discussion4 
,were we angels--6 ,but we are not      
angels2 we are all involved4 ,if we are 
young we are deep in it1 whether we     
would have it so or not2 if we are old1 
even if we are quite old1 our memories  
still stretch out1 living sensitive     
threads from our tender vanity to the   
great trouble4 ,detachment is           
impossible4 ,the nearest we can get to  
detachment is to recognize that4  ,about
 this question the tragi-comic web of   

human absurdity thickens to its closest4
 ,when has there ever been a lucid view 
or ever will be of this great business8 
,here is the common madness of our      
species1 here is all a tissue of fine   
unreasonableness--to which1 no doubt1 we
 are in the present paper               
infinitesimally adding4 ,one has a      
vision of preposterous proceedings2     
great1 fat1 wheezing1 strigilated ,roman
 emperors1 neat ,parisian gentlemen of  
the latest cult1 the good ,saint        
,anthony rolling on his thorns1 and the 
piously obscene ,durtal undergoing his  
expiatory temptations1 ,mahomet and     
,brigham ,young receiving supplementary 
revelations1 grim men babbling secrets  
to schoolgirls1 enamoured errand boys1  
amorous old women1 debauchees dreaming  
themselves thoroughly sensible men and  
going about their queer proceedings with
 insane self-satisfaction1 beautiful    
witless young persons dressed in the    
most amazing things1 all down the vista 
of history--a ,vision of ,fair          

,women--looking their conscious         
queenliest1 sentimentalists crawling    
over every aspect and leaving tracks    
like snails1 flushed young blockheads   
telling the world 8all about women10    
intrigue1 folly--you have as much of it 
as one pen may condense in old ,burton's
 ,anatomy--and through it all a vast    
multitude of decent1 respectable bodies 
pretending to have quite solved the     
problem--until one day1 almost          
shockingly1 you get their secret from a 
careless something glancing out of the  
eyes4 ,most preposterous of all for some
 reason is a figure--one is maliciously 
disposed to present it as feminine and a
 little unattractive1 goloshed for      
preference1 and saying in a voice of    
cultivated flatness1 8,why cannot we be 
perfectly plain and sensible1 and speak 
quite frankly about this matter80 ,the  
answer to which one conceives1 would be 
near the last conclusions of            
,philosophy4  ,so much seethes about the
 plain discussion of the question of    

sexual institutions4 ,one echoes the    
intelligent inquiry of that quite       
imaginary1 libellously conceived lady in
 goloshes with a smile and a sigh4 ,as  
well might she ask1 8,why shouldn't ,i  
keep my sandwiches in the ,ark of the   
,covenant8 ,there's room60 8,of course  
there's room10 one answers1 8but--,as   
things are1 ,madam1 it is inadvisable to
 try4 ,you see--for one thing--people   
are so peculiar4 ,the quantity of loose 
stones in this neighbourhood40  ,the    
predominant feeling about the discussion
 of these things is1 to speak frankly1  
,fear4 ,we know1 very many of us1 that  
our present state has many evil aspects1
 seems unjust and wasteful of human     
happiness1 is full of secret and        
horrible dangers1 abounding in cruelties
 and painful things2 that our system of 
sanctions and prohibitions is wickedly  
venial1 pressing far more gravely on the
 poor than on the rich1 and that it is  
enormously sapped by sentimentalities of
 various sorts and undermined and       

qualified by secret cults2 it is a      
clogged and an ill-made and dishonest   
machine1 but we have a dread1 in part   
instinctive1 in part1 no doubt1 the     
suggestion of our upbringing and        
atmosphere1 of any rash alterations1 of 
any really free examination of its      
constitution4 ,we are not sure or       
satisfied where that process of         
examination may not take us2 many more  
people can take machines to pieces than 
can put them together again4 ,mr4 ,grant
 ,allen used to call our current        
prohibitions ,taboos4 ,well1 the fact   
is1 in these matters there is something 
that is probably an instinct1 a deeply  
felt necessity for ,taboos4 ,we know    
perhaps that our ,taboos were not       
devised on absolutely reasonable        
grounds1 but we are afraid of just how  
many may not collapse before a purely   
reasonable inquiry4 ,we are afraid of   
thinking quite freely even in private4  
,we doubt whether it is wise to begin1  
though only in the study and alone4     

8,why should we--8 ,why should we       
not--80 ,and the thought of a public    
discussion without limitations by a     
hasty myriad untrained to think1 does1  
indeed1 raise an image of consequences  
best conveyed perhaps by that fine      
indefinite phrase1 8,a ,moral ,chaos40  
,these people who are for the free1     
frank1 and open discussion assume so    
much2 they either intend a sham with    
foregone conclusions1 or they have not  
thought of all sorts of things inherent 
in the natural silliness of contemporary
 man4  ,on the whole ,i think a man or  
woman who is no longer a fabric of pure 
emotion may1 if there is indeed the     
passion for truth and the clear sight of
 things to justify research1 venture    
upon this sinister seeming wilderness of
 speculation1 and ,i think1 too1 it is  
very probable the courageous persistent 
explorer will end at last not so very   
remote from the starting-point1 but     
above it1 as it were1 on a crest that   
will give a wider view1 reaching over   

many things that now confine the lower  
vision4 ,but these are perilous paths1  
it must always be remembered4 ,this is  
no public playground4 ,one may distrust 
the conventional code1 and one may leave
 it in thought1 long before one is      
justified in leaving it either in       
expressed opinion or in act4 ,we are    
social animals2 we cannot live alone2   
manifestly from the nature of the       
question1 here1 at any rate1 we must    
associate and group4 ,for all who find  
the accepted righteousness not good     
enough or clear enough for them1 there  
is the chance of an ironical destiny4   
,we must look well to our company1 as we
 come out of the city of the common     
practice and kick its dust from our     
superior soles4 ,there is an abominable 
riff-raff gone into those thickets for  
purposes quite other than the discovery 
of the right thing to do1 for quite     
other motives than our high intellectual
 desire4 ,there are ugly rebels and born
 rascals1 cheats by instinct1 and liars 

to women1 swinish unbelievers who would 
compromise us with their erratic pursuit
 of a miscellaneous collection of       
strange fancies and betray us callously 
at last4 ,because a man does not find   
the law pure justice1 that is no reason 
why he should fake his gold to a        
thieves' kitchen2 because he does not   
think the city a sanitary place1 why he 
should pitch his tent on a dust-heap    
amidst pariah dogs4 ,because we         
criticize the old limitations that does 
not bind us to the creed of unfettered  
liberty4 ,i very much doubt if1 when at 
last the days for the sane complete     
discussion of our sexual problems come1 
it will give us anything at all in the  
way of 8,liberty10 as most people       
understand that word4 ,in the place of  
the rusty old manacles1 the chain and   
shot1 the iron yoke1 cruel1 ill-fitting1
 violent implements from which it was   
yet possible to wriggle and escape to   
outlawry1 it may be the world will      
discover only a completer restriction1  

will develop a scheme of neat gyves1    
light but efficient1 beautifully        
adaptable to the wrists and ankles1     
never chafing1 never oppressing1 slipped
 on and worn until at last1 like the    
mask of the ,happy ,hypocrite1 they     
mould the wearer to their own identity4 
,but for all that--gyves6  ,let us      
glance for a moment or so now1 in the   
most tentative fashion1 at some of the  
data for this inquiry1 and then revert  
from this excursion into general theory 
to our more immediate business1 to the  
manner in which our civilized community 
at present effects the emotional        
initiation of youth4  ,the intellectual 
trouble in the matter1 as it presents   
itself to me1 comes in upon this1 that  
the question does not lie in one plane4 
,so many discussions ignore this fact1  
and deal with it on one plane only4 ,for
 example1 we may take the whole business
 on the plane of the medical man1       
ignoring all other considerations4 ,on  
that plane it would probably be almost  

easy to reason out a working system4 ,it
 never has been done by the medical     
profession1 as a whole1 which is fairly 
understandable1 or by any group of      
medical men1 which is the more          
surprising1 but it would be an extremely
 interesting thing to have done and a   
material contribution to the sane       
discussion of this problem4 ,it would   
not solve it but it would illuminate    
certain aspects4 ,let the mere          
physiological problem be taken4 ,we want
 healthy children and the best we can   
get4 ,let the medical man devise his    
scheme primarily for that4 ,understand  
we are shutting our eyes to every other 
consideration but physical or           
quasi-physical ones4 ,imagine the thing 
done1 for example1 by a ,mr4 ,francis   
,galton1 who had an absolutely open mind
 upon all other questions4 ,some form of
 polygamy1 marriage of the most         
transient description1 with reproduction
 barred to specified types1 would       
probably come from such a speculation4  

,but1 in addition1 a number of people   
who can have only a few children or none
 are1 nevertheless1 not adapted         
physiologically for celibacy4 ,conceive 
the medical man working that problem out
 upon purely materialistic lines and    
with an eye to all physiological and    
pathological peculiarities4 ,the        
,tasmanians 7now extinct7 seem to have  
been somewhere near the probable result4
  ,then let us take one step up to a    
second stage of consideration1 remaining
 still materialistic1 and with the      
medical man still as our only guide4 ,we
 want the children to grow up healthy2  
we want them to be taken care of4 ,this 
means homes1 homes of some sort4 ,that  
may not abolish polygamy1 but it will   
qualify it1 it will certainly abolish   
any approach to promiscuity that was    
possible at the lowest stage1 it will   
enhance the importance of motherhood and
 impose a number of limits upon the     
sexual freedoms of men and women4       
,people who have become parents1 at any 

rate1 must be tied to the children and  
one another4 ,we come at once to much   
more definite marriage1 to an organized 
family of some sort1 be it only ,plato's
 state community or something after the 
,oneida pattern1 but with at least a    
system of guarantees and                
responsibilities4 ,let us add that we   
want the children to go through a       
serious educational process1 and we find
 at once still further limitations      
coming in4 ,we discover the necessity of
 deferring experience1 of pushing back  
adolescence1 of avoiding precocious     
stimulation with its consequent arrest  
of growth4 ,we are already face to face 
with an enlarged case for decency1 for a
 system of suppressions and of          
complicated ,taboos4  ,directly we let  
our thoughts pass out of this physical  
plane and rise so high as to consider   
the concurrent emotions--and ,i suppose 
to a large number of people these are at
 least as important as the physical     
aspects--we come to pride1 we come to   

preference and jealousy1 and so soon as 
we bring these to bear upon our physical
 scheme1 crumpling and fissures begin4  
,the complications have multiplied      
enormously4 ,more especially that little
 trouble of preferences4 ,these emotions
 we may educate indeed1 but not         
altogether4 ,neither pride nor          
preference nor jealousy are to be       
tampered with lightly4 ,we are making   
men1 we are not planning a society of   
regulated slaves2 we want fine          
upstanding personalities1 and we shall  
not get them if we break them down to   
obedience in this particular--for the   
cardinal expression of freedom in the   
human life is surely this choice of a   
mate4 ,there is indeed no freedom       
without this freedom4 ,our men and women
 in the future must feel free and       
responsible4 ,it seems almost           
instinctive1 at least in the youth of   
the white races1 to exercise this power 
of choice1 not simply rebelling when    
opposition is offered to it1 but wanting

 to rebel2 it is a socially good thing1 
and a thing we are justified in         
protecting if the odds are against it1  
this passion for making the business    
one's very own private affair4 ,our     
citizens must not be caught and paired2 
it will never work like that4 ,but in   
all social contrivances we must see to  
it that the freedoms we give are real   
freedoms4 ,our youths and maidens as    
they grow up out of the protection of   
our first taboos1 grow into a world very
 largely in the hands of older people2  
strong men and experienced women are    
there before them1 and we are justified 
in any effectual contrivance to save    
them from being 8gobbled up0--against   
their real instincts4 ,that works--the  
reflective man will discover--towards   
whittling the previous polygamy to still
 smaller proportions4 ,here1 indeed1 our
 present arrangements fail most         
lamentably2 each year sees a hideous    
sacrifice of girls1 mentally scarcely   
more than children--to our delicacy in  

discussion4 ,we give freedom1 and we do 
not give adequate knowledge1 and we     
punish inexorably4 ,there are a         
multitude of women1 and not a few men1  
with lives hopelessly damaged by this   
blindfold freedom4 ,so many poor girls1 
so many lads also1 do not get a fair    
chance against the adult world4 ,things 
mend indeed in this respect2 as one sign
 the percentage of illegitimate births  
in ,england has almost halved in fifty  
years1 but it is clear we have much to  
revise before this leakage to perdition 
of unlucky creatures1 for the most part 
girls no worse on the average1 ,i       
honestly believe--until our penalties   
make them so--than other women1 ceases4 
,if our age of moral responsibility is  
high enough1 then our age of complete   
knowledge is too high4 ,but             
nevertheless1 things are better than    
they were1 and promise still to mend4   
,all round we raise the age1 the average
 age at marriage rises1 just as1 ,i     
believe1 the average age at misconduct  

has risen4 ,we may not be approaching a 
period of universal morality1 but we do 
seem within sight of a time when people 
will know what they are doing4  ,that1  
however1 is something of a digression4  
,the intelligent inquirer who has       
squared his initially materialistic     
system of morals with the problems      
arising out of the necessity of         
sustaining pride and preference1 is then
 invited to explore an adjacent thicket 
of this tortuous subject4 ,it is1 we    
hold1 of supreme importance in our state
 to sustain in all our citizens1 women  
as well as men1 a sense of personal     
independence and responsibility4        
,particularly is this the case with     
mothers4 ,an illiterate mother means a  
backward child1 a downtrodden mother    
bears a dishonest man1 an unwilling     
mother may even hate her children4      
,slaves and brutes are the sexes where  
women are slaves4 ,the line of thought  
we are following out in these papers    
necessarily attaches distinctive        

importance to the woman as mother4 ,our 
system of morals1 therefore1 has to make
 it worth while and honourable to be a  
mother2 it is particularly undesirable  
that it should be held to be right for a
 woman of exceptional charm or          
exceptional cleverness to evade         
motherhood1 unless1 perhaps1 to become a
 teacher4 ,a woman evading her high     
calling1 must not be conceded the same  
claim upon men's toil and service as the
 mother-woman2 more particularly ,lady  
,greensleeves must not flaunt it over   
the housewife4 ,and here also comes the 
question of the quality of jealousy1    
whether being wife of a man and mother  
of his children does not almost         
necessarily give a woman a feeling of   
exclusive possession in him1 and        
whether1 therefore1 if we are earnest in
 our determination not to debase her1   
our last shred of polygamy does not     
vanish4 ,from first to last1 of course1 
it has been assumed that a prolific     
polygamy alone can be intended1 for long

 before we have plumbed the bottom of   
the human heart we shall know enough to 
imagine what the ugly and pointless     
consequences of permitting sterile      
polygamy must be4  ,then into all this  
tangle1 whether as a light or an added  
confusion it is hard to say1 comes the  
fact that while we are ever apt to talk 
of what 8a woman0 feels and what 8a man0
 will do1 and so contrive our code1     
there is1 indeed1 no such woman and no  
such man1 but a vast variety of         
temperaments and dispositions1 monadic1 
dyadic1 and polymeric souls1 and this   
sort of heart and brain and that4 ,it is
 only the young fool and the brooding   
mattoid who believe in a special        
separate science of 8women10  there are 
all sorts of people1 and some of each   
sort are women and some are men4 ,with  
every stage in educational development  
people become more varied1 or1 at least1
 more conscious of their variety1 more  
sensitively insistent upon the claim of 
their individualities over any general  

rules4 ,among the peasants of a         
countryside one may hope to order       
homogeneous lives1 but not among the    
people of the coming state4 ,it is well 
to sustain a home1 it is noble to be a  
good mother1 and splendid to bear       
children well and train them well1 but  
we shall get no valid rules until we see
 clearly that life has other ways by    
which the future may be served4 ,there  
are laws to be made and altered1 there  
are roads and bridges to be built1      
figuratively and really2 there is not   
only a succession of flesh and blood but
 of thought that is going on for ever4  
,to write a fruitful book or improve a  
widely used machine is just as much     
paternity as begetting a son4  ,the last
 temporary raft of a logical moral code 
goes to pieces at this1 and its         
separated spars float here and there4   
,so ,i will confess they float at       
present in my mind4 ,i have no          
,system--,i wish ,i had--and ,i never   
encountered a system or any universal   

doctrine of sexual conduct that did not 
seem to me to be reached by clinging    
tight to one or two of these dissevered 
spars and letting the rest drift        
disregarded1 making a law for ,a1 ,b1   
and ,c1 and pretending that ,e and ,f   
are out of the question4 ,that          
motherhood is a great and noble         
occupation for a good woman1 and not to 
be lightly undertaken1 is a manifest    
thing1 and so also that to beget        
children and see them full grown in the 
world is the common triumph of life1 as 
inconsequence is its common failure4    
,that to live for pleasure is not only  
wickedness but folly1 seems easy to     
admit1 and equally foolish1 as ,saint   
,paul has intimated1 must it be to waste
 a life of nervous energy in fighting   
down beyond a natural minimum our       
natural desires4 ,that we must pitch our
 lives just as much as we can in the    
heroic key1 and hem and control mere    
lasciviousness as it were a sort of     
leprosy of the soul1 seems fairly       

certain4 ,and all that love-making which
 involves lies1 all sham heroics and    
shining snares1 assuredly must go out of
 a higher order of social being1 for    
here more than anywhere lying is the    
poison of life4 ,but between these data 
there are great interrogative blanks no 
generalization will fill--cases1        
situations1 temperaments4 ,each life1 it
 seems to me1 in that intelligent1      
conscious1 social state to which the    
world is coming1 must square itself to  
these things in its own way1 and fill in
 the details of its individual moral    
code according to its needs4 ,so it     
seems1 at least1 to one limited thinker4
  ,to be frank1 upon that common ground 
of decent behaviour1 pride and          
self-respect1 health and the heroic     
habit of thinking1 we need for ourselves
 not so much rules as wisdom1 and for   
others not1 indeed1 a foolish and       
indiscriminate toleration but at least  
patience1 arrests of judgment1 and the  
honest endeavour to understand4 ,now to 

help the imagination in these judgments1
 to enlarge and interpret experience1 is
 most certainly one of the functions of 
literature4 ,a good biography may give  
facts of infinite suggestion1 and the   
great multitude of novels at present    
are1 in fact1 experiments in the science
 of this central field of human action1 
experiments in the 8way of looking at0  
various cases and situations4 ,they may 
be very misleading experiments1 it is   
true1 done with adulterated substances1 
dangerous chemicals1 dirty flasks and   
unsound balances2 but that is a question
 of their quality and not of their      
nature1 they are experiments for all    
that4 ,a good novel may become a very   
potent and convincing experiment indeed4
 ,books in these matters are often so   
much quieter and cooler as counsellors  
than friends4 ,and there1 in truth1 is  
my whole mind in this matter4           
,meanwhile1 as we work each one to solve
 his own problems1 the young people are 
growing up about us4    #b   ,how do the

 young people arrive at knowledge and at
 their interpretation of these things8  
,let us for a few moments at least1 put 
pretence and claptrap aside1 and recall 
our own youth4 ,let us recognize that   
this complex initiation is always a very
 shy and secret process1 beyond the     
range of parent and guardian4 ,the      
prying type of schoolmaster or          
schoolmistress only drives the thing    
deeper1 and1 at the worst1 blunders with
 a hideous suggestiveness4 ,it is almost
 an instinct1 a part of the natural     
modesty of the growing young1 to hide   
all that is fermenting in the mind from 
authoritative older people4 ,it would   
not be difficult to find a biological   
reason for that4 ,the growing mind      
advances slowly1 intermittently1 with   
long pauses and sudden panics1 that is  
the law of its progress2 it feels its   
way through three main agencies1        
firstly1 observation1 secondly1         
tentative1 confidential talk with       
unauthoritative and trusted friends1 and

 thirdly1 books4 ,in the present epoch  
observation declines relatively to      
books2 books and pictures1 these dumb   
impersonal initiators1 play a larger and
 a larger part in this great awakening4 
,perhaps for all but the children of the
 urban poor1 the furtive talk also      
declines and is delayed2 a most         
desirable thing in a civilizing process 
that finds great advantage in putting   
off adolescence and prolonging the      
average life4  ,now the furtive talk is 
largely beyond our control1 only by     
improving the general texture of our    
communal life can we effectually improve
 the quality of that4 ,but we may bear  
in mind that factor of observation1 and 
give it a casting vote in any decision  
upon public decency4 ,that is all too   
often forgotten4 ,before ,broadbeam1 the
 popular humorist1 for example1 flashes 
his glittering rapier upon the ,county  
,council for suppressing some vulgar    
obscenity in the music-halls1 or tickles
 the ribs of a ,vigilance ,association  

for its care of our hoardings1 he should
 do his best to imagine the mental      
process of some nice boy or girl he     
knows1 8taking it in40 ,to come outright
 to the essential matter of this paper1 
we are all too careless of the quality  
of the stuff that reaches the eyes and  
ears of our children4 ,it is not that   
the stuff is knowledge1 but that it is  
knowledge in the basest and vulgarest   
colourings1 knowledge without the       
antiseptic quality of heroic            
interpretation1 debased1 suggestive1    
diseased and contagious knowledge4  ,how
 the sexual consciousness of a great    
proportion of our young people is being 
awakened1 the curious reader may see for
 himself if he will expend a few pennies
 weekly for a month or so upon the      
halfpenny or penny 8comic0 papers which 
are bought so eagerly by boys4 ,they    
begin upon the facts of sex as affairs  
of nodding and winking1 of artful       
innuendo and scuffles in the dark4 ,the 
earnest efforts of ,broadbeam's minor   

kindred to knock the nonsense out of    
even younger people may be heard at     
almost any pantomime4 ,the ,lord        
,chamberlain's attempts to stem the tide
 amaze the ,english ,judges4 ,no scheme 
for making the best of human lives can  
ignore this system of influences4  ,what
 could be done in a sanely ordered state
 to suppress this sort of thing8  ,there
 immediately arises the question whether
 we are to limit art and literature to  
the sphere permissible to the growing   
youth and 8young person40 ,so far as    
shop windows1 bookstalls1 and hoardings 
go1 so far as all general publicity     
goes1 ,i would submit the answer is     
,yes4 ,i am on the side of the ,puritans
 here1 unhesitatingly4 ,but our adults  
must not walk in mental leading strings1
 and were this world an adult world ,i  
doubt if there is anything ,i would not 
regard as fit to print and publish4 ,but
 cannot we contrive that our adult      
literature shall be as free as air while
 the literature and art of the young is 

sanely expurgated8  ,there is in this   
matter a conceivable way1 and as it is  
the principal business of these papers  
to point out and discuss such ways1 it  
may be given here4 ,it will be put1 as  
for the sake of compact suggestion so   
much of these papers is put1 in the form
 of a concrete suggestion1 a sample     
suggestion as it were4 ,this way1 then1 
is to make a definition of what is      
undesirable matter for the minds of     
young people1 and to make that cover as 
much suggestive indecency and coarseness
 as possible1 to cover everything1      
indeed1 that is not virginibus          
puerisque1 and to call this matter by   
some reasonably inoffensive adjective1  
8adult10 for example4 ,one might speak  
of 8adult0 art1 8adult0 literature1 and 
8adult0  science1 and the report of all 
proceedings under certain specified laws
 could be declared 8adult0 matter4 ,in  
the old times there was an excellent    
system of putting 8adult0 matter into   
,latin1 and for many reasons one regrets

 that ,latin4 ,but there is a rough     
practical equivalent to putting 8adult0 
matter into ,latin even now4 ,it depends
 upon the fact that very few young      
people of the age we wish to protect1   
unless they are the children of the     
imbecile rich1 have the spending of     
large sums of money4 ,consequently1 it  
is only necessary to state a high       
minimum price for periodicals and books 
containing 8adult0 matter or 8adult0    
illustrations1 and to prosecute         
everything below that limit1 in order to
 shut the flood-gates upon any torrent  
of over-stimulating and debasing        
suggestions there may be flowing now4   
,it should be more clearly recognized in
 our prosecutions for obscenity1 for    
example1 that the gravity of the offence
 is entirely dependent upon the         
accessibility of the offensive matter to
 the young4 ,the application of the same
 method to the music-hall1 the          
lecture-theatre1 and the shelves of the 
public library1 and to several other    

sources of suggestion would not be      
impossible4 ,if the manager of a theatre
 saw fit to produce 8adult0  matter     
without excluding people under the age  
of eighteen1 let us say1 he would have  
to take his chance1 and it would be a   
good one1 of a prosecution4 ,this latter
 expedient is less novel than the       
former1 and it finds a sort of precedent
 in the legislative restriction of the  
sale of drink to children and the       
protection of children's morals under   
specific unfavourable circumstances4    
,there is already a pretty lively sense 
in our ,english-speaking communities of 
the particular respect due to the young1
 and it is probable that those who      
publish these suggestive and stimulating
 prints do not fully realize the new    
fact in our social body1 that the whole 
mass of the young now not only read but 
buy reading matter4 ,the last thirty or 
forty years have established absolutely 
new relations for our children in this  
direction4 ,legislation against free art

 and free writing is1 and one hopes     
always will be1 intensely repugnant to  
our peoples4 ,but legislation which laid
 stress not on the indecorum but on the 
accessibility to the young1 which       
hammered with every clause upon that    
note1 is an altogether different matter4
 ,we want to make the pantomime writer1 
the proprietor of the penny 8comic10 the
 billsticker1 and the music-hall artist 
extremely careful1 punctiliously clean1 
but we do not want1 for example1 to     
pester ,mr4 ,thomas ,hardy4  ,yet there 
is danger in all this4 ,the suppression 
of premature and base suggestions must  
not overleap itself and suppress either 
mature thought 7which has been given its
 hemlock not once but many times on this
 particular pretext7 or the destruction 
of necessary common knowledge4 ,if we   
begin to hunt for suggestion and        
indecency it may be urged we shall end  
by driving all these things underground4
 ,youth comes to adult life now between 
two dangers1 vice1 which has always     

threatened it1 and morbid virtue1 which 
would turn the very heart of life to    
ugliness and shame4 ,how are we1 or to  
come closer to the point1 how is the    
average juryman going to distinguish    
between these three things2 between     
advisable knowledge and corruptingly    
presented knowledge1 and unnecessary and
 undesirable knowledge8 ,in practice1   
under the laws ,i have sketched1 it is  
quite probable the evil would flourish  
extremely1 and necessary information    
would be ruthlessly suppressed4 ,many of
 our present laws and provisions for    
public decency do work in that manner4  
,the errand-boy may not look at the     
,venus de ,medici1 but he can cram his  
mind with the lore of how 8nobs0 run    
after ballet girls1 and why ,lady ,x    
locked the door4 ,one can only plead    
here1 as everywhere1 no law1 no succinct
 statement can save us without wisdom1 a
 growing general wisdom and conscience1 
coming into the detailed administration 
of whatever law the general purpose has 

made4  ,beside our project for law and  
the state1 it is evident there is scope 
for the individual4 ,certain people are 
in a position of exceptional            
responsibility4 ,the ,newsagents1 for   
example1 constitute a fairly strong     
trade organization1 and it would be easy
 for them to think of the boy with a    
penny just a little more than they do4  
,unfortunately such instances as we have
 had of voluntary censorship will       
qualify the reader's assent to this     
proposition4 ,another objection may be  
urged to this distinction between       
8adult0 and general matter1 and that is 
the possibility that what is marked off 
and forbidden becomes mysterious and    
attractive4 ,one has to reckon with     
that4 ,everywhere in this field one must
 go wisely or fail4 ,but what is here   
proposed is not so much the suppression 
of information as of a certain manner of
 presenting information1 and our        
intention is at the most delay1 and to  
give the wholesome aspect first4  ,let  

us leave nothing doubtful upon one      
point2 the suppression of stimulus must 
not mean the suppression of knowledge4  
,there are things that young people     
should know1 and know fully before they 
are involved in the central drama of    
life1 in the serious business of love4  
,there should be no horrifying          
surprises4 ,sane1 clear1 matter-of-fact 
books setting forth the broad facts of  
health and life1 the existence of       
certain dangers1 should come their way4 
,in this matter books1 ,i would insist1 
have a supreme value4 ,the printed word 
may be such a quiet counsellor4 ,it is  
so impersonal4 ,it can have no          
conceivable personal reaction with the  
reader4 ,it does not watch its reader's 
face1 it is itself unobtrusively        
unabashed and safer than any priest4    
,the power of the book1 the possible    
function of the book in the modern state
 is still but imperfectly understood4   
,it need not be1 it ought not1 ,i think1
 to be1 a book specifically on what one 

calls delicate questions1 that would be 
throwing them up in just the way one    
does not want them thrown up2 it should 
be a sort of rationalized and not too   
technical handbook of physiological     
instruction in the ,college ,library--or
 at home4 ,naturally1 it would begin    
with muscular physiology1 with          
digestion1 and so on4 ,other matters    
would come in their due place and       
proportion4 ,from first to last it would
 have all that need be known4 ,there is 
a natural and right curiosity on these  
matters1 until we chase it underground4 
,restriction alone is not half this     
business4 ,it is inherent in the purpose
 of things that these young people      
should awaken sexually1 and in some     
manner and somewhere that awakening must
 come4 ,to ensure they do not awaken too
 soon or in a fetid atmosphere among    
ugly surroundings is not enough4 ,they  
cannot awaken in a void4 ,an ignorance  
kept beyond nature may corrupt into ugly
 secrecies1 into morose and sinister    

seclusions1 worse than the evils we have
 suppressed4 ,let them awaken as their  
day comes1 in a sweet1 large room4 ,the 
true antiseptic of the soul is not      
ignorance1 but a touch of the heroic in 
the heart and in the imagination4 ,pride
 has saved more men than piety1 and even
 misconduct loses something of its evil 
if it is conceived upon generous lines4 
,there lurks a capacity for heroic      
response in all youth1 even in          
contaminated youth4 ,before             
five-and-twenty1 at any rate1 we were   
all sentimentalists at heart4  ,and the 
way to bring out these responses8       
,assuredly it is not by sermons on      
,purity to ,men ,only and by nasty      
little pamphlets of pseudo-medical and  
highly alarming information stuffed into
 clean young hands ,footnote3 ,see      
,clouston's ,mental ,diseases1 fifth    
edition1 p4 #ece1 for insanity caused by
 these pamphlets2 see also p4 #eia et   
seq4 for 8adolescent0 literature4--ultra
 8adult0 that stuff should be--but in   

the drum and trumpet style the thing    
should be done4 ,there is a mass of fine
 literature to-day wherein love shines  
clean and noble4 ,there is art telling  
fine stories4 ,there is a possibility in
 the ,theatre4 ,probably the average of 
the theatre-goer is under rather than   
over twenty-two4 ,literature1 the drama1
 art2 that is the sort of food upon     
which the young imagination grows stout 
and tall4 ,there is the literature and  
art of youth that may or may not be part
 of the greater literature of life1 and 
upon this mainly we must depend when our
 children pass from us into these       
privacies1 these dreams and inquiries   
that will make them men and women4 ,see 
the right stuff is near them and the    
wrong stuff as far as possible away1    
chase cad and quack together1 and for   
the rest1 in this matter--leave them    
alone4     ,,ix4 ,,the ,,organization   
,,of ,,the ,,higher ,,education   ,when 
we digressed to the general question of 
the political1 social1 and moral        

atmosphere in which the                 
,english-speaking citizen develops1 we  
left the formal education of the average
 child1 whose development threads       
through these papers and holds them     
together1 at about the age of fifteen   
and at the end of the process of        
,schooling4 ,we have now to carry on    
that development to adult citizenship4  
,it is integral in the ,new ,republican 
idea that the process of ,schooling1    
which is the common atrium to all public
 service1 should be fairly uniform      
throughout the social body1 that        
although the average upper-class child  
may have all the advantages his         
conceivably better mental inheritance1  
his better home conditions1 and his     
better paid and less overworked teachers
 may give him1 there shall be no        
disadvantages imposed upon the child of 
any class1 there shall be no burking of 
the intellectual education for any      
purpose whatever4 ,to keep poor wretches
 in serfdom on the land by depriving    

them of all but the most rudimentary    
literary education1 as a very           
considerable element in the new ,nature 
,study ,movement certainly intends1 is  
altogether antagonistic to ,new         
,republican ideas1 and there must be no 
weeding out of capable and high-minded  
teachers by filtering them through      
grotesque and dishonouring religious    
tests--dishonouring because compulsory1 
whatever the real faith of the teacher  
may be4 ,and at the end of the          
,schooling period there must begin a    
process of sorting in the mass of the   
national youth--as far as possible1     
regardless of their social origins--that
 will go on throughout life4 ,for the   
competition of public service must      
constitute the ,battle for ,existence in
 the civilized state4 ,all-round        
inferiority in school life--failure not 
simply at this or that or at the total  
result 7which1 indeed1 may be due very  
often to the lopsidedness of exceptional
 gifts7 but failure all along the       

line--is a mark of essential            
inferiority4 ,a certain proportion of   
boys and girls will have shown this     
inferiority1 will have done little with 
any of their chances in or out of school
 during their school life1 and          
these--when they are poorer-class       
children--will very naturally drop out  
of the educational process at this stage
 and pass into employment suited to     
their capacity1 employment which should 
not carry with it any considerable      
possibility of prolific marriage4 ,a    
really well-contrived leaving-school    
examination--and it must be remembered  
that the theory and science of          
examinations scarcely exists as yet--an 
examination which would take account of 
athletic development and moral influence
 7let us say provisionally by the vote  
of fellow-pupils7 and which would be so 
contrived as to make specially high     
quality in one department as good as    
all-round worth--could effect this first
 classification4 ,it would throw out the

 worst of the duffers and fools and     
louts all along the social scale4 ,what 
is to become of the rejected of the     
upper and wealthy class is1 ,i admit1 a 
difficult problem as things are to-day4 
,at present they carry a loutish        
ingredient to the public schools1 to the
 ,army1 to ,oxford and ,cambridge1 and  
it is open to question whether it would 
not be well to set aside one public     
school1 one especially costly           
university1 and one gentlemen's regiment
 of an attractively smart type1 into    
which this mass of expensive slackness  
might be drained along a channel of     
specially high fees1 low standards1 and 
agreeable social conditions4 ,that1     
however1 is a quite subsidiary question 
in this discussion4 ,a day may come1 as 
,i have already suggested1 when it will 
be considered as reasonable to insist   
upon a minimum mental qualification for 
the administration of property as for   
any other form of power in the state4   
,pride and their many advantages--of    

which one is quite conceivably an       
average essential superiority--will     
probably ensure a satisfactory result   
from the ,schooling process in the case 
of a much greater proportion of         
better-class than of lower-class boys   
and girls4 ,footnote3 ,in most big      
public schools1 ,i am told1 there is a  
system of superannuation about sixteen1 
but ,i know nothing of the provision for
 those who are weeded out4  ,from the   
mass who show a satisfactory result at  
the end of the ,schooling process1 the  
functional manhood and womanhood of our 
peoples have to be developed1 and we    
have now to discuss the nature of the   
second phase of education1 the phase    
that should be the mental parallel and  
accompaniment of physical adolescence in
 all the citizens who are to count for  
strength in the state4 ,there is a break
 in the whole development of the human  
being at this age1 and it may very well 
be paralleled by a break in methods and 
subjects of instruction4 ,in ,great     

,britain1 in the case of the wealthier  
classes1 schooling and puerile          
discipline is prolonged altogether too  
far1 largely through the gross          
incapacity of our secondary teachers4   
,these men are unable1 boring away day  
after day1 week after week1 year after  
year1 with vain repetitions1 imbecile   
breaks and new beginnings1 through all  
the vast period from eleven or twelve   
until twenty1 to achieve that mastery of
 ,latin and ,greek which was once the   
necessary preliminary to education1 and 
which has become at last1 through the   
secular decline in scholastic energy and
 capacity due to the withdrawal of      
interest in these studies1 the          
unattainable educational ideal4 ,these  
classical pedagogues1 however1 carry the
 thing up to three or four and twenty in
 the ,universities--though it is        
inconceivable that any language spoken  
since the antediluvian age of leisure1  
can need more than ten years to         
learn--and if they could keep the men   

until forty or fifty they would still be
 fumbling away at the keys to the room  
that was ransacked long ago4 ,but with  
educated men as teachers and practical  
handbooks to help1 and practical        
examiners to guide them1 there is no    
reason whatever why the great mass of   
the linguistic training of the citizen1 
in the use of his own and any other     
necessary language1 should not be done  
for good and all by fourteen1 why he    
should not have a fairly complete       
mastery of form and quantity through    
mathematical training and drawing1 and  
why the way should not be clear and     
immediate for the development of that   
adult mental edifice of which this is   
the foundation4  ,by fourteen the power 
of abstract reasoning and of an         
analytical treatment of things is in    
existence1 the learner is now less to be
 moulded and more to be guided than he  
was4 ,we want now to give this mind we  
have established1 the most stimulating  
and invigorating training we can1 we    

want to give it a sane coherent view of 
our knowledge of the universe in        
relation to itself1 and we want to equip
 it for its own special work in the     
world4 ,how1 on the basis of the        
,schooling we have predicated1 are these
 ends to be attained8  ,now let us first
 have it perfectly clear that this      
second stage in development lies no more
 completely within the idea of ,college 
than the former lay completely within   
the idea of ,school4 ,in the general    
discussion of these things we are       
constantly faced by the parallel error  
to that we have tried to dissipate in   
regard to schools1 the error that the   
,professor and his ,lecture and 7in the 
case of experimental sciences7 his      
,laboratory make1 or can make1 the man1 
just precisely in the same way that the 
,schoolmaster or ,schoolmistress is     
supposed to be omnipotent in the        
education of the boy or girl4 ,and1     
unhappily1 the ,professor1 unless he is 
a man of quite exceptional mental power 

for a ,professor1 shares this groundless
 opinion4 ,the ,schoolmaster is         
under-educated in regard to his work1   
and incapable of doing it neatly2 the   
,professor is too often over-specialized
 and incapable of forming an            
intelligent1 modest idea of his place in
 education2 and the same consequence    
flows from the defect of either1 an     
attempt to use an improperly large      
portion of the learner's time and       
energy4 ,over-direction1 and what one   
may call intellectual sectarianism1 are 
faults from which few ,college courses  
are free to-day4 ,the ,professor stands 
between his students and books1 he says 
in lectures in his own way what had far 
better be left for other men's books to 
tell1 he teaches his beliefs without a  
court of appeal4 ,students are kept     
writing up their notes of his not very  
brilliant impromptus1 and familiarizing 
themselves with his mental constitution 
instead of the subject of study4 ,they  
get no training in the use of books as  

sources of knowledge and ideas1 albeit  
such a training is one of the most      
necessary of all acquisitions for an    
efficient citizen1 and whatever         
discussion the modern student indulges  
in is all too often treated rather as   
presumption to be discouraged than as   
the most necessary and hopeful of mental
 processes4 ,our ,universities and      
,colleges are still but imperfectly     
aware of the recent invention of the    
,printed ,book2 and its intelligent use 
in this stage of education has made     
little or no headway against their      
venerable traditions4 ,that things are  
only understood by being turned over in 
the mind and looked at from various     
points of view is1 of course1 altogether
 too modern a conception for our        
educationists4 ,at the ,london ,royal   
,college of ,science1 for example1 which
 is an exceptionally new and efficient  
,college1 there is no properly organized
 escape from the orthodoxy of the       
lecture-theatre1 no circulating library 

whatever available to the students1 no  
library1 that is1 which will ensure a   
copious supply and exchange of the best 
books on each subject1 and1             
consequently1 even to look up an        
original paper that has been quoted or  
discussed1 involves an expenditure of   
time that is practically prohibitive of 
the thing as a general practice4        
,footnote3 ,there are three very fine   
libraries in the adjacent ,south        
,kensington ,museum1 especially         
available to students1 but1 like almost 
all existing libraries1 they are managed
 in most respects on lines conceived    
when a copy of a book was an almost     
unique thing made specially by the      
copyist's hand4 ,however much a book is 
in demand1 however cheap its price of   
publication may be1 no library in       
,england1 unless it is a modern         
subscription library1 ever gets         
duplicate copies4 ,this is the cause of 
the dearness of serious books2 they are 
bought as rarities1 and have to be sold 

in the same spirit4 ,but when libraries 
learn to buy by the dozen and the       
hundred1 there is no reason why the sort
 of book now published at #ajs4 #f;d4   
should not be sold at a shilling from   
the beginning4 ,the ,professors1 being  
busy and important men1 lecture from    
their particular standpoints1 and having
 lectured1 bolt2 there is no provision  
whatever for the intelligent discussion 
of knotty points1 and the only way to   
get it is to buttonhole a demonstrator  
and induce him to neglect his task of   
supervising prescribed 8practical0 work 
in favour of educational talk4 ,let us1 
therefore1 in view of this state of     
affairs1 deal with the general question 
how a branch of thought and knowledge   
may be most beneficially studied under  
modern conditions1 before discussing the
 more particular question what subjects 
should or should not be undertaken4     
,now the full statement not only of what
 is known of a subject1 but of its      
difficulties1 dark places1 and          

conflicting aspects should be luminously
 set forth in the ,college text-books1  
large1 well-written1 well-illustrated   
books by one or several hands1          
continually revised and kept abreast of 
the advance of knowledge by capable and 
critical-minded young men4 ,such books  
are essential and cardinal in proper    
modern teaching4 ,the country may be    
speckled with universities until they   
are as thick as public-houses1 and each 
may be provided with its score or so of 
little lecturers1 and if it does not    
possess one or more good general        
text-books in each principal subject    
then all this simply means that a great 
number of inadequate1 infertile little  
text-books are being dictated1 one by   
each of these lecturers4 ,not the course
 of lectures1 but the sound1 full       
text-book should be the basis of        
,college instruction1 and this should be
 supplemented by a greater or lesser    
number of more or less controversial    
pamphlets or books1 criticising1        

expanding or correcting its matter or   
putting things in a different and       
profitable way4 ,this text-book should  
be paralleled in the case of            
experimental science by a hand-book of  
illustrative and explanatory laboratory 
work4 ,portions of the book could be set
 for preparation at each stage in the   
course with appropriate experiments1    
students could submit difficulties in   
writing to be dealt with by the         
,professor in conversational lectures1  
and the reading of the students could be
 checked by periodic examinations upon  
cardinal parts1 and supplemented1 if    
these examinations showed it to be      
necessary1 by dissertations upon special
 issues of difficulty4 ,upon the matters
 that were distinctively his 8subject10 
or upon his points of disagreement with 
the general issues of the book1 the     
,professor might lecture in the accepted
 way4 ,this is surely the proper method 
of work for adolescent students in any  
subject1 in philology just as much as in

 comparative anatomy1 and in history    
just as much as in economics4 ,the      
cheapening of printing1 paper1 and1     
above all1 of illustration has done away
 with the last excuse for the vocal     
course of instruction and the lecturer's
 diagrams4 ,but it has not done away    
with them4  ,it is one of the most      
curious of human phenomena1 this        
persistence of tradition against what   
one might have imagined the most        
destructive facts1 and in no connection 
is this aspect more remarkable than in  
all that concerns the higher stages of  
education4 ,one might think that        
somewhere in the seventeenth century it 
would have been recognized at the ,seats
 of ,learning that thought and knowledge
 were progressive things1 and that a    
periodic revision of courses and        
syllabuses1 a periodic recasting of work
 and scope1 a re-arrangement of chairs  
and of the appliances of the faculties1 
was as necessary to the continued       
healthy existence of a ,university as   

periodic meals and sleep and exercise   
are necessary to a man4 ,but even today 
we are founding ,universities without   
any provision for this necessary change1
 and the chances are that in a century  
or so they will present just as much    
backwardness and illiteracy as do the   
ordinary graduation organizations of    
,oxford and ,cambridge today1 that a    
hundred years from now the past         
graduates of ripe old ,birmingham1 full 
of spite against newfangled things 8no  
fellow can understand10 will be crowding
 up to vote against the substitution of 
some more modern subject for            
8,huxley0--8,huxley0  they will call the
 subject1 and not ,comparative ,anatomy1
 on the model of 8,euclid0--or for the  
retention of compulsory 8,commercial    
,geography of the ,nineteenth ,century10
 or 8,longhand ,bookkeeping0 in the     
,little ,go4 7,and should any           
germinating noble founder read these    
pages ,i would implore him with all the 
earnestness that is possible in printed 

matter1 to provide that every fifty     
years1 let us say1 the whole of his     
prospective foundation shall go into    
solution1 shall re-apportion its funds  
and reorganize the entire mechanism of  
its work47  ,the idea that a text-book  
should be regularly reset and reprinted 
is still quite foreign to the           
,professorial mind1 as1 indeed1 is the  
idea that the care of text-books and    
publications is a ,university function  
at all4 ,no one is startled by a        
proposal to apply #hjj or #ajjj a year  
to a new chair in any subject1 but to   
apply that sum yearly as a standing     
charge to the revision and perfection of
 a specific text-book would seem1 even  
today1 quite fantastically extravagant  
to most ,university men4 ,yet what could
 be more obviously helpful to sound and 
thorough teaching than for a            
,university1 or a group of              
,universities1 to sustain a ,professor  
in each of the chief subjects of        
instruction1 whose business would be    

neither teaching as it is now           
understood1 nor research1 but the       
critical and exhaustive editing of the  
,college textbook of his subject1 a     
text-book which would stand in type at  
the ,university ,press1 which would be  
revised annually and reprinted annually1
 primarily for the use of the           
matriculated students of the ,university
 and incidentally for publication4 ,his 
business would be not only to bring the 
work up to date and parallel with all   
the newest published research and to    
invite and consider proposals of        
contributions and footnotes from men    
with new views and new matter1 but also 
to substitute for obscure passages      
fuller and more lucid expositions1 to   
cut down or relegate to smaller type    
passages of diminishing importance and  
to introduce fresh and more efficient   
illustrations1 and his work would be    
carried on in consultation with the     
,general ,editor of the ,university     
,press who would also be a specialist in

 modern printing and book-making1 and   
who would be constantly taking up1      
trying1 and adopting fresh devices of   
arrangement1 and newer1 better1 and     
cheaper methods of printing and         
illustration4 ,it would not merely raise
 the general efficiency of the ,college 
work of adolescents very greatly to have
 this series of textbooks living and    
growing in each subject at one or       
7better7 at several ,universities or    
grouped ,universities1 but in each      
subject the periodic change in these    
books would afford a most valuable      
corrective to the influence of          
specialized work by keeping the         
specialist worker easily in touch with  
the current presentation of his science 
as a whole4  ,the text-book1 however    
good1 and the lecturer1 however able1   
are only one of two necessary factors in
 ,college work1 the reciprocal element  
is the students' activity4 ,unless the  
students are actively engaged not simply
 in taking in what they are told1 but in

 rearranging it1 turning it over1 trying
 and testing it1 they are doing little  
good4 ,we recognize this quite          
abundantly in the laboratory nowadays1  
but we neglect it enormously in the more
 theoretical study of a subject4 ,the   
facts of a subject if it is a science   
may be got at in the most thorough way  
by handling in the laboratory1 but the  
ideas of a subject must be handled in   
discussion1 reproduction and dispute4   
,examinations1 examinations by teachers 
who understand this very fine art1 in   
which the student is obliged to restate1
 apply1 and use the principles of his   
subject1 are of the utmost value in     
keeping the mind active and not simply  
receptive4 ,they are just as good and as
 vitally necessary as examination papers
 which merely demand definitions and    
lists and bald facts are bad4 ,and then 
there might be discussions--if the      
,professor were clever enough to conduct
 them4 ,if the students of a class could
 be induced to submit propositions for  

discussion1 from which a topic could be 
selected1 and could then be made to     
prepare for a disputation to which all  
would have to contribute1 with the      
,professor as a controlling influence in
 the chair to check facts and logic and 
to conclude1 it would have the value of 
a dozen lectures4 ,but ,professors who  
are under the burthen of perhaps ninety 
or a hundred lectures a year cannot be  
expected to do anything of this sort4   
,directed reading1 conferences on knotty
 points1 special lectures followed by   
the questioning of the lecturer1        
discussions upon matters of opinion1    
laboratory work when needful1 fairly    
frequent test examinations1 and a final 
examination for places1 are the proper  
ingredients of a good modern ,college   
course1 and in the necessity of leaving 
the ,professor's energies free for the  
direction of all this really educational
 work1 lies another reason for that     
complete1 explicit1 well-arranged       
text-book upon which ,i am insisting4   

,coming back now from these general     
propositions about books and teaching to
 our mass of young people about fifteen 
years old1 our adolescent nation1 who   
have accomplished their ,schooling and  
are ready for the ,college phase1 we    
have to consider what subjects they are 
to be taught1 and how far they are to go
 with these subjects4 ,whether they are 
to give all or part of their time to    
these ,college studies1 whether they are
 going to pursue them in evening classes
 or before breakfast in the morning or  
during the livelong day is a question of
 secondary conveniences that may very   
well be disregarded here4 ,we are       
concerned with the general architecture 
now1 and not with the tactical          
necessities of the clerk of the works4  
,footnote3 ,but ,i may perhaps point out
 here how integral to a sane man-making 
scheme is the raising of the minimum age
 at which children may work4 ,a day will
 come1 ,i hope1 when even the partial   
employment of children under fifteen    

will be prohibited1 and when1 as ,mr4   
,sidney ,webb suggested some time ago1  
employment up to the age of twenty-one  
will be limited to so few hours a       
week--his suggestion was thirty--as to  
leave a broad margin for the more or    
less compulsory college work and        
physical training that are becoming     
essential to the modern citizen4  ,we   
need waste little time nowadays1 ,i     
submit1 in disposing of ,encyclopaedic  
conceptions of ,college ,education1     
conceptions that played a part in almost
 all educational schemes--,bentham's    
stupendous ,chrestomathia is the fearful
 example--before the middle nineteenth  
century4 ,we are all agreed in theory1  
at any rate1 that to know one subject or
 group of subjects exhaustively is far  
better than a universal smattering1 that
 the ideal of education is more         
particularly 8all about something0 with 
8something about everything0 in a very  
subordinate place4 ,the fact remains    
that the normal curriculum of our higher

 schools and colleges is a pointless    
non-educational miscellany1 and the     
average graduate in ,arts knows         
something1 but not enough1 of science1  
mathematics1 ,latin1 ,greek1 literature1
 and history2 he has paid tribute to    
several conflicting schemes of          
education1 and is a credit to none4 ,we 
have to get rid of this state of        
affairs1 and we have to provide 7i7 a   
substantial mental training which shall 
lead at last to a broad and             
comprehensive view of things1 and which 
shall be a training in generalization1  
abstraction1 and the examination of     
evidence1 stimulating and disciplining  
the imagination and developing the habit
 of patient1 sustained1 enterprising and
 thorough work1 and 7ii7 we have to add 
a general culture1 a circle of ideas    
about moral1 aesthetic1 and social      
matters that shall form a common basis  
for the social and intellectual life of 
the community4 ,the former of these two 
elements must at some stage             

develop--after two or five or seven or  
some such period of years1 which may be 
different in different cases--into the  
special training for the definite       
function of the individual in the social
 body1 whether as engineer1 business    
manager1 doctor1 priest1 journalist1    
public administrator1 professional      
soldier1 or what not4 ,and before we ask
 what must constitute 7i7 it may be well
 to define the relation between the     
first and the second section of the     
,college stage of education4  ,it is 7i7
 that will constitute the essential work
 of the ,college1 which will be the     
especial concern of the ,professorial   
staff1 which will 8count0 in            
examinations1 and ,i conceive it as     
occupying typically four full working   
days in the week1 four good1            
hard-driving days1 and no more1 of the  
students' time4 ,the remaining three1 so
 far as they are not engaged by physical
 exercise1 military training1 and mere  
amusement1 must be given to 7ii71 which 

,i imagine an altogether more general1  
discursive1 various1 and spontaneous    
series of activities4 ,to put the thing 
briefly1 with the use of a convenient   
slang word 7i71 is 8grind10  and 7ii7 is
 general culture1 elements that are     
altogether too greatly confused in      
adolescent education4 ,a large number of
 people will consider it right and      
proper that 7ii7 on the seventh day of  
the week should become devotional       
exercise or religious thought and       
discussion4 ,i would submit that under  
7ii7 there should be formally recognized
 certain extremely valuable educational 
influences that are at present too often
 regarded as irregular or improper      
invasions of school and college work1   
the collegiate debating society1 for    
example1 private reading1 experimental  
science outside the curriculum1 and     
essays in various arts4 ,it should be   
possible to provide a certain definite  
number of hours weekly in which the     
student should be required merely to    

show that he was doing something of a   
developmental kind1 he would have his   
choice between the ,library--every      
,college ought to have a good and not   
too priggishly conceived ,library1 in   
which he might either read or write--or 
the music master1 the debating society1 
the museum1 the art studio1 the dramatic
 society1 or any concern of the sort    
that the ,college authorities had       
satisfactory reason for supposing to be 
alive and efficient4 ,in addition 7ii7  
should include certain minor but        
necessary studies not included in 7i71  
but pursued for all that with a certain 
insistence1 taught or directed1 and     
controlled perhaps by examinations4 ,if1
 for example1 the acquisition of a      
foreign language was a part of the      
preliminary schooling1 it could be kept 
alive by a more fastidious study in the 
higher grade4 ,for the making of the    
good1 all-round1 average citizen 7i7    
will be the essential educational       
factor1 but for the boy or girl with a  

dash of genius 7ii7 will rise from the  
level of culture to that of a great     
opportunity4  ,what subject or group of 
subjects is to constitute 7i78 ,there   
are at least three1 and quite probably  
beyond the very limited range of my     
knowledge there are other1 arrangements 
of studies that can be contrived to     
supply this essential substantial part  
of the ,college course4 ,each suffices  
completely1 and ,i would hesitate to    
express any preference for one or the   
other4 ,each has its special direction  
towards certain sorts of adult function1
 and for that reason it may be suggested
 that the secondary education of an     
,english-speaking country might very    
well afford all three 7or more7 types of
 secondary course4 ,the small schools   
might specialize upon the type locally  
most desirable1 the larger might group  
its triplicate 7or quadruplicate7 system
 of sustained and serious courses about 
a common ,library and the common        
arrangements for ,section ii4 of the    

,college scheme4  ,the first of these   
possible ,college courses1 and the one  
most likely to be useful and fruitful   
for the mass of the male population in a
 modern community1 is an expansion of   
the ,physics of the ,schooling stage4   
,it may be very conveniently spoken of  
as the ,natural ,philosophy1 course4    
,its backbone will be an interlocking   
arrangement of ,mathematics1 ,physics1  
and the principles of ,chemistry1 and it
 will take up as illustrative and       
mind-expanding exercises1 ,astronomy1   
,geography1 and ,geology conceived as a 
general history of the ,earth4 ,holding 
the whole together will be the theory of
 the ,conservation of ,energy in its    
countless aspects and a speculative     
discussion of the constitution of       
matter4 ,a certain minimum of           
,historical and ,political reading and  
of general 8,library0 would be insisted 
upon in ,section ii4 ,this could be made
 a quite noble and spacious course of   
instruction extending over from three to

 five years1 from fourteen or fifteen up
 to eighteen or twenty-one 7or even     
longer in the case of those partially   
employed72 its less successful products 
would drop out--it might be before      
completion--to take up the work of more 
or less skilled artisans and technical  
workers1 and its more successful ones   
would pass some of them into the        
technical colleges for special          
industries with a view to business      
direction1 into special study for the   
engineering trades1 for the profession  
of soldiering1 ,footnote3 ,i may perhaps
 explain that my conception of military 
organization is a universal service of  
citizens--non-professional soldiers--who
 will be trained--possibly in boyhood   
and youth1 to shoot very well indeed1 to
 ride either horses or bicycles1 and to 
take up positions and move quickly and  
easily in organized bodies1 and1 in     
addition1 a special graduated profession
 of soldiers who will be in their       
various ranks engineers1 gunners1       

special-force men of various sorts1 and1
 in the higher ranks1 masters of all the
 organization and methods necessary for 
the rapid and effective utilization of  
the non-professional manhood of the     
country1 of volunteers1 militia1 or     
short-service enlistment levies1 drawn  
from this general supply1 and of all the
 machinery of communication1            
provisioning1 and so forth4 ,they will  
not be necessarily the 8social          
superiors0 of their commands1 but they  
will naturally exercise the same        
authoritative command in warfare that a 
doctor does in a sick-room4 or for the  
naval and mercantile services1 or into  
research and the literature of science4 
,some also would pass on to study for   
the profession of medicine through more 
special work in ,chemistry and          
,physiology1 and some with a proclivity 
for drawing and design would become     
architects1 designers of appliances1 and
 the like4 ,the idea of the ordinary    
development of this course is not so    

very remote from what already exists in 
,great ,britain as the ,organized       
,science ,school1 but1 as with all these
 courses1 it would be done in varying   
degrees of thoroughness and extension   
under varying conditions4 ,this is the  
first of my three alternative ,college  
courses4  ,the second course will       
probably seem less acceptable to many   
readers1 but all who are qualified to   
speak will testify to its enormous      
educational value4 ,it is what one may  
speak of as the ,biological ,course4    
,just as the conception of ,energy will 
be the central idea of the ,natural     
,philosophy course1 so the conception of
 ,organic ,evolution will be the central
 idea of the ,biological ,course4 ,a    
general review of the whole field of    
,biology--not only of the ,natural      
,history of the present but of the      
geological record--in relation to the   
known laws and the various main theories
 of the evolutionary process will be    
taken1 and in addition some special     

department1 either the ,comparative     
,anatomy of the ,vertebrata chiefly1 or 
of the plants chiefly1 or of several    
,invertebrated groups chiefly1 will be  
exhaustively worked out in relation to  
these speculations4 ,the first of these 
alternatives is not only probably the   
most invigorating mental exercise of the
 three but bears also more directly upon
 the practical concerns of life4        
,physiology will be taken up in relation
 to this special exhaustive study1 and  
the 8,elementary ,physics of the        
,schooling0 stage will be prolonged up  
into a treatment of ,chemistry with     
especial reference to biological        
problems4 ,through such a course as this
 students might pass to the study of    
medicine just as well as through        
,natural ,philosophy1 and the medical   
profession would profit by the clash of 
the two types of student4 ,the          
biological course1 with its insistence  
upon heredity and physiological facts1  
would also give the very best and       

gravest preparation in the world for the
 practical concerns of motherhood4 ,from
 it students would pass on illuminated  
to the study of psychology1             
philosophical science1 and educational  
method4 ,the training in the discussion 
of broad generalization1 and much of the
 fact involved1 would be a most         
excellent preliminary to special        
theological study and also to the       
advanced study of economics and         
political science4 ,from this course    
also artists of various sorts would     
escape through the avenue of ,section   
ii4 which1 by the by1 would have to     
involve ,historical ,reading4 ,so much  
for my second suggested ,college course4
  ,the third of these three alternative 
courses is the ,history course1 done    
extensively in relation to general      
geography1 economic theory1 and the     
general evolution of the world1 and     
intensively in relation to ,british or  
,american history1 and perhaps to some  
particular period4 ,out of it would     

spring a thorough study of the          
development of ,english literature and  
also of the legal systems of the        
,english-speaking peoples4 ,this course 
also would be a way of approach to      
philosophical science1 to theology1 to  
the thorough study of economic and      
political science1 and possibly it would
 contribute a larger proportion of its  
students to imaginative literature than 
either of the two preceding courses4 ,it
 would also be the natural preliminary  
course to the special study of law and  
so a source of politicians4 ,in the     
,section ii4 of this course a light but 
lucid treatment of the great            
generalizations of physical and         
biological science would be desirable4  
,and from this course also the artist   
would break away4  ,conceivably there   
are other courses4 ,the course in       
,mathematics as one sees it given to the
 ,cambridge ,tripos men1 and what is    
called the ,classical course1 will occur
 to the reader4 ,few people1 however1   

are to be found who will defend the     
exclusively mathematical 8grind0 as a   
sound intellectual training1 and so it  
need not be discussed here4 ,the case1  
however1 is different with the classical
 course4 ,it is alleged by those who    
have had the experience that to learn   
,latin and ,greek more or less          
thoroughly and then to stumble through  
one or two ,latin and ,greek authors 8in
 the original0 has an educational value 
surpassing any conceivable alternative4 
,there is a mysterious benefit from     
one's private translation however bad   
that no other translation however good  
can impart4 ,plato1 for example1 who has
 certainly in the very best             
translations1 quite perceptibly no      
greater mind than ,lord ,bacon1 ,newton1
 ,darwin1 or ,adam ,smith1 becomes      
god-like to all who pass beyond the     
,little-,go4 ,the controversy is as old 
as the ,battle of the ,books1 a quite   
interminable wrangle1 which ,i will not 
even attempt to summarize here4 ,for my 

own part ,i believe all this defence of 
the classics on the part of men with    
classical education is but one more     
example of that human weakness that     
splashes ,oxford metaphysical writings  
with needless tags and shreds of ,greek 
and set ,demetrius the silversmith      
bawling in the streets4 ,if the reader  
is of another opinion there is no need  
to convert him in this present argument1
 provided only that he will admit the   
uselessness of his high mystery for the 
training of the larger mass of modern   
men4 ,by his standards they are beneath 
it4 ,a convention upon this issue       
between the two parties therefore is    
attainable4 ,let us admit the classical 
course for the parents who like and can 
afford this sort of thing for their sons
 and daughters4 ,let us withdraw all    
objections to its endowment1 unless it  
is quite excessive endowment4 ,let the  
classical be the senior service1 and the
 classical professor1 to use his own    
queer way of putting things1 primus     

inter pares4 ,that will make four       
courses altogether1 the ,classical1 the 
,historical1 the ,biological1 and the   
,physical1 for one or more of which all 
the secondary schools and colleges in   
that great ,english-speaking community  
at which the ,new ,republic aims should 
be organized4 ,footnote3 ,one may1      
however1 suggest one other course as    
possible under special conditions4      
,there is one sort of art that requires 
not only a very rigorous and exhaustive 
training1 but also an early             
commencement1 and that is music1 at once
 the most isolated and the most         
universal of arts4 ,exceptional gifts in
 the direction of music will have       
appeared in the schooling stage1 and it 
is quite conceivable that the college   
phase for those who are destined for a  
musical career should have as its       
backbone a 8grind0 in the theory and    
practice of music1 with languages and   
general culture relegated to a ,section 
ii4  ,it may be objected that this is an

 idealized proposal1 and that existing  
conditions1 which are1 of course1 the   
material out of which new conditions are
 to be made do not present anything like
 this form4 ,as a matter of fact1 if    
only the reader will allow for a certain
 difference in terminology1 they do4    
,what ,i have here called ,schooling is1
 so far as the age of the pupils go1    
typically presented in ,great ,britain  
by what is called the elementary school1
 and in ,america by the public school1  
and certain schools that unanalytical   
people in ,england1 mistaking a social  
for an educational difference1 seem     
disposed to class with secondary        
schools1 the inferior ,grammar ,schools1
 the cheaper private schools1 and what  
are called ,preparatory ,schools1       
,footnote3 ,as things are1 there is no  
doubt a considerable advantage in the   
child from a good home going on to a    
good preparatory school instead of      
entering a public elementary school1 and
 the passage above must not be misread  

as a sweeping condemnation of such      
establishments4 are really also         
elementary schools4 ,the latter have    
more social pretension and sometimes far
 less efficiency than a ,government     
,elementary ,school1 but that is all the
 difference4 ,all these schools admit of
 a gradual approximation to the ideal of
 schooling already set forth in the     
sixth of these papers4 ,some are already
 within a measureable distance of that  
ideal4 ,and above these elementary      
schools1 above the ,school grade proper1
 and answering to what is here called   
,college1 there is a great variety of   
day and evening schools of the most     
varied description which agree all of   
them in the presentation of a second    
phase in the educational process        
beginning about the age of thirteen to  
sixteen and going on to nineteen and    
twenty4 ,in ,great ,britain such        
institutions are sometimes called       
secondary schools and sometimes         
colleges1 and they have no distinct     

boundary line to separate them from the 
,university proper1 on the one hand1 or 
the organized ,science ,schools and the 
,higher ,grade ,board ,schools and      
evening classes of the poorer sort4 ,the
 ,universities and medical schools are1 
indeed1 hampered with work quite similar
 to that of secondary schools and which 
the secondary schools have failed to do1
 the ,cambridge undergraduate before his
 ,little-,go1 the ,london ,university   
medical student before his ,preliminary 
,scientific ,examination1 are simply    
doing the belated work of this second   
stage4 ,and there is1 ,i doubt not1 a   
similar vague complexity in ,america4   
,but through the fog something very like
 the boundary line here placed about    
fourteen is again and again made out2   
not only the general requirements for   
efficient education1 but the trend of   
present tendency seems to be towards a  
scheme of three stages in which a first 
stage of nine or ten years of           
increasingly serious ,schooling         

7,primary ,education71 from a very light
 beginning about five up to about       
fourteen1 is to be followed by a second 
stage of ,college education 7,secondary 
,education71 from fourteen or sixteen to
 an upward boundary determined by class 
and various facilities1 and this is to  
be succeeded by a third stage1 which we 
will now proceed to consider in detail4 
,let us make it clear at once that this 
third stage is a much ampler thing than 
the graduation or post graduation work  
of a university4 ,it may or it may not  
include that as an ingredient4 ,but the 
intention is to express all those       
agencies 7other than political1 social1 
and economic forces1 and the suggestions
 that arise from them71 that go to      
increase and build up the mental        
structure of the man or woman4 ,this    
includes the pulpit1 so far as it is    
still a vehicle for the importation of  
ideas and emotions1 the stage1 books    
that do anything more than pass the     
time1 newspapers1 the ,grove and the    

,agora4 ,these all1 in greater or lesser
 degrees1 work powerfully together to   
make the citizen4 ,they work most       
powerfully1 of course1 in those plastic 
unsettled years that last from          
adolescence to the middle twenties1 but 
often in very slowly diminishing        
intensity right into the closing decades
 of middle age4 ,however things may have
 been in the quieter past when          
newspapers did not exist1 when creeds   
were rigid1 plays mere spectacles to be 
seen only 8in ,town10 and books rare1   
the fact remains that to-day everybody  
goes much further and learns far more   
than any of the professedly educational 
agencies can be held accountable for4   
,there was a time1 perhaps1 when a man  
really did 8settle down0 intellectually1
 at the end of his days of learning1    
when the only way--outside the libraries
 and households of a few princely       
personages--to go on thinking and to    
participate in the secular development  
of ideas1 was to go to a ,university and

 hear and dispute4 ,but those days have 
gone for a hundred years at least4 ,they
 have gone by1 and the strange thing is 
that a very large proportion of those   
who write and talk about education have 
not discovered they have gone by1 and   
still think and talk of ,universities as
 though they were the only sources and  
repositories of wisdom4 ,they conjure up
 a vision in my mind of an absent-minded
 water-seller1 bearing his precious jars
 and crying his wares knee-deep1 and    
going deeper into a rising stream4 ,or  
if that does not seem just to the       
,university in the past1 an image of a  
gardener1 who long ago developed a novel
 variety of some great flower which has 
now scattered its wind-borne seed       
everywhere1 but who still proffers you  
for sale in a confidential1             
condescending manner a very little1 very
 dear packet of that universal          
commodity4 ,until the advent of ,mr4    
,ewart 7with his ,public ,libraries'    
,act71 ,mr4 ,passmore ,edwards1 and ,mr4

 ,andrew ,carnegie1 the stream of       
endowment for research and teaching     
flowed just as exclusively to the       
,universities as it did in ,tudor times4
  ,let us deal1 then1 first with the    
finally less important and more formal  
portion of the third stage in the       
educational process2 that is to say1    
with the ,university ,course4 ,one may  
conceive that so far as positive        
teaching and learning go1 a considerable
 proportion of the population will never
 pass beyond the second stage at all4   
,they will fail to keep up in the course
 of that stage1 or they will branch off 
into the special development of some    
special aptitude4 ,the failures will    
gravitate into positions a little better
 perhaps1 but analogous to those taken  
up by the failures of the ,schooling    
phase4 ,the common clerks and common    
shop-hands1 for example1 would come out 
here4 ,the others1 who fall out without 
completing their ,college course1 but   
who may not be ,college failures at all1

 will be all sorts of artists and       
specializing persons of that type4 ,a   
great many girls1 for economic and other
 reasons1 will probably never get beyond
 the ,college stage4 ,they will pass    
from the ,biological and ,historical    
courses into employment1 or marry1 or   
enter domestic life4 ,but what may      
finally become a much larger proportion 
of ,new ,republican citizens will either
 from the beginning1 taking the ,college
 course in the evening1 or after a year 
or so of full attendance at the ,college
 course1 start also upon the third-grade
 work1 the preparation for the upper    
ranks of some technical and commercial  
employment1 for the systematic and      
liberal instruction that will replace   
the old rule-of-thumb apprenticeship4   
,one can imagine a great variety of     
methods of combining the apprenticeship 
phase of serious occupation with the    
,college course4 ,many waking up to the 
demands of life may do better for       
themselves with a desperately clutched  

,college course of evening classes than 
others who will have progressed         
comfortably in day ,colleges4 ,there    
should be opportunity by means of       
scholarship openings for such cases of a
 late awakening to struggle back into   
the higher education4 ,there may be     
every gradation from such students to   
those who will go completely and        
exhaustively through the ,college and   
who will then go on at one and twenty or
 two and twenty to equally complete and 
exhaustive work in the third grade4 ,one
 imagines the third grade in its        
completeness as a most varied choice of 
thorough studies carried on for three or
 four years after eighteen or           
twenty-one1 special schools of medicine1
 law1 engineering1 psychology1 and      
educational science1 economics and      
political science1 economics and        
commercial science1 philosophy and      
theology1 and physical science4 ,quite  
apart from the obvious personal         
limitation1 the discussion of the method

 of dealing specifically with each of   
these subjects would be too diversified 
and special a theme to occupy me now4   
,the larger fact to which attention has 
to be given is this3 that all these     
studies and all the technical study and 
such like preparation at lower levels of
 the third stage must be as it were     
floating in a common body of ,thought1  
which is the unifying principle1 the    
common initiative1 the real common life 
of the truly civilized state1 and that  
this body of ,thought is no longer to be
 contained within the form of a         
,university4 ,it is the larger of the   
two things4 ,and the last question1     
therefore1 in these speculations is the 
general organization of that body of    
,thought1 that is to say of contemporary
 literature1 using the word in its      
widest sense to cover all that is good  
in journalism1 all untechnical          
speculative1 philosophical writing1 all 
that is true and new in the drama1 in   
poetry1 fiction or any other distinctly 

literary form1 and all scientific       
publication that is not purely a matter 
of recording or technical working out1  
all scientific publication that is1 that
 deals with general ideas4  ,there was a
 time when the higher education was     
conceived of as entirely a matter of    
learning4 ,to endow chairs and teachers1
 and to enable promising scholars to    
come and hear the latter was the        
complete organization of the higher     
education4 ,it is within quite recent   
years that the conception of endowing   
research for its own sake1 leaving the  
,research ,professor free altogether    
from direct teaching or with only a few 
good pupils whose work consisted chiefly
 in assimilating his ideas and helping  
with his researches1 has become at all  
widely acceptable4 ,indirectly1 of      
course1 the ,research ,professor is just
 as much a teacher as the ,teaching     
,professor1 because his results become  
accessible as he writes them4 ,our work 
now is to broaden both the conception of

 research and of teaching1 to recognize 
that whatever imports fresh and valid   
ideas1 fresh and valid aspects--not     
simply of chemical and physical matters1
 but of aesthetic1 social1 and political
 matters1 partakes of the honour and    
claims of research--and that whatever   
conveys ideas and aspects vividly and   
clearly and invigoratingly1 not simply  
by word of mouth but by book or picture 
or article1 is teaching4 ,the           
publication of books1 the whole business
 of bringing the contemporary book most 
efficiently home to the general reader1 
the business of contemporary criticism1 
the encouragement and support of        
contemporary writers1 is just as vitally
 important in the modern state as the   
organisation of ,colleges and ,schools1 
and just as little to be left to the    
enterprise of isolated individuals      
working primarily upon commercial lines 
for gain4  ,there are two aspects of    
this question4 ,there is the simpler one
 of getting an abundance of good books1 

classical and contemporary1 and of good 
publications distributed everywhere     
through the ,english-speaking world1 and
 there is the more subtle and complex   
problem of getting1 stimulating1 and    
sustaining the original writers and the 
original critics and investigators upon 
whom the general development of         
contemporary thought1 upon whom indeed  
the progress of the world finally       
depends4 ,the latter problem may be     
reserved for the next paper1 and here we
 will deal simply with the question of  
access and distribution4  ,for the      
present we must assume the quality of   
the books2 all that sort of question    
must be deferred for our final          
discussion4 ,we will simply speak of    
good books1 serious books1 on the one   
hand1 and of light and merely amusing   
books on the other1 in an intentionally 
vague way4 ,the former sort of books is 
our present concern2 pleasure as an end1
 pleasure except as necessary           
recuperation1 is no affair for the      

state4  ,books are either bought or     
borrowed for reading1 and we have to    
consider what can be done to secure the 
utmost efficiency in the announcement1  
lending and selling of books4 ,we have  
also to consider the best possible means
 of distributing periodicals4 ,we have  
particularly to consider how books      
specifically 8good10 or 8thorough10 or  
8serious10 and periodicals that are     
8sound0 and 8stimulating0 are to be made
 as widely and invitingly accessible as 
possible4 ,the machinery we have in hand
 are the booksellers and the            
newsvendors1 the circulating libraries1 
the post-office1 and the free public    
libraries that are now being            
energetically spread throughout the land
 by men who1 in this aspect1 answer very
 closely to the conception of ,new      
,republicans as it is here unfolded1 and
 to bring and keep all this machinery to
 the very highest level of efficiency is
 integral to the ,new ,republican scheme
 of activity4  ,it may be objected that 

the organization of bookselling and     
publishing is the discussion of trivial 
details in the intellectual life of a   
people1 but indeed that is not so4 ,it  
is a constant trouble1 a perpetual drain
 upon the time and energy of every man  
who participates in that life1 to get   
the books that are necessary to the     
development of his thoughts4 ,the high  
price of books1 burthensome as it is1 is
 the lesser evil1 the great trouble is  
the trouble of access4 ,there are a     
great number of people now who read     
nothing at all1 or only promiscuous     
fiction1 who would certainly become real
 readers were books of any other sort   
attractively available4 ,these things   
are not trivial4 ,the question of book  
distribution is as vitally important to 
the intellectual health of a modern     
people as are open windows in cases of  
phthisis4 ,no nation can live under     
modern conditions unless its whole      
population is mentally aerated with     
books4  ,that allusion to the           

predominance of fiction brings one round
 to the question of the ,public         
,library4 ,one is constantly reading    
attacks on these new and most promising 
institutions1 and always these attacks  
base themselves on the fact that the    
number of novels taken out was so many  
times1 so many hundred times greater    
than the number of 8serious books40     
,follows nonsense about 8scrappy0       
reading1 shallowness of the public mind1
 and so forth4 ,in ,great ,britain      
public pomposities take up the strain   
and deliver large vague1 foolish        
discourses on our intellectual decline4 
,it occurs to none of these             
people--nothing1 indeed1 ever does seem 
to occur to this sort of people--to     
inquire if a man or woman can get       
serious reading from a public library4  
,an inspection of a ,public ,library    
,catalogue reveals1 no doubt1 a certain 
proportion of 8serious0  books          
available1 but1 as a rule1 that 8serious
 side0 is a quite higgledy-piggledy heap

 of fragments4 ,suppose1 for example1 an
 intelligent mechanic has a proclivity  
for economic questions1 he will find no 
book whatever to guide him to what      
literature there may be upon those      
questions4 ,he will plunge into the     
catalogue1 and discover perhaps a few   
publications of the ,cobden ,club1      
,henry ,george's ,progress and ,poverty1
 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill's ,autobiography1        
,ruskin's ,unto ,this ,last1 ,the       
,statesman's ,year ,book for #ahie1 and 
a text-book specially adapted to such   
and such an examination by the tutors of
 some ,correspondence ,college4 ,what   
can you expect from such a supply but a 
pitiful mental hash8 ,what is the most  
intelligent of mechanics likely to      
secure for himself from this bran pie8  
,serious subjects are not to be read in 
this wild disorderly way4 ,but fiction  
can be4 ,a novel is fairly complete in  
itself1 and in sticking to novels1 the  
,public ,library readers show1 ,i       
submit1 a better literary sense and a   

finer intellectual feeling than the     
muddle-headed1 review-inspired1         
pretentious people who blame them4  ,but
 manifestly the ,public ,libraries ought
 to be equipped for serious reading4    
,too many of them are covers without    
meat1 or1 at least1 with nothing to     
satisfy a respectable mind hunger4 ,and 
the obvious direct method to equip them 
is to organize an ,association1 to work1
 if possible1 with the ,librarians1 and 
get this 8serious0 side of the          
,libraries1 this vitally important side1
 into better order4 ,a few men with a   
little money to spend could do what is  
wanted for the whole ,english-speaking  
world4 ,the first business of such an   
,association would be to get 8,guides0  
to various fields of human interest     
written1 guides that should be clear1   
explicit ,bibliographies1 putting all   
the various writers into their          
relationships one to another1 advising  
what books should be first taken by the 
beginner in the field1 indicating their 

trend1 pointing out the less technical  
ones and those written obscurely4       
,differential type might stamp the more 
or less important works4 ,these ,guides 
ought to go to every ,public ,library1  
and ,i think also that all sorts of     
people would be eager to buy them if    
they were known to be comprehensive1    
intelligent1 and inclusive4 ,they might 
even 8pay40 ,then ,i would suggest this 
,association should make up lists of    
books to present an outline course or a 
full course corresponding to each       
,guide4 ,where books were already       
published in a cheap edition1 the       
,association would merely negotiate with
 the publisher for the special supply of
 a few thousand copies of each4 ,where  
books were modern and dear the          
,association would negotiate with       
publisher and author1 for the printing  
of a special ,public ,library ,edition4 
,they would then distribute these sets  
of books either freely or at special    
rates1 three or four sets or more to    

each ,library4 ,in many cases the       
,association would probably find it     
preferable to print its editions afresh1
 with specially written introductions1  
defining the relationship of each book  
to the general literature of the        
subject4 ,footnote3 ,in ,america ,mr4   
,george ,iles is already organizing the 
general appraisement of books for the   
public library reader in a most         
promising manner4 ,the ,bibliography of 
the ,literature of ,american ,history1  
with an appraisal of each book1 which   
has appeared under his direction1 is    
edited by ,mr4 ,larned1 and is a most   
efficient performance2 it is to be kept 
up to date by ,mr4 ,p4 ,p4 ,wells1      
librarian of the ,yale ,law ,school4 ,it
 includes an appendix by ,professor     
,channing1 of ,harvard1 which is on the 
lines of the 8,guides0 ,i suggest1      
though scarcely so full as ,i should    
like them4 ,this appendix is reprinted  
separately for five cents1 and it is    
almost all ,english public librarians   

and libraries need so far as ,american  
history goes4 ,the ,english ,fabian     
,society1 ,i may note1 publishes a      
sixpenny bibliography of social and     
economic science1 but it is a mere list 
for local librarians1 and of little use 
to the uninitiated reader4  ,such an    
,association in the present state of    
publishing would become--in ,great      
,britain1 at any rate--quite inevitably 
a ,publishing ,association4 ,a          
succession of vigorous1 well-endowed    
,voluntary ,publishing ,associations is 
a quite vital necessity in the modern   
state4 ,a succession is needed because  
each age has its unexpected new needs   
and new methods1 and it would not be a  
bad idea to endow such associations with
 a winding-up clause that would plump   
them1 stock1 unspent capital1 and       
everything except perhaps a pension fund
 for the older employs1 into the funds  
of some great ,public ,library at the   
end of thirty or forty years4 ,several  
such ,associations have played1 or are  

still playing a useful part in ,british 
affairs1 but most of them have lost the 
elasticity of youth4 ,lord ,brougham's  
,society for the ,diffusion of ,useful  
,knowledge was one of the earliest1 and 
we have today1 for example1 the ,society
 for the ,promotion of ,christian       
,knowledge1 the ,catholic ,truth        
,society1 the ,rationalist ,press       
,association1 and the ,fabian ,society4 
,there is a real need to-day for        
one--indeed there is room for           
several--,publishing ,associations that 
would set themselves to put bright      
modern lights into these too often empty
 lanterns1 the ,public ,libraries4 ,so  
lit1 ,great ,britain and ,america would 
have in them an instrument of public    
education unparalleled in the world1    
infinitely better adapted to the        
individualistic idiosyncracy of our     
peoples than any imitation of ,german   
colleges can possibly be4 ,propaganda of
 all sorts could be diverted to this    
purpose4 ,persons of imperialistic      

tendencies might well consider the      
advisability of ,guides to good         
geographical and historical reading and 
sets of travel books1 and of            
geographical and historical works4      
,americanisers might consider the       
possibility of sets that would help the 
common ,british to a clearer idea of    
,america1 and ,americans to a           
realization that the ,british ,islands  
are something more than three obscure   
patches of land entirely covered by a   
haughty peerage and a slightly absurd   
but historically interesting ,crown4 4 4
 4 ,indeed1 whatever you want thought or
 believed1 ,i would say1 give books6    
,but the good ,new ,republican would    
have a wider scope for his ,publishing  
,association than to subdue it to this  
specific doctrine or that4 ,it is not   
the opinion makes the man2 it is not the
 conclusion makes the book4 ,we live not
 in the truth1 but in the promise of the
 truth4 ,sound thinking1 clearly and    
honestly set forth1 that is the sole and

 simple food of human greatness1 the    
real substance and the real wealth of   
nations2 the key that will at last      
unlock the door to all we can dream of  
or desire4     ,x4 ,,thought ,,in ,,the 
,,modern ,,state   ,these speculations  
upon the possibilities and means of     
raising the average human result have   
brought us at last to the problem of    
increasing the amount of original       
intellectual activity in the state1 as a
 culminating necessity4 ,that average   
child who threads our speculations has  
been bred and fed1 we now suppose1      
educated in school and college1 put     
under stimulating political and social  
conditions and brought within reach and 
under the influence of the available    
literature of the time1 and he is now   
emerging into adult responsibility4 ,his
 individual thought and purpose has to  
swim in and become part of the general  
thought and purpose of the community4   
,if that general flow of thought is     
meagre1 his individual life will partake

 of its limitations4 ,as the general    
thought rises out of its pools and      
narrow channels towards a wide flood1 so
 each individual becomes more capable of
 free movements and spacious            
co-operations towards the general end4  
,we have bred our citizen and trained   
him only to waste all his energy at     
last2 he is no better than the water in 
an isolated dry-season pool in the bed  
of a tropical river1 unless he can      
mingle in the end with the general sea  
of thought and action4  ,thought is the 
life1 the spontaneous flexibility of a  
community4 ,a community that thinks     
freely and fully throughout its         
population is capable of a thousand     
things that are impossible in an        
unthinking mass of people4 ,the latter1 
collectively considered1 is a large     
rigid thing1 a lifeless thing1 that will
 break rather than bend1 that will die  
rather than develop4 ,its inevitable end
 is dust and extinction4 ,look at the   
thing from the baser level of political 

conceptions1 and still that floating    
tide of thought is a necessity4 ,with   
thought and gathered knowledge things   
that mean tumult1 bloodshed1 undying    
hatreds1 schisms and final disaster to  
uncivilized races1 are accomplished in  
peace2 constitutional changes1 economic 
reorganizations1 boundary modifications 
and a hundred grave matters4 ,thought is
 the solvent that will make a road for  
men through ,alpine difficulties that   
seem now unconquerable1 that will       
dissolve those gigantic rocks of custom 
and tradition that loom so forbiddingly 
athwart all our further plans4 ,for     
three thousand years and more the ,book 
has been becoming more and more the     
evident salvation of man4 ,if our       
present civilization collapse1 it will  
collapse as all previous civilizations  
have collapsed1 not from want of will   
but from the want of organization for   
its will1 for the want of that          
knowledge1 that conviction1 and that    
general understanding that would have   

kept pace with the continually more     
complicated problems that arose about   
it4 ,footnote3 ,dr4 ,beattie ,crozier1  
in his most interesting and suggestive  
,history of ,intellectual ,development1 
terms the literary apparatus that holds 
a people together to a common purpose1  
the 8,bible0  of that people1 and       
suggests that the 8,bible0 of a modern  
people should be the ,history of        
,civilization4 ,his work expresses by   
very different phrases and methods a    
line of thought closely akin to the     
thesis of this paper4  ,one writes 8our 
present civilization0 and of previous   
civilizations1 but indeed no            
civilizations have yet really come into 
existence4 ,tribes have aggregated into 
nations1 nations have aggregated into   
empires1 and then1 after a struggle1 has
 come a great confusion of thought1 a   
failure to clarify a common purpose1 and
 disintegration4 ,each successive birth 
has developed a more abundant body of   
thought1 a more copious literature than 

the last1 each has profited by the      
legacy of the previous failure1 but none
 have yet developed enough4 ,mankind has
 been struggling to win this step of a  
permanent civilized state1 and has never
 yet attained any sort of               
permanency--unless perhaps in ,china4   
,and that sole imperfect permanency was 
based primarily upon a literature4 ,a   
literature is the triumphant instrument 
of the invincible culture of the ,jews4 
,through the whole volume of history the
 thoughtful reader cannot but exclaim1  
again and again1 8,but if they had only 
understood one another1 all this        
bloodshed1 all this crash1 disaster1 and
 waste of generations could have been   
avoided60 ,our time has come1 and we of 
the ,european races are making our      
struggle in our turn4 ,slavery still    
fights a guerilla war in factory and    
farm1 cruelty and violence peep from    
every slum1 barbaric habits1 rude       
barbaric ways of thinking1 grossness and
 stupidity are still all about us4 ,and 

yet in many ways we seem to have got    
nearer to the hope of permanent         
beginnings than any of those previous   
essays in civilization4 ,collectively we
 know a great deal more1 and more of us 
are in touch with the general body of   
knowledge than was ever the case at any 
earlier stage4 ,assuredly we know enough
 to hope that we have passed the last of
 the ,dark ,ages4 ,but though we hope1  
we deal with no certainties1 and it is  
upon the broadening and increase of the 
flow of ideas that our hope depends4    
,at present this stream of thought and  
common understanding is not nearly so   
wide and deep as it might conceivably   
become1 as it must become if indeed this
 present civilization is to be more than
 another false start4 ,our society      
,footnote3 ,anticipations1 ,chapter     
,,iii4 ,developing ,social ,elements4   
has ceased to be homogeneous1 and it has
 become a heterogeneous confusion       
without any secure common grounds of    
action1 under the stress of its own     

material achievements4 ,for the lack of 
a sufficient literature we specialize   
into inco-ordinated classes4 ,a number  
of new social types are developing1     
ignorant of each other1 ignorant almost 
of themselves1 full of mutual suspicions
 and mutual misunderstandings1 narrow1  
limited1 and dangerously incapable of   
intelligent collective action in the    
face of crises4 ,the medical man sees   
nothing beyond his profession2 he       
misunderstands the artist1 the divine1  
and the engineer4 ,the engineer hates   
and despises the politician1 the lawyer 
misses the aims of the medical man1 the 
artist lives angrily in a stuffy little 
corner of pure technique2 none of them  
read any general literature at all      
except perhaps a newspaper4 ,each thinks
 parochially in his own limits1 and1    
except for his specialty1 is an         
illiterate man4 ,it is absolutely       
necessary to the progress of our        
civilization that these isolations      
should be overcome1 that the community  

should become aware of itself           
collectively and should think as a      
whole4 ,and the only thing that can     
overcome these isolations and put the   
mass of intelligent men upon a common   
basis of understanding1 is an abundant  
and almost universally influential      
contemporary literature4  ,we have      
already discussed the possibility of    
developing the innervation of the state1
 the distribution of books1 the         
stimulation and direction of reading1   
and all the peripheral aspects of       
literature1 and we come now to the      
difficult and intricate problem of      
whether we can do anything1 and what it 
is we may do1 to stimulate the central  
thought4 ,can we hope to improve the    
conditions of literary production1 to   
make our literature more varied1        
quintessential and abundant1 to enforce 
it with honour and help1 to attract to  
its service every man and woman with    
gifts of value1 and to make the most of 
these gifts8  ,quite a number of people 

will assert that those things that      
constitute literature come and go beyond
 the control and will of man1 they will 
speak of ,shakespeare as being a sort of
 mystical consequence1 of ,roger ,bacon 
or ,newton as men independent of        
circumstances1 inevitably great4 ,and if
 they are by way of being comic         
writers--the word 8humorist10 as        
,schopenhauer long since pointed out1 is
 a stolen lion's skin for these         
gentry--they will become extremely      
facetious about the proposed school for 
,bacons and ,shakespeares4 ,but a little
 reflection will convince the reader    
that none of the great figures of the   
past appeared without certain conditions
 being added to their inherent powers4  
,in the first place1 they had to be     
reasonably sure of a sympathetic and    
intelligent atmosphere1 however limited 
in extent--there was no ,plato in the   
heroic age1 and no ,newton during the   
,heptarchy--and in the second1 the      
medium1 language or what not1 had to be 

ready for their use4 ,in the third place
 they needed personally a certain       
minimum of training and preparation1 and
 in the fourth they had to feel that for
 some reason--not necessarily a worldly 
one--the thing was 8worth while40 ,given
 a 8developer0 of these ingredients1 and
 they appeared4 ,but without this       
developer they would not have appeared1 
and it is therefore reasonable to       
suppose1 first1 that a great number of  
men of a quality as rare as were those  
who constitute the unparalleled roll of 
,english intellectual greatness1 lived  
and died undeveloped before ever the    
developer was compounded at all1 and    
that even in the last few hundred years 
the necessary combination has fallen    
upon so small an area of our racial life
 as to have missed far more than it has 
hit4 ,the second of these papers is1    
indeed1 an attempt to present quite     
convincingly what the comic man will    
probably regard as his effectual        
objection1 that inherent tendency cannot

 be produced at will4 ,but that the     
developer may conceivably be made in    
much greater quantities and spread much 
wider than it is at present is an       
altogether different thing4 ,there are1 
one submits1 enormous reserves of       
intellectual force unworked and scarcely
 touched1 even to-day4  ,we have already
 discussed the means and possibilities  
of a net of education that should sweep 
through the whole social body1 and of   
the creation of an atmosphere more alert
 and active than our present one4 ,we   
have now to consider how the greatest   
proportion of those born with           
exceptional literary powers may be      
picked out and induced to exercise those
 powers to the utmost4 ,let us admit at 
once that this is a research of         
extraordinary subtlety and complexity1  
that there are ten thousand ways of     
going wrong1 and perhaps mischievously  
wrong4 ,that one may submit1 is not a   
sufficient reason for abandonment and   
despair4 ,to take an analogous case1 it 

may be a complex and laborious thing to 
escape out of a bear-pit into which one 
has fallen1 but few people will consider
 that a reason for inaction4 ,even if   
they had small hope of doing anything   
effectual they might find speculation   
and experiments in escape1 a congenial  
way of passing the time4 ,it is the sort
 of project one should only abandon at  
the final and conclusive proof of its   
impossibility4 ,exactly the same        
principle applies to human destinies and
 the saving of other lives than our own4
 ,as a matter of fact1 the enterprise is
 not at all a hopeless one if it is     
undertaken honestly1 warily1 and boldly4
  ,let us consider the lines upon which 
men must go to ensure the greatest      
possible growth of original thought in  
the state1 original thought of which    
what scientific men call ,research is   
only one phase4  ,before we can consider
 how we may endow him and equip him and 
help him1 we have to consider how we may
 find the original thinker1 and we have1

 if we can1 to define him and to        
discover whatever we can of his methods 
and habits1 his natural history as it   
were4 ,we are attempting generalization 
about a class of remarkably peculiar and
 difficult persons4 ,they are persons   
either of great intellectual power or   
simply of great imaginative power1 whose
 bias and quality it is to apply these  
exceptional powers not directly and     
simply to their personal advancement and
 enrichment1 but primarily through      
philosophical1 scientific1 or artistic  
channels1 to the increase of knowledge  
or of wisdom or of both4 ,and here is   
the peculiar point in this problem1 they
 are men who put1 or who wish to put the
 best of themselves and most of         
themselves into occupations and         
interests that do not lead to practical 
results1 that often for the individual  
in open competition and the market fail 
more or less completely to 8pay40 ,their
 activities1 of course1 pay tremendously
 at last for the race1 but that is not  

their personal point of application4    
,they take their lives and their        
splendid powers1 they waste themselves  
in remote and inaccessible regions and  
bring back precious things that         
immediately any sharp commercial-minded 
man will turn into current coin for     
himself and the use of the world4       
,there are certain things follow        
naturally from this remote              
concentration1 and we must persistently 
keep them in mind4 ,these men of        
exceptional mental quality1 if they are 
really to do what they are specially    
fitted to do1 with all their power1 will
 be unable to give their personal       
affairs1 their personal advancement1    
sustained attention4 ,in a democratic   
community whose principle is 8hustle10  
in a leisurely monarchy where only      
opulence1 a powerful top-note1 and      
conspicuous social gifts succeed1 they  
will have either to neglect or taint    
their special talent in order to        
survive4 ,it does not follow that       

because a man's special qualities and   
inclinations are towards1 let us say1   
illuminating inquiries into the         
constitution of matter1 or profound and 
beautiful or simply beautiful renderings
 of his individual vision of life1 that 
he is indifferent to or independent of  
honour1 of all the freedoms to do and to
 rest from doing that come with wealth1 
or of the many lures and pleasures of   
life4 ,posthumous ,fame is losing its   
attractiveness in an age which has      
discovered excellent reasons for        
doubting whether after all re perennius 
was not rather too strong a figure4     
,however powerful the impulse to think1 
to state and create1 there comes a      
point--often a point a long way from    
starvation--at which a genius will stop 
working4 ,your man of scientific1       
literary1 or artistic genius will not   
work below his conception of the        
endurable minimum1 the minimum of hope  
and honour and attention as well as of  
material things1 any more than a        

coal-heaver will--and we live in a      
period when the ,standard of ,life tends
 to rise4 ,to secure these things which 
most men make the entire objective of   
their lives is1 or should be1 an        
irrelevancy to the man of exceptional   
gifts4 ,this means an enormous handicap 
for him4 ,unless1 therefore1 we endow   
him and make life easy for him so long  
as he does his proper work1 he will have
 either to pervert his powers more or   
less completely to these irrelevant     
ends1 or if his powers do not admit of  
such perversion1 he will have no use for
 them whatever4 ,he will take some      
subordinate place in the world as a     
rather less than average man and1 it may
 be1 find the leisure to give just an   
amateurish ineffectual expression of the
 thing he might have been4  ,now this is
 the case with a great deal of          
scientific and artistic work1 and with  
nearly all literature at the present    
time1 throughout the ,english-speaking  
community4 ,there are a few sciences    

slightly endowed1 there are a few arts  
patronized with some intelligence and   
generosity1 and for the rest there is   
nothing for it1 for the man who wants to
 do these most necessary and vital      
things1 but to hammer some at least of  
his precious gold into the semblance of 
a brass trumpet and to devote a certain 
proportion of his time and energy to    
blowing that trumpet and with that air  
of conscious modesty the public is      
pleased to consider genuine1 proclaiming
 the value of his wares4 ,some men seem 
able to do this sort of thing without   
any deterioration in quality and some   
with only a partial deterioration1 but  
the way of self-advertisement is on a   
slippery slope1 and it has brought many 
a man of indisputable gifts to absolute 
vulgarity and ineffectiveness of thought
 and work4 ,at the best it is a shameful
 business1 this noise and display1 for  
all that ,scott and ,dickens were past  
masters in the art4 ,and some men cannot
 do it at all4 ,moreover1 what the good 

man may do with an effort1 the energetic
 quack1 whose only gift is simulation1  
can do infinitely better4 ,it is only in
 the unprofitable branches of           
intellectual work that the best now     
holds the best positions unchallenged4  
,in the really popular branches of      
artistic work every honourable success  
draws a parasitic swarm of imitators    
like fish round bread in a pool4 ,in the
 world of thought1 far more than in the 
world of politics1 the polling method1  
the democratic method has broken down1  
the method that will only permit an     
author to write--unless his subject is  
one that allows him to hold a           
,professorial ,chair--on condition that 
he can get a publisher to induce the    
public to buy a certain minimum number  
of copies of each of his works1 a method
 that will give him no rest1 once he is 
in the full swing of 8production10 until
 the end1 no freedom to change his style
 or matter1 lest he should lose that    
paying following by the transition or   

the pause4  ,now before we can discuss  
how else we can deal with those who     
constitute the current thought of the   
community1 we must consider how we are  
to distinguish what is worth sustaining 
from what is not4  ,this is the public  
aspect of ,criticism4 ,it is the        
mineralogy of literature and art4 ,at   
present ,criticism1 as a public         
function1 is discharged by private      
persons1 usually anonymous and          
frequently mysterious1 and it is        
discharged with an astonishing          
ineffectiveness4 ,nowhere in the whole  
,english-speaking world is there        
anything one can compare to a voice and 
a judgment--much less any discussion    
between reputable voices4 ,there are    
periodicals professing criticism1 but   
most of them have the effect of an      
omnibus in which disconnected           
heterogeneous people are continually    
coming and going1 while the conductor   
asks first one of his fluctuating load  
and then another haphazard for an       

opinion on this or that4 ,the branch of 
literature that has first to be put on a
 sound footing is critical literature4  
,the organization into efficiency of the
 criticism of contemporary work one is  
forced to believe an almost necessary   
preliminary to the hopeful treatment of 
the rest of the current of thought4     
,there is1 of course1 also the          
suggestion that an ,english ,academy of 
,letters might be of great service in   
discounting vulgar 8successes0 and      
directing respect and attention to      
literary achievements4 ,one may doubt   
whether such an ,academy as a ,royal    
,charter would give the world would be  
of any service at all in this           
connection4 ,but ,mr4 ,herbert ,trench  
has suggested recently that it might be 
possible to organize a large ,guild of  
literary men and women1 which would     
include all capable writers1 and from   
which a sort of ,academy could be       
elected1 either by a general poll or1 ,i
 would suggest1 by a ,jury of ,election 

or successive ,juries confirming one    
another4 ,the ,new ,republican would    
like to see such a ,guild not purely    
,english1 but ,anglo-,american1 or in   
duplicate for the two countries4 ,with a
 very carefully chosen nucleus and some 
little elaboration in the admission of  
new members--whose works might be       
submitted to the report of a critical   
jury--such a ,guild might be made fairly
 representative of literary capacity4   
,election1 one may suggest1 should be   
involuntary4 ,there would be a number of
 literary men1 one fears--great men some
 of them--who would absolutely refuse to
 work with any such body1 and from the  
first the ,guild would have to determine
 to make such men unwilling members1    
members to whom all the honours and     
privileges of the ,guild would be open  
whenever they chose to abandon their    
attitude of scorn or distrust4 ,such a  
,guild would furnish a useful           
constituency1 a useful jury-list4 ,it   
could be used to recommend writers for  

honours1 to check the distribution of   
public pensions for literary services1  
perhaps even to send a member or so to  
the ,upper ,chamber4 ,it is1 at any     
rate1 an experiment worth trying4  ,but 
such a ,guild at best is only one of    
many possible expedients in this matter4
 ,another is for a few people of means  
to subsidize a magazine for the         
exhaustive criticism of contemporary    
work for a few years4 ,quite a small    
number of people1 serious in this       
matter1 a couple of thousand or so1     
could float such a magazine by the      
simple expedient of guaranteeing        
subscriptions4 ,footnote3 ,it may be    
suggested that among other methods of   
putting the criticism of contemporary   
literature upon a better footing is one 
that might conceivably be made to pay   
its own expenses4 ,there is so much room
 for endowments nowadays that where one 
can get at the purse of the general     
public one should certainly prefer it to
 that of the generous but overtaxed     

donor4 ,the project would require a     
strong endowment1 but that endowment    
might be of the nature of a guarantee   
fund1 and might in the end return       
unimpaired to the lender4 ,the          
suggestion is the establishment of a    
well-planned and reasonably cheap       
monthly or weekly critical magazine1    
written on a level at present           
unattainable--chiefly because of the low
 rate of payment for all literary       
criticism4 ,there can be no doubt among 
those who read much among literary and  
quasi-literary periodicals in ,english  
that there is a very considerable amount
 of high critical ability available4    
,buried and obscured to an ineffectual  
degree among much that is formal1       
foolish1 and venial1 there is to be     
found to-day a really quite remarkable  
number of isolated reviews1 criticisms  
and articles in which style is apparent1
 in which discrimination shines         
fitfully1 in which there is the         
unmistakable note of honest enthusiasm  

for good work4 ,for the most part1 such 
criticism bears also the marks of       
haste--as1 indeed1 it must do when a    
review as long as the column of a daily 
paper1 a day's work1 that is1 of steady 
writing1 earns scarcely a pound4 ,but   
the stuff is there4 ,scarcely a number  
of the ,academy1 or the ,spectator1     
scarcely a week of the ,morning ,post1  
the ,daily ,news1 or the ,daily         
,chronicle1 but there is a review1 or a 
piece of a review1 that has the stigmata
 of literature4 ,and this suggestion is 
that some of these writers shall be got 
together1 shall be paid at least as well
 as popular short-story writers are     
paid1 shall each have a definite        
department marked out under a           
trustworthy editor1 and be pledged to   
limit their work to the pages of this   
new critical magazine4 ,their work would
 be signed1 and there they would be1    
conspicuously urged to do the best that 
was in them1 apropos of more or less    
contemporary books and writers4 ,they   

would have leisure for deliberate       
judgments1 for the development of that  
consistency of thought which the        
condition of journalism renders so      
impossible4 ,this review would mean for 
them status1 reputation1 and            
opportunity4 ,they would deal with      
contemporary fiction1 with contemporary 
speculative literature1 and with the    
style1 logic1 methods and vocabulary of 
scientific and philosophical writers4   
,their work would form the mass of the  
magazine1 but there would also be       
7highly paid7 occasional writers1       
towards whose opinions the regular staff
 would very carefully define their      
attitude4 ,the project1 of course1 in   
foolish hands1 might be very foolishly  
misinterpreted4 ,it might be quite easy 
to drive a team of egregious asses in   
this way over contemporary work1 leaving
 nothing but hoof-marks and injuries1   
but we are assuming the thing to be     
efficiently done4 ,it is submitted that 
such a magazine1 patiently and          

generously sustained for a few years1   
would at last probably come to pay its  
way4 ,unless the original selection of  
the staff was badly done1 it would by   
sheer persistent high quality win its   
way to authority with the reading       
public1 and so fill its covers with a   
swelling mass of advertisement pages4   
,and once it paid1 then forthwith a     
dozen rivals would be in the field1 all 
of them1 of course1 also paying highly  
for critical matter and competing for   
critics of standing4 ,such an enterprise
 would be a lever for criticism through 
the whole of our literary world4  ,then 
it should also be possible to endow     
university lectureships and readerships 
in contemporary criticism1 lectureships 
and readerships in which questions of   
style and method could be illustrated by
 quotation 7not necessarily of a        
flattering sort7 from contemporary work4
 ,why should there not be an endowment  
which would enable a man of indisputable
 critical capacity to talk through an   

illuminating course1 to sit before a    
little pile of marked books and reading 
sometimes here and sometimes there and  
talking between1 to distinguish the evil
 from the good8 ,what a wholesome thing 
to have ,mr4 ,henley1 for example1 at   
that in the place of some of the several
 specialists who will lecture you so    
admirably on the ,troubadours6 ,how good
 to hear ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison 7with 
some one to follow7 adjusting all our   
living efforts to the scale of the      
divine ,comte1 and ,mr4 ,walkley and    
,mr4 ,herbert ,paul making it perfectly 
clear that a dead dog is better than a  
living lion1 by demonstrations on the   
lion4 ,criticism to-day is all too much 
in the case of that doctor whose        
practice was deadly1 indeed1 but his    
post-mortems admirable6 ,no doubt such  
lectures would consist at times of      
highly contentious matter1 but what of  
that8 ,there could be several chairs4   
,it would not be an impossible thing to 
set a few ,extension ,lecturers afloat  

upon the same channel4 ,we have now     
numerous courses of lectures on the     
,elizabethan ,dramatists and the        
evolution of the ,miracle ,play1 and the
 people who listen to this sort of thing
 will depart straight away to recreate  
their souls in the latest triumph of    
vehement bookselling4 ,why not base the 
literary education of people upon the   
literature they read instead of upon    
literature that they are scarcely more  
in touch with than with ,chinese        
metaphysics8 ,a few carefully chosen    
pages of contemporary rubbish1 read with
 a running comment1 a few carefully     
chosen pages of what is1 comparatively1 
not rubbish1 a little lucid discussion  
of effects and probabilities1 would do  
more to quicken the literary sense of   
the average person than all the sham    
enthusiasm about ,marlowe and ,spenser  
that was ever concocted4 ,there are not 
a few authors who would be greatly the  
better and might even be subsequently   
grateful for a lecture upon themselves  

in this style4 ,let no one say from this
 that the classics of our tongue are    
depreciated here4 ,but the point is1    
that for people who know little of      
history1 little of our language1 whose  
only habitual reading is the newspaper1 
the popular novel1 and the sixpenny     
magazine1 to plunge into the study of   
works written in the language of a      
different period1 crowded with obsolete 
allusions1 and saturated with obsolete  
ideas and extinct ways of thinking1 is  
pretentious and unprofitable1 and that  
most of such ,extension ,lecturing is   
fruitless and absurd4 ,and ,i appeal to 
these two facts in confirmation1 to the 
thousands of people who every year      
listen to such lectures and to the      
hundreds of thousands of copies of our  
national classics sold by the           
booksellers1 on the one hand1 and on the
 other to the absolute incapacity of our
 public to judge any new literary thing 
or to protect itself in any way from    
violently and vulgarly boomed rubbish of

 the tawdriest description4 ,without a  
real and popular criticism of           
contemporary work as a preliminary and  
basis1 the criticism and circulation of 
the classics is quite manifestly vain4  
,by such expedients very much might be  
done for the literary atmosphere4 ,by   
endowing a critical review or so1 by    
endowing a few chairs and readerships in
 contemporary criticism1 by organizing a
 ,guild of ,literature and a system of  
exemplary honours for literature1 by    
stimulating the general discussion of   
contemporary work through lectures and  
articles1 criticism could1 ,i believe1  
be made 8worth while0 to an extent that 
is now scarcely imaginable1 and there   
might be created an atmosphere of       
attention1 appreciation1 and judgment   
that would be in itself extraordinarily 
stimulating to all forms of literary    
effort4 ,of course all this sort of     
thing may be done cheaply1 stupidly1    
dishonestly1 and vulgarly1 and one      
imagines the shy and exquisite type of  

mind recoiling from the rude sanity of  
these suggestions4 ,but1 indeed1 they   
need not be done any other way than     
finely and well4 ,people whose          
conception of what is good in art and   
literature is inseparable from rarity   
ought1 ,i submit1 to collect stamps4 ,at
 an earlier phase in this series of     
discussions there was broached a project
 for an ,english ,language ,society1    
which would set itself to do or get done
 a number of services necessary to the  
teaching and extension of the language  
of our universal peoples4 ,with such a  
,society those who undertook this       
project for the habilitation of         
criticism would necessarily co-operate  
and interlock4  ,it is upon this basis  
of an organized criticism and of a      
well-taught and cherished language that 
the ,english literature of the          
,twentieth ,century1 the literature of  
analysis and research1 and the          
literature of creative imagination1 has 
to stand4 ,upon such a basis it becomes 

possible to consider the practicability 
of the endowment of general literature4 
,for to that at last we come4 ,i submit 
that it is only by the payment of       
authors1 and if necessary their         
endowment in a spacious manner1 and in  
particular by the entire separation of  
the rewards of writing from the         
accidents of the book market1 that the  
function of literature can be adequately
 discharged in the modern state4 ,the   
laws of supply and demand break down    
altogether in this case4 ,we have to    
devise some means of sustaining those   
who discharge this necessary public     
function in the progressive state4      
,there are several general propositions 
in this matter that it may be worth     
while to state at this point4 ,the first
 is that both scientific generalization 
and literature proper have been and are 
and must continue to be the product of a
 quite exceptionally heterogeneous      
aggregation of persons4 ,they are       
persons of the most various             

temperaments1 of the most varied        
lop-sidedness1 of the most various      
special gifts1 and the most various     
social origins1 having only this in     
common1 the ability to add to the       
current of the world's thought4 ,they   
are not to be dealt with as though they 
were a class of persons all of          
exceptional general intelligence1 of    
exceptional strength of character1 or of
 exceptional sanity4 ,to do that1 would 
be to hand over literature from the man 
of genius to the man of talent4 ,a      
single method of selection1 help1       
honour1 and payment1 measurement by one 
general standard cannot1 therefore1 be  
accepted as a solution4 ,there must not 
be any one single central body1 any     
authoritative single control1 for such a
 body or authority would inevitably     
develop a 8character0 in its activity   
and greet with especial favour 7or with 
especial disfavour7 certain types4 ,in  
this case1 at any rate1 organization is 
not centralization1 and it is also not  

uniformity4 ,the proposition may indeed 
be thrown out that the principle of     
,many ,channels 7a principle involving  
the repudiation both of the monarchical 
and the democratic idea7 is an essential
 one to go upon in all questions of     
honour and promotion in the modern      
state4 ,and not only ,many ,channels1   
but ,many ,methods4 ,whatever the value 
of that as a universally valuable       
proposition1 it certainly applies here4 
,and next we may suggest that we must   
take great care that we pay for the     
thing we need and not for some          
subsidiary qualification of less value4 
,the reward must be directly related to 
the work1 and independent of all        
secondary considerations4 ,it must have 
no taint of charity4 ,the recipient must
 not have to show that he is in want4   
,because a writer or investigator is a  
sober1 careful body and quite solvent in
 a modest way1 that is no reason why we 
should not pay him stimulatingly for his
 valuable contributions to the general  

mind1 or because he is a shiftless      
seeker of misfortunes1 why we should pay
 him in excess4 ,but pay him anyhow4    
,almost scandalous private immorality1  
,i submit1 should not bar the literary  
worker from his pay any more than it    
justifies our stealing his boots4 ,we   
must deal with immorality as immorality1
 and with work as work4 ,above all1 at  
the present time1 we must keep clearly  
in view that popularity has no relation 
to literary1 philosophic or scientific  
value1 it neither justifies nor         
condemns4 ,at present1 except in the    
case of certain forms of research and in
 relation to the altogether too         
charitable-looking ,british ,civil      
,list1 we make popularity the sole      
standard by which a writer may be paid4 
,the novelist1 for example1 gets an     
income extraordinarily made up of sums  
of from sixpence to two shillings per   
person sufficiently interested to buy   
his or her books4 ,the result is        
entirely independent of real literary   

merit4 ,the sixpences and shillings are1
 of course1 greatly coveted1 and success
 in getting them on anything like a     
magnificent scale makes a writer1 good  
or bad1 vehemently hated and abused1 but
 the hatred and abuse--unaccompanied as 
they are by any proposals for           
amelioration--are hardly less silly than
 the system4 ,and for our present       
purpose it really does not matter if the
 fortunate persons who interest the     
great public are or are not overpaid4   
,our concern is with the underpaid1 and 
with all this affair of mammoth editions
 and booming only as it affects that    
aspect4 ,we are concerned with the      
exceptional man's necessities and not   
with his luxuries4 ,the fly of envy in  
the ,true ,artist's ointment may1 ,i    
think1 very well stop there until       
magnanimity becomes something more of a 
cult in the literary and artistic worlds
 than it is at the present time4  ,this1
 perhaps1 is something of a digression  
from our second general proposition1    

that we must pay directly for the work  
itself4 ,but it leads to a third        
proposition4 ,the whole history of      
literature and science abundantly shows 
that no critical judgment is more than  
an approximation to the truth4          
,criticism should be equal to the       
exposure of the imitator and the pure   
sham1 of course1 it should be able to   
analyze and expose these types1 but     
above that level is the disputed case4  
,at the present time in ,england only a 
very few writers or investigators hold  
high positions by anything approaching  
the unanimous verdict of the intelligent
 public--of that section of the public  
that counts4 ,in the department of      
fiction1 for example1 there is a very   
audible little minority against ,mr4    
,kipling1 and about ,mr4 ,george ,moore 
or ,mr4 ,zangwill or ,mr4 ,barrie one   
may hear the most diverse opinions4 ,by 
the test of blackballing1 only the      
unknown would survive4 ,the valuation is
 as erratic in many branches of science4

 ,the development of criticism will     
diminish1 but it certainly will not end1
 this sort of thing1 and since our      
concern is to stimulate rather than     
punish1 we must do just exactly what we 
should not do if we were electing men   
for a club1 we must include rather than 
exclude4 ,i am told that ,americans     
remark in relation to ,university       
endowments1 8we speculate in research10 
and that will serve for only a slight   
exaggeration of this third proposition4 
,so long as we get most of the men of   
exceptional mental gifts in the         
community under the best conditions for 
their work1 it scarcely matters if1 for 
each one of them1 we get four or five   
shams or mere respectabilities upon our 
hands4 ,respectabilities and shams have 
a fatal facility for living on the      
community anyhow1 and there is no more  
reason in not doing these things on     
their account than there would be in    
burning a house down to get rid of      
cockroaches and rats4 ,the rat poison of

 sound criticism--to follow that        
analogy--is the remedy here4 ,and if the
 respectability lives1 his work at any  
rate dies4  ,but if the reward must be  
directly for the work1 it must not have 
any quantitative relation to the output 
of work4 ,it is quality we want1 not    
quantity2 we want absolutely to invert  
the abominable conditions of the present
 time by which every exercise of        
restraint costs an author a fine4 ,it is
 my personal conviction that almost     
every well-known living writer is or has
 been writing too much4 8,no book1 no   
income0 is practically what the world   
says to an author1 and the needy authors
 make a pace the independent follow2    
there is no respect for fine silences1  
if you cease you are forgotten4 ,the    
literature of the past hundred years is 
unparalleled in the world's history in  
this feature that the greater portion of
 it is or has been written under        
pressure4 ,it was the case with ,scott1 
the case with ,dickens1 ,tennyson1 even 

with ,browning1 and a host of other     
great contributors to the edifice4 ,no  
one who loves ,dickens and knows        
anything of the art he practised but    
deplores that evil incessant demand that
 never permitted him to revise his      
plans1 to alter1 rearrange and          
concentrate1 that never released him    
from the obligation to touch dull hearts
 and penetrate thick skins with         
obtrusive pathos and violent caricature4
  ,once embarked upon his course1 he    
never had a moment for reconstruction4  
,he had no time to read1 no time to     
think4 ,a writer nowadays has to think  
in books and articles2 to read a book he
 must criticize or edit it2 if he dare  
attempt an experiment1 a new departure1 
comes his agent in a panic4 ,every      
departure from the lines of his previous
 success involves chaffering1 unless he 
chance to be a man of independent means4
 ,when one reflects on these things it  
is only amazing that the average book is
 not more copious and crude and hasty   

than it is1 and how much in the way of  
comprehensive and unifying work is even 
now in progress4 ,there are all too many
 books to read4 ,it would be better for 
the public1 better for our literature1  
altogether better1 if this obligation to
 write perpetually were lifted4 ,few    
writers but must have felt at times the 
desire to stop and think1 to work out   
some neglected corner of their minds1 to
 admit a year's work as futile and      
thrust it behind the fire1 or simply to 
lie fallow1 to camp and rest the horses4
 ,let us1 therefore1 pay our authors as 
much not to write as though they wrote2 
instead of that twenty or thirty        
volumes1 which is1 ,i suppose1 the      
average product1 let us require a book  
or so1 worth having4 ,which means1 in   
fact1 that we must find some way of     
giving an author1 once he has proved his
 quality1 a fixed income quite          
irrespective of what he does4 ,we might1
 perhaps1 require evidence that he was  
doing some work now and then1 we might  

prohibit alien occupations1 but for my  
own part ,i do not think even that is   
necessary4 ,most authors so sustained   
will write1 and all will have written4  
,we are presupposing1 be it remembered1 
the stimulus of honours and criticism   
and of further honours and further      
emoluments4  ,finally1 in making schemes
 for the endowment of original mental   
activity1 we must not ignore the        
possibility of a perversion that has    
already played its part in the histories
 of painting and music1 and that is the 
speculative financing of promising      
candidates for these endowments4 ,if we 
are going to make research1 criticism1  
and creation 8worth while0 we must see  
to it that in reality we are not simply 
making it worth while for ,solomons and 
,moses to 8spot0 the early promise1 to  
stimulate its modesty1 to help it to its
 position1 and to draw the major profits
 of the enterprise4 ,the struggling     
young man of exceptional gifts who is   
using his brains not to make his        

position but to do his destined work1 is
 by that at a great disadvantage in     
dealing with the business man1 and it is
 to the interest of the community that  
he should be protected from his own     
inexperience and his own self-distrust4 
,the average ,whitechapel ,jew could    
cheat a ,shakespeare into the workhouse 
in no time1 and our idea is rather to   
make the world easy for ,shakespeares   
than to hand it over to the rat         
activities of the 8smart0 business man4 
,freedom of ,contract is an idea no one 
outside a debating society dreams of    
realizing in the state4 ,we protect     
tenants from landlords in all sorts of  
ways1 our law overrides all sorts of    
bargains1 and in the important case of  
marriage we put almost all the          
conditions outside bargaining and       
speculative methods altogether by       
insisting upon one universal contract or
 none4 ,we protect women who are        
physically and economically weak in this
 manner1 not so much for their own good 

as the good of the race4 ,the state     
already puts literary property into a   
class apart by limiting its duration4   
,at a certain point1 which varies in    
different circumstances1 copyright      
expires4 ,it is possible for an author1 
whose fame comes late1 to be present as 
a row of dainty volumes in half the     
comfortable homes in the world1 while   
his grandchildren beg their bread4 ,the 
author's blood is sacrificed to the need
 the whole world has of cheap access to 
his work4 ,and since we do him this     
injury for the sake of our intellectual 
life1 it is surely not unreasonable to  
interfere for his benefit also if that  
subserves the greater end4  ,now there  
are two ways at least in which the      
author may be and should be protected   
from the pressure of immediate          
necessities4 ,the first of these is to  
render his copyright in his work        
inalienably his1 to forbid him to make  
any bargain by which the right to       
revise1 abbreviate1 or alter what he has

 written passes out of his hands1 and to
 make every such bargain invalid4 ,he   
would be free himself to alter or to    
endorse alterations1 but to yield no    
carte blanche to others4 ,he would be   
free also to make whatever bargain he   
chose for the rights of publication4    
,but1 and this is the second proposal1  
no bargain he made should be valid for a
 longer period than seven years from the
 date of its making4 ,every seven years 
his book would come back into his       
control1 to suppress1 revise1 resell1 or
 do whatever he liked to do with it4    
,only in one way could he escape this   
property1 and that would be by declaring
 it void and making his copyright an    
immediate present to the world4 ,and    
upon this proposal it is possible to    
base one form--and a very excellent     
form--of paying for the public service  
of good writing and so honouring men of 
letters and thought1 and that is by     
buying and1 more or less1 completely    
extinguishing their copyrights1 and so  

converting them into contemporary       
classics4  ,throughout these papers a   
disposition to become concrete has      
played unchecked4 ,always definite      
proposals have been preferred to vague  
generalizations1 and here again it will 
be convenient to throw out an almost    
detailed scheme--simply as an           
illustration of the possibilities of the
 case4 ,i am going to suggest to the    
reader that to endow a thousand or so   
authors1 as authors1 would be a most    
wise and admirable proceeding for a     
modern statesman1 and ,i would ask him  
before he dismisses this suggestion as  
absurd and impossible1 to rest contented
 with no vague rejection but to put to  
himself clearly why the thing should    
under present conditions be absurd and  
impossible4 ,always in the past the need
 of some organ for the establishment and
 preservation of a common tone and      
substance of thought in the state has   
been recognized2 commonly this organ has
 taken the form of a ,church1 a group of

 ,churches 7as in ,america7 or an       
educational system 7as in ,china74 ,but 
all previous schemes of social and      
political organization have been static1
 have aimed at a permanent state4 ,our  
modern state we know can only live by   
adaptation1 and we have to provide not a
 permanent but a developing social1     
moral and political culture4 ,our new   
scheme must include not only priests and
 teachers but prophets and seekers4     
,literature is a vitally necessary      
function of the modern state4  ,let us  
waive for the moment the subtle         
difficulty that arises when we ask who  
are the writers of literature1 the      
guides and makers of opinion1 the men   
and women of wisdom1 insight1 and       
creation1 as distinguished from those   
who merely resonate to the note of the  
popular mind2 let us assume that this is
 determined1 and let us make a scheme in
 the air to support these people under  
such conditions as will give us their   
best4 ,suppose the thing done boldly1   

and that for every hundred thousand     
people in our population we subsidize an
 author--if we can find as many4        
,suppose we give him some sort of honour
 or title and the alternative of going  
on writing under copyright              
conditions--which many popular          
favourites would certainly prefer--or of
 giving up his copyrights to the public 
and receiving a fixed income1 a         
respectable mediocre income1 #hjj or    
#ajjj for example4  ,that means four    
hundred or more subsidized authors for  
,great ,britain1 which would work out1  
perhaps1 as eighteen or twenty every    
year1 and a proportionate number for    
,america and the ,colonial ,states of   
the ,british ,empire4 ,suppose1 further1
 that from this general body of authors 
we draw every year four or five of the  
seniors to form a sort of ,academy1 a   
higher stage of honour and income2 this 
would probably give something under a   
hundred on this higher stage4 ,taking   
the income of the two stages as #ajjj   

and #bjjj respectively1 this would work 
out at about #ejj1jjj a year for ,great 
,britain--a quite trivial addition to   
what is already spent on educational    
work4 ,a scheme that would provide for  
widows and children whose education was 
unfinished1 and for the official        
printing and sale of correct texts of   
the books written1 would still fall     
within the dimensions of a million      
pounds4 ,i am assuming this will be done
 quite in addition to the natural growth
 of ,universities and ,colleges1 to the 
evolution of great text-books and       
criticism1 and to the organization and  
publication of special research in      
science and letters4 ,this is to be an  
endowment specifically for unspecialized
 literature1 for untechnical philosophy 
that is1 and the creative imagination4  
,it must not be imagined that such an   
endowment would be a new payment1 by the
 community4 ,in all probability we are  
already paying as much1 or more1 to     
authors1 in the form of royalties1 of   

serial fees1 and the like4 ,we are      
paying now with an unjust unevenness--we
 starve the new and deep and overpay the
 trite and obvious4 ,moreover1 the      
community would have something in       
exchange for its money2 it would have   
the copyright of the works written4 ,it 
may be suggested that by a very simple  
device a large proportion of these      
payments could be recovered4 ,suppose   
that all books1 whether copyright or    
not1 and all periodicals sold above a   
certain price--sixpence1 let us say--had
 to bear a defaced stamp of--for        
example--a halfpenny for each shilling  
of price4 ,this would probably yield a  
revenue almost sufficient to cover these
 literary pensions4 ,in addition the    
books of the pensioned authors might    
bear an additional stamp as the         
equivalent of the present royalty4  ,the
 annual selection of eighteen or twenty 
authors might very well be a dispersed  
duty4 ,one or two each might be         
appointed in some way by grouped        

,universities1 or by three or four of   
the ,universities taken in rotation1 by 
such a ,guild of ,authors as we have    
already considered1 by the ,british     
,academy of ,history and ,philosophy1 by
 the ,royal ,society1 by the ,british   
,privy ,council4 ,the ,jury system would
 probably be of very great value in     
making these appointments4  ,that is a  
rough sketch of a possible              
scheme--presented in the most           
open-minded way4 ,it would not meet all 
conceivable cases1 so it would need to  
be supplemented in many directions2     
moreover1 it is presented with hideous  
crudity1 but for all that1 would not    
something of the sort work well8 ,how   
would it work8 ,there would certainly be
 a great diminution in the output of    
written matter from the thousand or more
 recognized writers this would give us1 
and almost as certainly a great rise in 
effort and deliberation1 in distinction1
 quality1 and value in their work4 ,this
 would also appear in the work of their 

ambitious juniors4 ,would it extinguish 
anything8 ,i do not see that it would4  
,those who write trivially for the      
pleasure of the public would be just as 
well off as they are now1 and there     
would be no more difficulty than there  
is at present for those who begin       
writing4 ,less1 indeed2 for the thousand
 subsidized writers1 at least1 would not
 be clamorously competing to fill up    
magazines and libraries2 they might set 
a higher and more difficult standard1   
but they would leave more space about   
them4 ,the thing would scarcely affect  
the development of publishing and book  
distribution1 nor injure nor            
stimulate--except by raising the        
standard and ideals of                  
writing--newspapers1 magazines1 and     
their contributors in any way4  ,i do   
not believe for one moment the thing    
would stop at such a subsidized body of 
authors1 such a little aristocracy of   
thought1 as this project presents4 ,but 
it would be an efficient starting-point4

 ,there are those who demand a thinking 
department for ,army and ,navy2 and that
 idea admits of extension in this       
direction1 this organized general       
literature of mine would be the thinking
 organization of the race4 ,once this   
deliberate organization of a central    
ganglion of interpretation and          
presentation began1 the development of  
the brain and nervous system in the     
social body would proceed apace4 ,each  
step made would enable the next step to 
be wider and bolder4 ,the general       
innervation of society with books and   
book distributing agencies would be     
followed by the linking up of the now   
almost isolated mental worlds of        
science1 art1 and political and social  
activity in a system of                 
intercommunication and sympathy4  ,we   
have now already in the history of the  
world one successful experiment in the  
correlation of human endeavour4 ,compare
 all that was accomplished in material  
science by the isolated work of the     

great men before ,lord ,verulam1 and    
what has been done since the system of  
isolated inquiry gave place to a free   
exchange of ideas and collective        
discussion4 ,and this is only one field 
of mental activity and one aspect of    
social needs4 ,the rest of the          
intellectual world is still unorganized4
 ,the rest of the moral and intellectual
 being of man is dwarfed and cowed by   
the enormous disproportionate           
development of material science and its 
economic and social consequences4 ,what 
if we extend that same spirit of        
organization and free reaction to the   
whole world of human thought and        
emotion8 ,that is the greater question  
at which this project of literary       
endowment aims4  ,it may seem to the    
reader that all this insistence upon the
 supreme necessity for an organized     
literature springs merely from the      
obsession of a writer by his own        
calling1 but1 indeed1 that is not so4   
,we who write are not all so blinded by 

conceit of ourselves that we do not know
 something of our absolute personal     
value4 ,we are lizards in an empty      
palace1 frogs crawling over a throne4   
,but it is a palace1 it is a throne1    
and1 it may be1 the reverberation of our
 ugly voices will presently awaken the  
world to put something better in our    
place4 ,because we write abominably     
under pressure and for unhonoured bread1
 none the less we are making the future4
 ,we are making it atrociously no doubt2
 we are not ignorant of that            
possibility1 but some of us1 at least1  
would like to do it better4 ,we know    
only too well how that we are out of    
touch with scholarship and              
contemplation4 ,we must drive our pens  
to live and push and bawl to be heard4  
,we must blunder against men an ampler  
training on either side would have made 
our allies1 we must smart and lose our  
tempers and do the foolish things that  
are done in the heat of the day4 ,for   
all that1 according to our lights1 we   

who write are trying to save our world  
in a lack of better saviours1 to change 
this mental tumult into an order of     
understanding and intention in which    
great things may grow4 ,the thought of a
 community is the life of that          
community1 and if the collective thought
 of a community is disconnected and     
fragmentary1 then the community is      
collectively vain and weak4 ,that does  
not constitute an incidental defect1 but
 essential failure4 ,though that        
community have cities such as the world 
has never seen before1 fleets and hosts 
and glories1 though it count its        
soldiers by the army corps and its      
children by the million1 yet if it hold 
not to the reality of thought and       
formulated will beneath these outward   
things1 it will pass1 and all its       
glories will pass1 like smoke before the
 wind1 like mist beneath the sun2 it    
will become at last only one more vague 
and fading dream upon the scroll of     
time1 a heap of mounds and pointless    

history1 even as are ,babylon and       
,nineveh4     ,,xi4 ,,the ,,man',s ,,own
 ,,share   ,in this manner it is that   
the initial proposition of ,new         
,republicanism works itself out4 ,it    
shapes into the rough outline of an     
ideal new state1 a ,new ,republic1 a    
great confederation of ,english-speaking
 republican communities1 each with its  
non-hereditary aristocracy1 scattered   
about the world1 speaking a common      
language1 possessing a common literature
 and a common scientific and1 in its    
higher stages at least1 a common        
educational organization1 and it        
indicates in crude1 broad suggestions   
the way towards that state from the     
present condition of things4 ,it insists
 as a cardinal necessity1 not indeed as 
an end but as an indispensable          
instrument by which this world state    
must be made and sustained1 upon a      
great1 a contemporary1 and a universally
 accessible literature1 a literature not
 simply of thought and science but of   

power1 which shall embody and make real 
and living the sustaining dreams of the 
coming time1 and which shall draw       
together and bring into intelligent     
correlation all those men and women who 
are working now discontentedly and      
wastefully towards a better order of    
life4 ,for1 indeed1 a great number of   
men and women are already working for   
this ,new ,republic1 working with the   
most varied powers and temperaments and 
formul1 to raise the standard of housing
 and the standard of living1 to enlarge 
our knowledge of the means by which     
better births may be attained1 to know  
more1 to educate better1 to train       
better1 to write good books for         
teachers1 to organize our schools1 to   
make our laws simpler and more honest1  
to clarify our political life1 to test  
and reorganize all our social rules and 
conventions1 to adjust property to new  
conditions1 to improve our language1 to 
increase intercourse of all sorts1 to   
give our ideals the justice of a noble  

presentation2 at a thousand points the  
,new ,republic already starts into      
being4 ,and while we scattered pioneers 
and experimenters piece together our    
scattered efforts into a coherent       
scheme1 while we become more and more   
clearly conscious of our common purpose1
 year by year the old order and those   
who have anchylosed to the old order1   
die and pass away1 and the unhampered   
children of the new time grow up about  
us4  ,in a few years this that ,i call  
,new ,republicanism here1 under ,i know 
not what final name1 will have become a 
great world movement conscious of itself
 and consistent within itself1 and we   
who are making now the crude discovery  
of its possibility will be working      
towards its realization in our thousand 
different ways and positions4 ,and      
coming to our help1 to reinforce us1 to 
supersede us1 to take the growing task  
out of our hands will come youth1 will  
come our sons and daughters and those   
for whom we have written our books1 for 

whom we have taught in our schools1 for 
whom we have founded and ordered        
libraries1 toiled in laboratories1 and  
in waste places and strange lands2 for  
whom we have made saner and cleaner     
homes and saner and cleaner social and  
political arrangements1 foregoing a     
hundred comfortable acquiescences that  
these things might be done4 ,youth will 
come to take over the work from us and  
go on with it in a bolder and ampler    
manner than we in these limited days    
dare to attempt4  ,assuredly youth will 
come to us1 if this is indeed to be the 
dawn of a new time4 ,without the high   
resolve of youth1 without the constant  
accession of youth1 without recuperative
 power1 no sustained forward movement is
 possible in the world4 ,it is to youth1
 therefore1 that this book is finally   
addressed1 to the adolescents1 to the   
students1 to those who are yet in the   
schools and who will presently come to  
read it1 to those who being still       
plastic can understand the infinite     

plasticity of the world4 ,it is those   
who are yet unmade who must become the  
makers4 ,after thirty there are few     
conversions and fewer fine beginnings2  
men and women go on in the path they    
have marked out for themselves4 ,their  
imaginations have become firm and rigid 
even if they have not withered1 and     
there is no turning them from the       
conviction of their brief experience    
that almost all that is1 is inexorably  
so4 ,accomplished things obsess us more 
and more4 ,what man or woman over thirty
 in ,great ,britain dares to hope for a 
republic before it is time to die8 ,yet 
the thing might be4 ,or for the reunion 
of the ,english-speaking peoples8 ,or   
for the deliverance of all of our blood 
and speech from those fouler things than
 chattel slavery1 child and adolescent  
labour8 ,or for an infantile death-rate 
under ninety in the thousand and all    
that would mean in the common life8     
,these and a hundred such things are    
coming now1 but only the young know how 

near they may be brought to us4 ,as for 
us others1 we plant a tree never        
believing we shall eat the fruit1 we    
build a house never hoping to live      
therein4 ,the desert1 we believe in our 
hearts1 is our home and our destined    
grave1 and whatever we see of the       
,promised ,land we must see through the 
eyes of the young4  ,with each year of  
their lives they come more distinctly   
into conscious participation with our   
efforts4 ,those soft little creatures   
that we have figured grotesquely as     
dropping from an inexorable spout into  
our world1 those weak and wailing lumps 
of pink flesh more helpless than any    
animal1 for whom we have planned better 
care1 a better chance of life1 better   
conditions of all sorts1 those laval    
souls who are at first helpless clay in 
our hands1 presently insensibly have    
become helpers beside us in the         
struggle4 ,in a little while they are   
beautiful children1 they are boys and   
girls and youths and maidens1 full of   

the zest of new life1 full of an        
abundant1 joyful receptivity4 ,in a     
little while they are walking with us1  
seeking to know whither we go1 and      
whither we lead them1 and why4 ,our     
account of the men-makers is not        
complete until we add to birth and      
school and world1 the increasing element
 of deliberate co-operation in the man  
or woman we are seeking to make4 ,in a  
little while they are young men and     
women1 and then men and women1 save for 
a fresher vigour1 like ourselves4 ,for  
us it comes at last to fellowship and   
resignation4 ,for them it comes at last 
to responsibility1 to freedom1 and to   
introspection and the searching of      
hearts4 ,we must if we would be         
men-makers1 as the first and immediate  
part of the business1 correct and finish
 ourselves4 ,the good ,new ,republican  
must needs ask and ask repeatedly3 ,what
 have ,i done and what am ,i doing with 
myself while ,i tamper with the lives of
 others8 ,his self-examination will be  

no monstrous egotism of perfectibility1 
indeed1 no virtuosity of virtue1 no     
exquisite retreat and slinking 8out of  
the race1 where that immortal garland is
 to be run for1 not without dust and    
heat40 ,but he will seek perpetually to 
gauge his quality1 he will watch to see 
himself the master of his habits and of 
his powers2 he will take his brain1     
blood1 body1 and lineage as a trust to  
be administered for the world4 ,to know 
all one can of one's self in relation to
 the world about one1 to think out all  
one can1 to take nothing for granted    
except by reason of one's unavoidable   
limitations1 to be swift1 indeed1 but   
not hasty1 to be strong but not violent1
 to be as watchful of one's self as it  
is given one to be1 is the manifest duty
 of all who would subserve the ,new     
,republic4 ,for the ,new ,republican1 as
 for his forerunner the ,puritan1       
conscience and discipline must saturate 
life4 ,he must be ruled by duties and a 
certain ritual in life4 ,every day and  

every week he must set aside time to    
read and to think1 to commune with      
others and himself1 he must be as       
jealous of his health and strength as   
the ,levites of old4 ,can we in this    
generation make but a few thousands of  
such men and women1 men and women who   
are not afraid to live1 men and women   
with a common faith and a common        
understanding1 then1 indeed1 our work   
will be done4 ,they will in their own   
time take this world as a sculptor takes
 his marble and shape it better than all
 our dreams4   ,,the ,,end              
,,appendix  ,a ,,paper ,,on             
,,administrative ,,areas ,,read ,,before
 ,,the ,,fabian ,,society  ,footnote3 ,i
 am indebted to ,mr4 ,e4 ,r4 ,pease for 
some valuable corrections4--,h4 ,g4 ,w4 
,let me begin this paper upon the       
question of ,scientific ,administrative 
areas in relation to municipal          
undertakings by defining the sort of    
,socialism ,i profess4 ,because1 you    
know1 it is quite impossible to conceal 

that there are very many different sorts
 of socialism1 and your society is1 and 
has long been1 a remarkably             
representative collection of the various
 types4 ,we have this much in common1   
however1 that we insist upon and hammer 
home and never lose sight of the fact   
that ,property is a purely provisional  
and law-made thing1 and that the law and
 the community which has given may also1
 at its necessity1 take away4 ,the work 
which the ,socialist movement has done  
is to secure the general repudiation of 
any idea of sacredness about property4  
,but upon the extent to which it is     
convenient to sanction a certain amount 
of property1 and the ways in which      
existing excesses of property are to be 
reduced1 ,socialists differ enormously4 
,there are certain extreme expressions  
of ,socialism that you will connect with
 the names of ,owen and ,fourier1 and   
with ,noyes's 8,history of ,american    
,socialism10 in which the abolition of  
monopoly is carried out with logical    

completeness to the abolition of        
marriage1 and in which the idea seems to
 be to extend the limits of the ,family 
and of intimate intercourse to include  
all humanity4 ,with these ,socialisms ,i
 have nothing in common4 ,there are a   
large number of such questions          
concerning the constitution of the      
family upon which ,i retain an open and 
inquiring mind1 and to which ,i find the
 answers of the established order1 if   
not always absolutely incorrect1 at any 
rate glaringly incomplete and totally   
inadequate2 but ,i do not find the      
answers of these ,socialistic           
,communities in any degree more         
satisfactory4  ,there are1 however1 more
 limited ,socialisms1 systems which deal
 mainly with economic organizations1    
which recognize the rights of           
individuals to possessions of a personal
 sort1 and which assume without detailed
 discussion the formation of family     
groups within the general community4    
,there are limited socialisms whose     

repudiation of property affects only the
 common interests of the community1 the 
land it occupies1 the services in which 
all are interested1 the necessary       
minimum of education1 and the sanitary  
and economic interaction of one person  
or family group upon another2 socialisms
 which1 in fact1 come into touch with an
 intelligent individualism1 and which   
are based on the attempt to ensure      
equality of opportunity and freedom for 
complete individual development to every
 citizen4 ,such socialists look not so  
much to the abolition of property as to 
the abolition of inheritance1 and to the
 intelligent taxation of property for   
the services of the community4 ,it is   
among such moderate socialists that ,i  
would number myself4 ,i would make no   
hard and fast rule with regard to any   
portion of the material and apparatus   
used in the service of a community4     
,with regard to any particular service  
or concern1 ,i would ask1 ,is it more   
convenient1 more likely to lead to      

economy and efficiency1 to let this     
service rest in the hands of some single
 person or group of persons who may     
offer to do the service or administer   
the concern1 and whom we will call the  
owners1 or to place it in the hands of  
some single person or group of persons1 
elected or chosen by lot1 whom we will  
call the official or group of officials8
 ,and if you were to suggest some method
 of election that would produce         
officials that1 on the whole1 were      
likely to manage worse than private     
owners1 and to waste more than the      
private owner's probable profits1 ,i    
should say then by all means leave the  
service or concern in private hands4    
,you see upon this principle the whole  
question of the administration of any   
affair turns upon the question1 ,which  
will give the maximum efficiency8 ,it is
 very easy to say1 and it stirs the     
heart and produces cheering in crowded  
meetings to say1 8,let everything be    
owned by all and controlled by all for  

the good of all10 and for the general   
purposes of a meeting it is quite       
possible to say that and nothing more4  
,but if you sit down quietly by yourself
 afterwards and try and imagine things  
being 8owned by all and controlled by   
all for the good of all10 you will      
presently arrive at the valuable        
discovery in social and political       
science that the phrase means nothing   
whatever4 ,it is also very striking1 on 
such rhetorical occasions1 to oppose the
 private owner to the community or the  
state or the municipality1 and to       
suppose all the vices of humanity       
concentrated in private ownership1 and  
all the virtues of humanity concentrated
 in the community1 but indeed that clear
 and striking contrast will not stand   
the rough-and-tumble of the workaday    
world4 ,a little examination of the     
matter will make it clear that the      
contrast lies between private owners and
 public officials--you must have        
officials1 because you can't settle a   

railway time-table or make a bridge by  
public acclamation--and even there you  
will find it is not a simple question of
 the white against black order4 ,even in
 our state to-day there are few private 
owners who have absolute freedom to do  
what they like with their possessions1  
and there are few public officials who  
have not a certain freedom and a certain
 sense of proprietorship in their       
departments1 and in fact1 as            
distinguished from rhetoric1 there is   
every possible gradation between the one
 thing and the other4 ,we have to clear 
our minds of misleading terms in this   
affair4 ,a clipped and regulated private
 ownership--a private company1 for      
example1 with completely published      
accounts1 taxed dividends1 with a public
 representative upon its board of       
directors and parliamentary powers--may 
be an infinitely more honest1 efficient1
 and controllable public service than a 
badly elected or badly appointed board  
of governors of officials4 ,we may--and 

,i for one do--think that a number of   
public services1 an increasing number of
 public services1 can be best           
administered as public concerns4 ,most  
of us here to-night are1 ,i believe1    
pretty advanced municipalizers4 ,but it 
does not follow that we believe that any
 sort of representative or official body
 pitched into any sort of area is       
necessarily better than any sort of     
private control4 ,the more we are       
disposed to municipalize1 the more      
incumbent it is upon us to search out1  
study1 and invent1 and to work to       
develop the most efficient public bodies
 possible4 ,and my case to-night is1    
that the existing local government      
bodies1 your town councils1 borough     
councils1 urban district boards1 and so 
forth1 are1 for the purposes of         
municipalization1 far from being the    
best possible bodies1 and that even your
 county councils fall short1 that by    
their very nature all these bodies must 
fall far short of the highest possible  

efficiency1 and that as time goes on    
they must fail even more than they do   
now to discharge the duties we ,fabians 
would like to thrust upon them4 ,and the
 general reason upon which ,i would have
 you condemn these bodies and seek for  
some newer and ampler ones before you   
press the municipalization of public    
concerns to its final trial1 is         
this--that their areas of activity are  
impossibly small4  ,the areas within    
which we shape our public activities at 
present1 derive1 ,i hold1 from the needs
 and conditions of a past order of      
things4 ,they have been patched and     
repaired enormously1 but they still     
preserve the essential conceptions of a 
vanished organization4 ,they have been  
patched and repaired first to meet this 
urgent specific necessity and then that1
 and never with any comprehensive       
anticipation of coming needs1 and at    
last they have become absolutely        
impossible4 ,they are like              
fifteenth-century houses which have been

 continuously occupied by a succession  
of enterprising but short-sighted and   
close-fisted owners1 and which have now 
been1 with the very slightest use of    
lath-and-plaster partitions and geyser  
hot-water apparatus1 converted into     
modern residential flats4 ,these local  
government areas of to-day represent for
 the most part what were once distinct1 
distinctly organized1 and individualized
 communities1 complete minor economic   
systems1 and they preserve a tradition  
of what was once administrative         
convenience and economy4 ,to-day1 ,i    
submit1 they do not represent           
communities at all1 and they become more
 wasteful and more inconvenient with    
every fresh change in economic          
necessity4  ,this is a double change4   
,let me first of all say a word in      
justification for my first assertion    
that existing areas do not represent    
communities1 and then pass to a         
necessary consequence or so of this     
fact4 ,i submit that before the         

railways1 that is to say in the days in 
which the current conception of local   
government areas arose1 the villages1   
and still more the boroughs1 and even   
the counties1 were practically complete 
minor economic systems4 ,the wealth of  
the locality was1 roughly speaking1     
local2 rich people resided in contact   
with their property1 other people lived 
in contact with their work1 and it was a
 legitimate assumption that a radius of 
a mile or so1 or of a few miles1        
circumscribed most of the practical     
interests of all the inhabitants of a   
locality4 ,you got rich and poor in     
visible relationships2 you got landlord 
and tenant1 you got master and workman  
all together4 ,but now1 through a       
revolution in the methods of locomotion1
 and chiefly through the making of      
railways1 this is no longer true4 ,you  
can still see the villages and towns    
separated by spaces of fields and       
physically distinct1 but it is no longer
 the case that all who dwell in these   

old limits are essentially local        
inhabitants and mutually interdependent 
as once they would have been4 ,a large  
proportion of our population to-day1 a  
large and an increasing proportion1 has 
no localized interests at all as an     
eighteenth-century person would have    
understood locality4  ,take for example 
,guildford1 or ,folkestone1 and you will
 find that possibly even more than half 
the wealth in the place is non-local    
wealth--wealth1 that is1 having no      
relation to the local production of     
wealth--and that a large majority of the
 more educated1 intelligent and active  
inhabitants derive their income1 spend  
their energies1 and find their absorbing
 interests outside the locality4 ,they  
may rent or own houses1 but they have no
 reality of participation and little    
illusion of participation in any local  
life4 ,you will find in both towns a    
considerable number of hotels1 inns1 and
 refreshment places which1 although they
 are regulated by local magistrates upon

 a basis of one license to so many      
inhabitants1 derive only a small        
fraction of their profits from the      
custom of the inhabitants4 ,you find too
 in ,folkestone1 as in most seaside     
places1 a great number of secondary     
schools1 drawing scarcely a pupil from  
the neighbourhood4 ,and on the other    
hand you will find labour in both towns1
 coming in by a morning train and going 
out at night4 ,and neither of these     
instances is an extreme type4 ,as you   
come in towards ,london you will find   
the proportion of what ,i would call    
non-local inhabitants increasing until  
in ,brixton1 ,hoxton1 or ,west ,ham you 
will find the really localized people a 
mere thread in the mass of the          
population4 ,probably you find the      
thinnest sham of a community in the     
,london boroughs1 where a clerk or a    
working man will shift his sticks from  
one borough to another and move on to a 
third without ever discovering what he  
has done4 ,it is not that all these     

people do not belong to a community1 but
 that they belong to a larger community 
of a new type which your administrators 
have failed to discover1 and which your 
working theory of local government      
ignores4 ,this is a question ,i have    
already written about with some         
completeness in a book published a year 
or so ago1 and called 8,anticipations10 
and in that book you will find a more   
lengthy exposition than ,i can give here
 and now of the nature of this          
expansion4 ,but the gist of the argument
 is that the distribution of population1
 the method of aggregation in a         
community1 is determined almost entirely
 by the available means of locomotion4  
,the maximum size of any community of   
regular daily intercourse is determined 
by the length of something that ,i may  
best suggest to your mind by the        
phrase--the average possible suburban   
journey in an hour4 ,a town1 for        
example1 in which the only method of    
progression is on foot along crowded    

ways1 will be denser in population and  
smaller in area than one with wide      
streets and a wheeled traffic1 and that 
again will be denser and compacter than 
one with numerous tubes1 trams1 and     
light railways4 ,every improvement in   
locomotion forces the suburban ring of  
houses outward1 and relieves the        
pressure of the centre4 ,now1 this      
principle of expanding communities holds
 not only in regard to towns1 but also  
on the agricultural country side4       
,there1 also1 facilities for the more   
rapid collection of produce mean finally
 the expansion and coalescence of what  
were previously economic unities4  ,now 
if1 while this expansion of the real    
communities goes on1 you keep to the old
 boundary lines1 you will find an       
increasing proportion of your population
 straddling those lines4 ,you will find 
that many people who once slept and     
worked and reared their children and    
worshipped and bought all in one area1  
are now1 as it were1 delocalized2 they  

have overflowed their containing        
locality1 and they live in one area1    
they work in another1 and they go to    
shop in a third4 ,and the only way in   
which you can localize them again is to 
expand your areas to their new scale4   
,this is a change in human conditions   
that has been a very distinctive event  
in the history of the past century1 and 
it is still in progress4 ,but ,i think  
there is excellent reason for supposing 
that for practical purposes this change1
 made by the railway and the motor1 this
 development of local locomotion1 will  
reach a definite limit in the next      
hundred years4 ,we are witnessing the   
completion of a great development that  
has altered the average possible        
suburban journey in an hour from one of 
four or five miles to one of thirty     
miles1 and ,i doubt very much whether1  
when every tendency of expansion has    
been reckoned with1 this average hour   
journey will ever get much beyond sixty 
or seventy miles an hour4 ,a radius of  

four or five miles marked the maximum   
size of the old community4 ,a radius of 
a hundred miles will certainly mark the 
maximum of the new community4 ,and so it
 is no effectual answer to my general   
argument to say that a revision of      
administrative areas always has been and
 always will be a public necessity4 ,to 
a certain extent that always has been   
and always will be true1 but on a scale 
in no way comparable to the scale on    
which it is true to-day1 because of     
these particular inventions4 ,this need 
in its greatness is a peculiar feature  
of the present time1 and a peculiar     
problem of the present time4 ,the       
municipal areas that were convenient in 
the ,babylonian1 ancient ,egyptian1 or  
,roman empires were no larger and no    
smaller than those that served the      
purpose of seventeenth-century ,europe1 
and ,i believe it is highly probable--,i
 think the odds are in favour of the    
belief--that the most convenient        
administrative areas of the year #bjjj  

will be no larger and no smaller than   
those for many subsequent centuries4 ,we
 are1 in this respect1 in the full flow 
of a great and permanent transition4    
,and the social and political aspect of 
the change1 is this steadily increasing 
proportion of people--more especially in
 our suburban areas--who are1 so far as 
our old divisions go1 delocalized4 ,they
 represent1 in fact1 a community of a   
new sort1 the new great modern          
community1 which is seeking to establish
 itself in the room of the dwindling1   
little1 highly localized communities of 
the past4  ,now what are the practical  
consequences of this large and          
increasing non-local element in your old
 local government areas8 ,first1 there  
is this4 ,the non-local people do not   
follow1 have neither the time1 nor the  
freedom1 nor the stimulus of sufficient 
interests to follow1 local politics4    
,they are a sort of ,outlanders4 ,local 
politics remain therefore more and more 
in the hands of the dwindling section of

 people whose interests really are      
circumscribed by the locality4 ,these   
are usually the small local tradesmen1  
the local building trade1 sometimes a   
doctor and always a solicitor2 and the  
most energetic and active and capable of
 these1 and the one with the keenest eye
 to business1 is usually the solicitor4 
,whatever you put into the hands of a   
local authority--education1 lighting1   
communications--you necessarily put into
 the hands of a group of this sort4     
,here and there1 of course1 there may be
 variations2 an organized labour vote   
may send in a representative1 or some   
gentleman of leisure and philanthropic  
tastes1 like ,mr4 ,bernard ,shaw1 may   
confer distinction upon local           
deliberations1 but that will not alter  
the general state of affairs4 ,the state
 of affairs you must expect as the      
general rule1 is local control by petty 
local interests1 a state of affairs that
 will certainly intensify in the years  
to come1 unless some revision of areas  

can be contrived that will overtake the 
amplifying interests of the delocalized 
section of the population4  ,let me     
point out what is probably the result of
 a dim recognition of this fact by the  
non-local population1 and that is the   
extreme jealousy of rates and municipal 
trading by the less localized paying    
classes in the community4 ,that is a    
question we ,socialists1 believing as we
 do all of us at least in the abstract  
theory of municipalization1 must        
particularly consider4 ,the easy        
exasperation of the #ajjj-;a-year man at
 the rates and his extreme patience     
under ,imperial taxation is             
incomprehensible1 unless you recognize  
this fact of his delocalization4 ,then  
at once it becomes clear4 ,he penetrates
 the pretences of the system to a       
certain extent2 and he is infuriated by 
the fact of taxation without            
representation1 tempered by a           
mysteriously ineffective voting paper   
left at his door4 ,i myself1 as one of  

the delocalized class1 will confess he  
has my sympathy4 ,and those who believe 
in the idea of the ultimate             
municipalization of most large          
industries1 will continue to find in    
this non-localized class1 working       
especially through the medium of        
,parliament1 a persistent and effective 
obstruction to all such projects1 unless
 such a rectification of areas can be   
contrived as will overtake the          
delocalization and the diffusion of     
interests that has been and is still    
going on4 ,i will confess that it seems 
to me that this opposition between the  
localized and the non-localized classes 
in the future1 or to be more correct1   
the opposition between the man whose    
ideas and life lie in a small area1 and 
the man whose ideas and life lie in a   
great area1 is likely to give us that   
dividing line in politics for which so  
many people are looking to-day4 ,for    
this question of areas has its ,imperial
 as well as its local side4 ,you have   

already seen the ,liberal party split   
upon the ,transvaal question2 you       
yourselves have--,i am told--experienced
 some slight parallel tendency to       
fission1 and it is interesting to note  
that this was1 after all1 only another  
aspect of this great question of areas1 
which ,i would now discuss in relation  
to municipal trading4 ,the small        
communities are fighting for existence  
and their dear little ways1 the         
synthetic great communities are fighting
 to come into existence1 and to absorb  
the small communities4 ,and curiously   
enough at our last meeting you heard    
,mr4 ,belloc1 with delightful wit and   
subtlety1 expounding the very antithesis
 of the conceptions ,i am presenting    
to-night4 ,mr4 ,belloc--who has         
evidently never read his                
,malthus--dreams of a beautiful little  
village community of peasant            
proprietors1 each sticking like a       
barnacle to his own little bit of       
property1 beautifully healthy and simple

 and illiterate and ,roman ,catholic and
 local1 local over the ears4 ,i am      
afraid the stars in their courses fight 
against such pink and golden dreams4    
,every tramway1 every new twopenny tube1
 every light railway1 every improvement 
in your omnibus services1 in your       
telephonic services1 in your            
organization of credit1 increases the   
proportion of your delocalized class1   
and sucks the ebbing life from your old 
communities into the veins of the new4  
,well1 you may say1 no doubt this is    
right so far as it goes2 existing local 
government areas do not represent real  
countries1 but still these local        
government devices are of service for   
cutting up and distributing             
administrative work4 ,but that is       
exactly what they are not4 ,they are    
worse when you consider them in regard  
to function1 than when you consider them
 in regard to representation4 ,since our
 conceptions of what constitutes a local
 administrative area were developed     

there has arisen the problems of water  
supply and of organized sewage1 of      
railways1 tramways1 and communications  
generally1 and of lighting and          
telephonic intercourse2 there hangs over
 us1 though the average local authority 
has no eyes to see it1 the necessity of 
adapting our roads to accommodate an    
increasing new traffic of soft-tyred    
vehicles1 and it is not improbable that 
heating by wholesale1 either by gas or  
electricity1 will presently be also     
possible and desirable4 ,for all these  
things we need wide views1 wide minds   
and wide areas1 and still more do we    
want wide views for the business of     
education that is now also coming into  
the sphere of local administration4  ,it
 happens that ,i have had an            
object-lesson in this matter of local   
government2 and indeed it is my         
object-lesson that has led to this paper
 to-night4 ,i live upon the boundary    
line of the ,sandgate ,urban ,district  
,board1 a minute authority with a       

boundary line that appears to have been 
determined originally about #ahej by    
mapping out the wanderings of an        
intoxicated excursionist1 and which--the
 only word is interdigitates--with the  
borough of ,folkestone1 the ,urban      
,district of ,cheriton1 and the borough 
of ,hythe4 ,each of these bodies is by  
way of being a tramway authority1 each  
is at liberty to secure powers to set up
 generating stations and supply         
electricity1 each is a water authority1 
and each does its own little drainage1  
and the possibilities of friction and   
litigation are endless4 ,the four places
 constitute an urban area greatly in    
need of organized intercommunication1   
but the four authorities have never been
 able to agree upon a scheme2 and now   
,folkestone is concerning itself with   
the project of a little internal tramway
 system all of its very own4 ,sandgate  
has succumbed to the spell of the ,south
 ,eastern ,railway ,company1 and has    
come into line with a project that will 

necessitate a change of cars at the     
,folkestone boundary4 ,folkestone has   
conceded its electrical supply to a     
company1 but ,sandgate1 on this issue1  
stands out gallantly for municipal      
trading1 and proposes to lay down a     
plant and set up a generating station   
all by itself to supply a population of 
sixteen hundred people1 mostly indigent4
 ,in the meanwhile1 ,sandgate refuses   
its inhabitants the elementary          
convenience of the electric light1 and  
when1 quite inadvertently1 ,i connected 
across the convolutions of the boundary 
with the ,folkestone supply1 my life was
 darkened by the threat of impossible   
litigation4 ,but if ,folkestone         
repudiates municipal enterprise in the  
matter of lighting1 ,i gather it does   
not do so in the matter of telephones2  
and there has been talk of a neat little
 ,folkestone telephonic system competing
 against the ,national ,telephone       
,company1 a compact little conversazione
 of perhaps a hundred people1 rate      

sustained4 ,and how is the non-local    
inhabitant to come into these things8   
,the intelligent non-local inhabitant   
can only save his two or three pounds of
 contribution to this folly or that by  
putting in twenty or thirty pounds'     
worth of work in local politics4 ,he has
 no local connections1 no local         
influence1 he hasn't a chance against   
the plumber4 ,when the house ,i occupy  
was built1 it was a mere interposition  
of ,providence that the drain did not go
 southward into a ,folkestone sewer     
instead of northward into ,sandgate4    
,heaven knows what would have happened  
if it had6 ,i and my neighbours are by a
 special concession permitted to have   
water from the ,folkestone source4 ,by  
incessant vigilance we do1 ,i believe1  
usually succeed in deducting the        
,folkestone water rate from the         
,sandgate general rate which covers     
water1 but the wear and tear is         
enormous4 ,however1 these are details1  
dear to my heart1 but the merest        

marginal comments to my argument4 ,the  
essential fact is the impracticable     
silliness of these little divisions1 the
 waste of men1 the waste of nervous     
energy1 the waste of administrative     
energy they involve4 ,i am convinced    
that in the case of almost any public   
service in the ,folkestone district with
 our present boundaries1 the            
administrative waste will more than     
equal the profit of a private company   
with parliamentary powers overriding our
 local authorities2 that if it is simply
 a choice between these little bodies   
and a company 7of the common type even71
 then in lighting1 locomotion1 and      
indeed in almost any general public     
service1 ,i would say1 8give me the     
company40 ,with companies one may hope  
to deal later2 they will not stand in   
the way of developing saner areas1 but  
an obstinate little authority clutching 
everything in its hands1 and led by a   
clerk naturally interested in           
litigation1 and who is also something of

 an expert in political organization1   
will be an altogether harder thing to   
supersede4  ,this difficulty in greater 
or lesser degree is everywhere4 ,in the 
case of poor law administration in      
particular1 and also in the case of     
elementary education1 the whole country 
displays what is another aspect of this 
same general phenomenon of              
delocalization2 the withdrawal of all   
the wealthier people from the areas that
 are specializing as industrial centres1
 and which have a rising population of  
poor workers1 to areas that are         
specializing as residential1 and which  
have1 if anything1 a falling proportion 
of poor labourers4 ,in a place like     
,west ,ham or ,tottenham you find       
starved schools and an abundant         
delocalized industrial population1 and1 
by way of contrast1 at ,guildford or    
,farnham for example1 you will find     
enormously rich delocalized people1     
belonging to the same great community as
 these workers1 who pay only the most   

trivial poor rate and school rate for   
the benefit of their few immediate      
neighbours1 and escape altogether from  
the burthens of ,west ,ham4 ,by treating
 these places as separate communities   
you commit a cruel injustice on the     
poor4 ,so far as these things go1 to    
claim convenience for the existing areas
 is absurd4 ,and it is becoming more and
 more evident that with tramways1 with  
lighting1 with electric heating and     
force supply1 and with the supply of    
water to great populations1 there is an 
enormous advantage in large generating  
stations and large areas2 that these    
things must be handled in areas of      
hundreds of square miles to be          
efficiently done4  ,in the case of      
secondary and higher education one      
discovers an equal stress and           
incompatibility4 ,at present1 ,i must   
point out1 even the boundaries of the   
projected educational authority for     
,london are absurdly narrow4 ,for       
example1 in ,folkestone1 as in every    

town upon the south coast1 there are    
dozens of secondary schools that are    
purely ,london schools1 and filled with 
,london boys and girls1 and there are   
endless great schools like ,tonbridge   
and ,charterhouse outside the ,london   
area that are also ,london schools4 ,if 
you get1 for example1 a vigorous and    
efficient educational authority for     
,london1 and you raise a fine           
educational system in the ,london area1 
you will find it incomplete in an almost
 vital particular4 ,you will give the   
prosperous middle class and the upper   
class of ,london the alternative of good
 teaching and bad air1 or of what very  
probably1 under tolerant local          
authorities1 will be relatively bad     
teaching and open air and exercise out  
of ,london4 ,you will have to tax this  
influential class of people for the     
magnificent schools they in many cases  
will be unable to use4 ,as a            
consequence1 you will find again all the
 difficulties of their opposition1      

practically the same difficulties that  
arise so naturally in the way of        
municipal trading4 ,i would suggest that
 it would be not only logical but       
politic1 for the ,london ,educational   
,authority1 and not the local authority1
 to control every secondary school      
wherever it happened to be1 which in an 
average of years drew more than half its
 attendance from the ,london area4      
,that1 however1 by the way4 ,the point  
more material to my argument here is    
that the educational organization of the
 ,london area1 the ,thames valley1 and  
the southern counties are inseparable2  
that the question of local locomotion is
 rapidly becoming impossible upon any   
smaller basis than such an area2 that   
roads1 light railways1 drainage1 water1 
are all clamouring now to be dealt with 
on the big scale2 and that the more you 
cut this great area up1 the more you    
leave it in the hands of the localized  
men1 the more you sin against efficiency
 and the light4  ,i hope that you will  

consider this first part of my case     
proved4 ,and now ,i pass on to the more 
debatable question--the nature of the   
new divisions that are to replace the   
old4 ,i would suggest that this is a    
matter only to be answered in detail by 
an exhaustive analysis of the           
distribution of population in relation  
to economic standing1 but ,i may perhaps
 just indicate roughly what at a first  
glance ,i imagine would be one suitable 
local government area4 ,let me remind   
you that some years ago the             
,conservative party1 in an outbreak of  
intelligence1 did in a sort of          
transitory way see something of what ,i 
have been trying to express to-night1   
and created the ,london ,county         
,council--only to quarrel with it and   
hate it and fear it ever since4 ,well1  
my proposal would be to make a much     
greater area even than the ,london      
,county1 and try to include in it the   
whole system of what ,i might call the  
,london-centred population4 ,i believe  

,if you were to take the whole valley of
 the ,thames and its tributaries and    
draw a line along its boundary          
watershed1 and then include with that   
,sussex and ,surrey1 and the east coast 
counties up to the ,wash1 you would     
overtake and anticipate the delocalizing
 process almost completely4 ,you would  
have what has become1 or is becoming    
very rapidly1 a new urban region1 a     
complete community of the new type1 rich
 and poor and all sorts and aspects of  
economic life together4 ,i would suggest
 that watersheds make excellent         
boundaries4 ,let me remind you that     
railways1 tramways1 drain-pipes1        
water-pipes1 and high-roads have this in
 common--they will not climb over a     
watershed if they can possibly avoid    
doing so1 and that population and       
schools and poor tend always to         
distribute themselves in accordance with
 these other things4 ,you get the       
minimum of possible overlap--such       
overlap as the spreading out of the     

great midland city to meet ,london must 
some day cause--in this way4 ,i would   
suggest that for the regulation of      
sanitation1 education1 communications1  
industrial control1 and poor relief1 and
 for the taxation for these purposes1   
this area should be one1 governed by one
 body1 elected by local constituencies  
that would make its activities          
independent of imperial politics4 ,i    
propose that this body should replace   
your county councils1 boards of         
guardians1 urban and rural district     
councils1 and all the rest of them      
altogether2 that you should elect it1   
perhaps triennially1 once for all4 ,for 
any purpose of a more local sort1 local 
water-supply systems1 local tramway     
systems--the tramways between ,brighton 
and ,shoreham1 for example--this body   
might delegate its powers to subordinate
 committees1 consisting1 it has been    
suggested to me by ,mrs4 ,sidney ,webb1 
of the members for the local            
constituencies concerned1 together with 

another member or so to safeguard the   
general interests1 or perhaps with an   
appointed expert or so in addition4     
,these committees would submit their    
detailed schemes for the approval of    
committees appointed by the general     
body1 and they would be controllable by 
that body4 ,however1 there is no need   
for detailed scheming here and now4 ,let
 us keep to the main idea4  ,i submit   
that such a mammoth municipality as this
 will be1 on the one hand1 an enormously
 more efficient substitute for your     
present little local government bodies1 
and on the other hand1 will be able to  
take over a considerable proportion of  
the detailed work and a considerable    
proportion of the detailed machinery1 of
 your overworked and too extensive      
central machinery1 your local government
 board1 education department1 and board 
of trade4 ,it will be great enough and  
fine enough to revive the dying         
sentiment of local patriotism1 and it   
will be a body that will appeal to the  

ambition of the most energetic and      
capable men in the community4 ,they will
 be picked men1 to a much greater extent
 than are your guardians1 your urban    
district councillors and town           
councillors and so on1 at present1      
because there will be perhaps a hundred 
or a couple of hundred of them in the   
place of many thousands4 ,and ,i venture
 to think that in such a body you may   
confidently hope to find a collective   
intelligence that may be pitted against 
any trust or board of directors the     
world is likely to produce4  ,i suggest 
this body as a sort of concrete sample  
of the thing ,i have in mind4 ,i am     
quite open to hear and accept the most  
far-reaching modification of this       
scheme2 it is the idea of the scale that
 ,i wish particularly to enforce4       
,municipalize on this scale1 ,i would   
say1 and ,i am with you altogether4     
,here is something distinctly and       
clearly subserving that making of       
mankind upon which all sane social and  

political proposals must ultimately base
 themselves4 ,but to put more power1 and
 still more power in the hands of these 
petty little administrative bodies that 
we have to-day1 is1 ,i submit1 folly and
 darkness4 ,if the existing areas are to
 remain the same1 then1 on the whole1 my
 vote is against municipal trading1 and 
on the whole1 with regard to light1 to  
tramways and communications1 to         
telephones1 and indeed to nearly all    
such public services1 ,i would prefer to
 see these things in the hands of       
companies1 and ,i would stipulate only  
for the maximum publicity for their     
accounts and the fullest provision for  
detailed regulation through the ,board  
of ,trade4