,,the ,,false ,,assumptions ,,of 8,,democracy40 ,by ,,anthony ,m4 ,,ludovici 7,author of 8,a ,defence of ,aristocracy10 8,man's ,descent from the ,gods10 etc41 etc47 ,with an ,,introductory ,,letter from the ,right ,hon4 ,lord ,willoughby de ,broke4 ,,heath ,,cranton1 ,,ltd41 ,fleet ,lane1 ,london1 ,e4,c4 #d4 ,printed in ,great ,britain by ,love ,malcomson ,ltd41 ,london and ,redhill4 ,,contents4 ,,page ,,introductory ,,letter ,,from ,,lord ,,willoughby ,,de ,,broke vii4 ,,preface ix4 ,,introduction ,,the ,,confusion ,,of ,,language ,,and ,,its ,,relation ,,to ,,revolution #aa ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,principle ,,of ,,private ,,property #bg ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,justice #dd ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,equality #fa ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,freedom #gg ,,chapter ,v4 ,,socialism ,,and ,,communism #ie ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,education #abf ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,social ,,reform #aec ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,physiology ,,of ,,social ,,unrest #agi ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,great ,,alternative ,,to ,,social ,,reform #aii ,,index #bag p4 vii ,,introductory ,,letter ,,from ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,,lord ,,willoughby ,,de ,,broke #ab1 ,wilton ,crescent1 ,london1 ,s4,w4 #a4 ,may #ast1 #aiba4 ,dear ,mr4 ,ludovici1-- ,thank you very much for letting me see the proofs of your book4 ,it seems to me to be written at a very opportune moment1 and to suggest a line of thought which could be followed with great advantage4 ,in these days of 8propaganda10 when our fine old language is being wrested every hour of the day in speeches1 pamphlets and leaflets1 to illustrate the views of political parties1 it is more than ever important that we should have a clear understanding of the true meaning of words4 ,nor is the vague use of phrases confined to the pioneer of political causes4 ,our very war memorials are utilised to inform us that the brave fellows whose honour they commemorate died for 8freedom40 ,if that were true1 they indeed died in vain4 ,nothing can be further from even the most elementary conception of freedom than the present condition of society in these islands4 ,but the pious and devout people who wrote those inscriptions are possibly not to blame4 ,long before the war the nation had been so content to be governed by phrases that p4 viii we were actually asked to enlist for such phrases as 8,the rights of small nations10 8,self-determination10 and the like1 whereas in very truth we were forced to fight to save our own skins4 ,your suggestions open up so many considerations that ,i cannot explore them all4 ,but your proposition that the quality of our institutions may1 after all1 be sounder than the quality of the men who have failed to work them1 seems especially worthy of notice4 ,if your book serves to direct attention to the wisdom of our ancestors1 it will be a great benefit to the public4 ,yours very truly1 ,willoughby de ,broke4 p4 ix ,,preface4 ,the ,great ,war has left the world1 and particularly poor old battered ,europe1 with many a high ideal shattered and many a respected principle destroyed4 ,not only the beliefs of our grandfathers1 but also the convictions of our fathers1 seem now old-fashioned and no longer seaworthy4 ,certainly an old era is dead2 but has a new era been born8 ,a new era suggests new ideals1 new leading principles2 it suggests a breastful of new and stout convictions4 ,have we of this dawning era any new ideals or principles8 ,have we any new and stout convictions8 ,it seems as if we had been plunged into this new world unclothed4 ,true enough1 millions have doffed their khaki2 but the citizen clothing they have donned in exchange--is it all make-believe1 all eye-wash8 ,are we really naked8 ,at all events1 before we can possibly tell where we are1 or how we stand1 the most necessary preliminary step would seem to be a general stock-taking of our ideals1 principles and convictions--a re-definition of the big words that once led us1 and of the great phrases with which we were once inspired4 ,only then1 only when this re-definition shall have been accomplished1 does it seem possible that we shall be able to p4 x clothe ourselves in the ideology of our new and brightly illuminated age4 ,this book is a modest attempt at this spade work of re-definition4 ,it does not pretend to be either exhaustive or expert4 ,it takes up just a few of the old words and phrases1 and by re-examining them in the new light1 hopes rather to point the way than to cover the whole distance to the destination4 ,alarming sounds fill the air4 ,there are wars and rumours of wars wherever you turn4 ,indeed1 there are rumours abroad and at home of the worst kind of war1 the cruellest and most devastating kind of war--civil war4 ,can it be possible that a good deal of this threat of civil war arises from the very need which this book undertakes however imperfectly to supply8 ,can it be possible that revolution and even ,bolshevism may arise out of this need for a re-definition of terms8 ,at all events1 even if this need is only a small contributory cause1 it is serious enough and cannot be lightly passed over4 ,it is for fear lest this need may be something more serious than a small contributory cause1 that the author has suggested the remedy of re-definition outlined both in precept and example in this book4 ,if his pioneer effort1 however limited in range1 may lead others to produce more thorough examples of his method1 he will consider that his pains have been more than adequately repaid4 ,anthony ,m4 ,ludovici4 ,london1 ,august1 #aiba4 p4 #aa ,,the ,,false ,,assumptions ,,of 8,,democracy40 ,,introduction4 ,,the ,,confusion ,,of ,,language ,,and ,,its ,,relation ,,to ,,revolution4 8,babble1 babble2 our old ,england may go down in babble at last40 ,tennyson 7,locksley ,hall--,sixty ,years ,after74 ,nothing on earth leads more certainly to disunion than a division of tongues4 ,when it became necessary to disperse the iniquitous builders of the ,tower of ,babel1 we know the expedient to which the ,lord resorted1 and how effective it proved to be4 ,but whereas unity is a desirable condition1 and a common tongue is one of the most potent means of realising it1 people not infrequently forget that a common tongue presupposes a common uniform culture4 ,it depends upon a common view of human life and the world4 ,this common culture provides the frame1 so to speak1 to the design of life1 in which every word of a language fits like a piece of mosaic4 ,remove the frame1 disturb the arrangement1 and the odd pieces of mosaic fall all about you and lose their significance and their necessary association4 ,they can be used only as--missiles4 p#ab ,whatever weight the usual arguments against the ,middle ,ages may possess1 at least this is plain1 that in medival times a common culture prevailed among the leading nations of ,europe4 ,indeed1 if we wished to sum up the effect of the ,middle ,ages in one sentence1 we could not express ourselves more clearly than by saying1 that in those days the leaders of men attempted to convert ,europe into a single nation4 ,this effort1 though only partially successful1 at least led to the magnificent result that most men1 of what nation soever1 understood one another--understood one another particularly in their use of abstract or general terms4 ,for that is the test4 ,in the end the names of things remain4 ,the words representing common objects are usually as permanent as those objects themselves4 ,fashion may destroy the object and thus render the word obsolete2 but for hundreds of years none will dispute the proper connotation of the word 8chair10 8table10 8basket10 for instance2 while in the realm of abstract and general terms such severe fluctuations may have taken place as to make the same word mean something different to each generation4 ,now the supreme importance of abstract or general terms lies in the fact that they are the words with which we guide our lives1 mark out our goals and direct our effort4 ,it is therefore urgently necessary that they should stand for very precise ideas1 and that as the current coinage of speech they should mean the same things to all men of the same group1 body1 or nation4 p#ac ,as opposed to the effort of the ,middle ,ages1 however1 the effort of this ,age1 or the ,muddle ,age1 seems to be directed towards turning every nation into a ,europe--into a unit1 that is to say1 without unity4 ,and this lack of unity is nowhere more acute and more apparent than in the realm of abstract or general terms4 ,people of the same nation1 nowadays1 no longer speak the same language4 ,they no longer mean the same things1 or convey the same ideas1 when they speak of ,happiness1 ,beauty1 ,order1 ,right1 ,freedom1 ,liberty1 ,justice1 etc4 ,the frame has gone4 ,the common culture has been replaced by a congeries of pseudo-cultures1 all in active conflict4 ,the consequence is that the all-important words of this class have fallen out of place in the design of life2 they have no unifying whole in which they can find a stable position1 they are at a loose end1 so to speak1 and they can be used not as intelligent missives1 but only as missiles between isolated groups and parties that are doomed to eternal conflict4 ,a word at a loose end1 however1 is a word devoid of definite associations and therefore of meaning4 ,can a word devoid of meaning be used as a missile8 ,certainly it can1 provided that it be given1 despite its loss of an intellectual appeal1 sufficient motive power to provoke an emotion4 ,but of this anon4 ,there can be no doubt that we have reached a condition in modern ,europe1 in which each nation is1 as it were1 a complex of nations--a complex in which the majority of the most important words 7the abstract p#ad and general terms7 not only mean different things to different groups and coteries1 but also convey no precise meaning whatsoever to anybody4 ,this1 however1 constitutes a state of complete confusion1 and therefore a very grave danger4 ,just as one cannot help appearing stupid when one is trying and failing to understand a foreign tongue1 one really is stupid when one cannot understand one's own tongue4 ,if stupidity seems to be increasing--and there surely cannot be much doubt concerning at least this form of 8,progress10--it is due chiefly to men's growing incapacity to understand their mother tongue4 ,abstract and general terms are no longer comprehensible even to the most literate2 to the illiterate they are simply fireworks1 flags or flagstones4 ,now this would be all very well if it ended in stupidity4 ,but that is not the final bourne of the present confusion of language4 ,the final bourne is something much more serious1 much more disastrous4 ,it is revolution4 ,all those who may be tempted to regard this conclusion as extreme1 would do well to pause a moment here1 in order to dwell upon the possible consequences of a confusion of language4 ,is it not clear that at all times and in all climes where a confusion of language has existed1 man has been doomed not only to be misleading and misled1 but also to be incapable of leading8 ,that is the worst danger4 ,a lack of precision amounting almost to incomprehensibility is sure in any case to mislead2 but what if it makes it no longer possible to lead8 p#ae ,there will always be thousands of men prepared to mislead their fellows4 ,even in the heydey of every culture this has been so4 ,even with language at its brightest and best in precision and adequacy this is always so4 ,but how about those who are prepared to lead their fellows1 and who are admirably equipped for so doing8 ,what are they to do if the only medium which lies to hand is so corrupt1 so devoid of meaning1 that they cannot use it without the tragic certainty of being misunderstood8 ,and yet who would undertake to stand up and speak to-day1 even before an educated audience1 without feeling certain beforehand that he would be misunderstood if he used the words ,liberty1 ,freedom1 ,right1 ,democracy1 ,patriotism1 etc48 ,that is the danger4 ,while there is a harvest prepared for those who would mislead in days like the present2 for the rare individual who would lead1 who is sufficiently gifted to lead1 and whose leadership is needed1 there can be but disappointment and barrenness4 ,this is the pass to which our present confusion of language has brought us4 ,it makes revolution possible1 because it makes the pursuit of false ideals inevitable1 and conflict and misunderstanding a certainty4 ,the causes of our present condition are to be sought1 first and chiefly1 in the decline of a common and uniform culture1 secondly in the cheap literature that has come into being since the ,education ,act of #ahgj1 and thirdly in modern journalism4 ,in modern journalism the distortion and abuse of terms1 the crippling of words has p#af become almost a habit4 ,catachresis1 or the forcing and straining of words1 is the rule2 nowhere is the sacred duty of precision less observed than in the very quarter where its sway should be most uncontested4 ,the journalist1 intent only on sensation1 is the first to debase words into missiles or empty symbols4 ,he it is who sets the example to the crowd1 by picking up these unfortunate fallen pieces of mosaic1 in order to fling them about with the wantonness of a schoolboy4 ,he it is who shakes the shoddy frame of modern culture in the hope of making even more of these sparkling fragments fall out of the design of life1 until ultimately when some one does arise who would choose to construct rather than to destroy1 he finds nothing to hand but shapeless and irrecognisable monstrosities1 chipped into mere stones by the mad fury with which they have been hurled about4 ,matters would not be so bad if it were possible to point to one class1 one stratum of society in ,england1 in which language was treated with more respect4 ,unfortunately this is no longer possible4 ,even among speakers of good education this misuse of language is all too common4 ,the present writer once heard the ,bishop of ,london address a cultivated audience on the subject of ,reconstruction1 and was compelled to take exception at least a dozen times to that dignitary's illegitimate use of the word 8,democracy40#a ,the reality of the danger1 its imminence1 will perhaps strike the most incredulous when it is pointed out to them that the p#ag ,french ,revolution itself was the outcome of a confusion of language2 nor can there be any doubt that the ,russian ,revolution had a similar origin4 ,the ,french ,revolution can be traced1 and has been traced1 even by writers quite friendly to 8democracy10 to the radical misunderstanding of three words--,nature1 ,freedom1 and ,man--by ,jean ,jacques ,rousseau4 ,this writer1 as is well known1 after having formed a totally fantastic and false concept of ,nature1 began to speculate upon the unhappy contrast that human civilisation presented in comparison with this fairylike figment of his mind4 ,he compared man in the state of ,nature--,rousseau's 8,nature0--with civilised man in the #ahth century1 and then proceeded to show how impure1 immoral and corrupt1 was the second kind of man as compared with the former4 ,the fact that the whole comparison was vitiated by the absurd impossibility of this so-called 8thinker's0 arbitrary definition of ,nature1 was only discovered scores of years later1 when the untold damage to which his insane misunderstanding led1 had long been past repair4 ,for the 8,nature0 of ,rousseau was the ,nature of our most successful ,victorian poets--all smiling meadows1 babbling brooks1 nodding flowers and innocence4 ,he had neither the profundity nor the honesty to see ,nature as she really is--immoral1 hard1 merciless and tasteless4#b ,like our ,victorian poets when ,rousseau gazed upon a rustic scene1 he thought neither of the stoat in the hedge quietly devouring its field mouse1 nor of the starling in the coppice solemnly and methodically hammering a snail to a pulp before swallowing it4 ,he gave no thought either to the pitiless and eternal conflict of all the vegetation at his feet1 or to the struggle probably going on in the adjoining village between a beautiful child and the microbe of tuberculosis4 ,he dwelt only on that something which was not ,man and proceeded to endow that something1 which was not ,man1 with all the qualities that his feverish imagination regarded as desirable4 ,when1 therefore1 he proceeded to plant his 8natural man0 down in this utterly fanciful scenario of ,rousseau-esque 8,nature10 he perforce drew a picture even more distorted of humanity than he had already drawn of ,nature1 and thus proceeded to his ultimate fatuous conclusion that 8,man was born free and everywhere he is in chains40 ,absurd and meaningless as this phrase was1 it succeeded1 as ,lord ,morley has pointed out1 in thrilling the generation to which it was uttered in two continents2 and it was not until a hundred years later that someone appeared who demonstrated that ,rousseau was not only a liar but a pernicious liar4 ,meanwhile1 ,napoleon had proved to the ,french people1 in deeds if not in words1 how ludicrously fantastic were the ravings of this ,genevan firebrand2 but the philosophic demonstration of his radical misunderstanding of the three words1 8,freedom10 p#ai 8,nature10 and 8,man10 had to be left to a later generation4 ,the fact that the ,french ,revolution was the outcome of this radical misunderstanding is now no longer contested by any serious thinker4 ,a searching and forcible re-definition of 8,nature10 8,freedom10 and 8,man10 in the light of history1 biology1 psychology1 and a sound outlook on life and humanity1 if it had been rapidly prepared and widely circulated in ,rousseau's lifetime1 might have defeated the efforts of this ,arch-charlatan to poison his own country and the world2 but1 in those days1 who dreamt that the misunderstanding1 or the deliberate misinterpretation1 of three such simple words as ,freedom1 ,nature1 and ,man1 could lead to so much horror and bloodshed8 ,the world at that time was only faintly aware of the far-reaching practical effect even of sound ideas2 how could it justly estimate the consequences of false or unsound ideas8 ,now1 however1 we know4 ,there is no longer any excuse for us2 our lesson is before us4 ,and1 alas6 to-day1 we are confronted not by the mere misunderstanding of three simple words1 we are confronted by the very much more formidable fact that there is scarcely one general or abstract term in the whole of our language that has any definite meaning4 ,we are confronted by the imminent menace of no longer having any language at all with which to appeal either to the reason or the unreason of man4 ,all the words by which our life1 our p#bj aspirations and our energy can be directed1 have long ago become so meaningless1 as the result of repeated falsification1 mutilation and counterfeiting1 that we may soon be reduced to the expedients of animals and savages1 in order to make ourselves clear1 and drown our voices in the clash of arms4 ,and yet it can be shown that these abstract and general terms1 which no longer have any definite meaning1 or which have acquired an utterly misleading meaning1 do provoke emotions and feelings which are none the less harmful for being indefinite and vague4 ,how is this possible8 ,if it is claimed that a word has ceased to make any intellectual or rational appeal1 owing to repeated catachresis or misunderstanding1 how can it still provoke dangerous feelings and emotions8 ,if it fails1 owing to the variety of ways in which it is understood1 from meeting with uniform interpretation1 how can it provoke uniform action8 ,a word may have ceased from making any intellectual appeal1 and yet be forcibly associated by word-counterfeiters and other agitators with certain vague desiderata which defy analysis4 ,for instance1 suppose a certain adult ,a4 repeat again and again to a child ,b4 that one day1 if it is obedient and amenable1 it will be taken to 8,chekko's40 ,the child may press for a description of 8,chekko's02 but all ,a4 does is to nod his head1 smile with prophetical good humour1 and say3 8,ah1 you'll see4 ,it's wonderful6 ,it's magic60 ,here we have a case of a child to whom the word 8,chekko's0 means literally nothing4 ,it is1 however1 associated vaguely p#ba with something mysteriously desirable4 8,chekko's0 may have no real existence1 but certain emotions are nevertheless suscitated in the child by the sound of the word1 because it has been led to believe that something dimly pleasant is associated with the name4 ,ultimately even a flag inscribed with the word 8,chekko's0 will make the child shout with joy2 a signpost with the direction3 8,to ,chekko's0 will make it leap with excitement1 and a mere passing reference to the 8,checko-,slovaks0 will lead it to suspect that these people must be a very pleasant and happy nation4 ,a correct definition of 8,chekko's0 given by someone whom the child trusts1 would suffice either to dispel the emotion provoked by the sound1 or else to confirm it1 according to whether it had or had not a real existence1 and that existence corresponded with the child's fostered mental image of it4 ,but in any case the process of dissuasion would take time1 and the re-definition would have to be inculcated upon the child as assiduously as the false and hazy original association had been4 ,it is possible1 therefore1 to provoke dynamic emotions by means of an absolutely meaningless sound1 even when the intellect of the listener receives no appeal whatsoever4 ,in view of this elementary fact in psychology1 the extreme danger of having a very large number of both meaningless and inflammable words in our current speech will perhaps begin to be obvious4 ,the fact that the word 8,freedom0 has now become practically meaningless--even more meaningless than ,rousseau made it1 p#bb because now it has not even a fictitious meaning--does not render it a whit less potent in provoking cheers and wild enthusiasm when it is shouted from the mystic eminence of a public platform4 ,presumably when ,rousseau spoke of 8,freedom0 he meant a certain lack of compulsion regarding actions which are peculiar to civilisation1 a certain absence of constraint in regard to conventions that do not harass the savage4 ,the savage does not require to wear clean linen1 he does not require to wear a hat1 he may if he choose eat with his fingers1 or come to breakfast unshaven2 he may have three or four wives1 he may eat human flesh1 he may live in the open and shoot down his prey without considering whether it belongs to the squire or to the lord of the manor4 ,rousseau cannot have meant anything but this by 8,freedom40 ,if ,rousseau had been told that while it was true that the savage does not require to perform much that the civilised man has to perform1 the civilised man1 on the other hand1 is 8free0 from many a duty that is incumbent on the savage1 he would have perceived that to drop the constraints of civilisation for those of barbarism merely amounted to exchanging one form of bondage for another4 ,for instance1 the savage of certain climes has to tattoo his flesh1 sometimes with great pain2 he has to observe certain rigid taboos1 he has to hunt for his food1 he has to fight every day of his life against wild animals and the hostile tribe of his neighbourhood into the bargain2 he has to work hard during boyhood and early p#bc manhood to acquire efficiency in the arts of the chase and of war2 he is obliged to recognise a chieftain1 etc4 ,in fact1 it could be shown that ,man in a 8state of nature0 is perhaps even more constrained by conventions and laws than civilised man4 ,only by deliberately falsifying the evidence--that is to say1 by giving a thoroughly distorted notion of ,nature1 would it be possible to contend that man 8in a state of nature0 is more 8free0 than civilised man4 ,rousseau1 as we have seen1 however1 did not hesitate to falsify the evidence4 ,hence he was able to say3 8,man is born free and everywhere he is in chains40 ,but if we turn to the modern idea of ,freedom1 we shall find that it is even more difficult to understand than ,rousseau's4 ,for at least ,rousseau's 8,freedom0 can be traced to a romantic distortion of the true attributes of 8,nature02 the modern idea of 8,freedom0 can be traced to nothing4 ,in its two forms1 the alleged desideratum of modernity4 ,freedom and ,liberty1 means literally nothing4 ,if we put the questions--freedom and liberty from what8 and freedom and liberty for what8--it will be seen immediately that there is no definite idea whatsoever behind the words4 ,freedom or liberty as an aim1 presupposes emancipation from a yoke4 ,what is the yoke from which modern man wishes to be free8 ,is it work8 ,is it timed work8 ,freedom or liberty as an aim presupposes emancipation from a yoke for a definite purpose4 ,what is this purpose8 ,is it a higher or a lower8 ,is it more entertainment p#bd or more usefulness8 ,is it desirable or undesirable8 ,to none of these questions is there any answer1 because the modern words ,freedom and ,liberty connote nothing4 ,and the same applies to such words as ,equality1 ,right1 ,justice4 ,these mere sounds have ceased to be words4 ,but they all imply some mysterious desideratum which it may be worth while fighting for4 ,they are missiles1 fireworks1 unmusical chords--anything6 ,all they have retained of their original nature1 is the power of directing energy4 ,they no longer call up any definite or expressible idea4 ,now when the most hortatory and inspiriting words of a language have ceased to have any definite meaning1 the nation using that language is in imminent danger of internal discord and rupture1 and the beneficent influence of indolence and inertia alone can avert a catastrophe4 ,the only question is1 have we sufficient native indolence and inertia to tide over this crisis in our language8 ,even if we have1 the ,continent has not1 and ultimately by infection or contagion1 our inertia and indolence1 too1 will be overcome4 ,what is the remedy8 ,what is the corrective8 ,what is the best means of resisting the influence of the ,continent and of the corrosive elements at home without relying too confidently upon our negative qualities alone8 ,strange as it may sound1 the present writer suggests1 as one of the most direct roads to a recovery of political and national p#be health1 in the first place1 that the disease of language should be cured4 ,everywhere1 in the whole of the civilised world1 disease of language is rampant4 ,that country alone will resist and survive the revolutionary epidemic1 which first cures its disease of language4 ,but how is this to be done8 ,the grand method1 the best method1 would of course consist in re-creating a common and uniform culture1 in which the spiritual words and phrases of the national language would find a new and definite place1 a fresh and unmistakable association4 ,this1 however1 is perhaps a counsel of perfection4 ,for where are the men to-day who would be prepared to embark on this gigantic undertaking1 even if they were equipped for it8 ,it is possible1 and the material for its accomplishment lies close at hand4 ,but where are the free spirits who have the courage1 and who are capable of the solidarity1 that would be required for such a task8 ,the second best method1 and the one more compatible with the power of our best men of to-day1 would consist in rescuing the meaningless terms of our language--and there are thousands of them--from their pointless1 unattached and almost disreputable existence4 ,it would consist in re-defining them in the realistic light of history1 biology and psychology1 and in the light of a sane and sound outlook on humanity and the world4 ,it would consist1 further1 in creating a convention as rigorous as the existing convention regarding all reference to sexual questions and organs1 according to which p#bf it would be regarded as an act of gross immorality and indecency to commit the sin of catachresis or abuse against any of the words thus re-defined1 and it should be incumbent upon the ordinary citizen to report to the nearest police station any such breach of decency which he might happen to discover while reading his daily paper1 or a novel1 or any treatise printed after the promulgation of the law4 ,how many false ideals1 false aspirations1 and pernicious creeds and doctrines would then be dispersed8 ,how many agitators1 tub-thumpers1 self-seeking bell-wethers1 would then be put to flight6 ,how many politicians would then starve6 ,but how fresh and crisp the air of every debating chamber would then become6 ,this is a possible and highly practical method of dealing with our present situation4 ,there is no excuse for its not being adopted4 ,when once it had achieved all it could achieve1 the masses should be made to benefit from the results of the undertaking4 ,indeed1 it would be more or less futile if they were not made to benefit in this way4 ,they would then become the alert and merciless critics of people who now sway them as easily as if they were corn in the wind2 and seven-eighths of our present-day literature would cease from being published4 ,it is the surest1 the speediest1 and the most fruitful method of saving what still remains of ,order and ,culture4 ,but it is a stupendous undertaking and one that will exact a heavy toll from all those who embark upon it4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #a3 ,he used the word in the sense of the 8proletariat0 or the 8masses40 ,footnote #b3 ,perhaps ,tennyson should be honourably excepted here 7see ,in ,memoriam ,,lvi41 line #ae72 but while the realistic estimate of ,nature is certainly hinted at in the lines referred to1 it could not be claimed that ,tennyson consistently upheld this attitude4 p#bg ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,principle ,,of ,,private ,,property 8,there is nothing wrong either in great wealth or in extensive property1 provided that it be wisely administered40--,william ,cobbett 7,rural ,rides74 ,behind most of the modern hostility towards established and traditional institutions1 it is not only a matter of mere caution1 but also essentially scientific to suspect a certain amount of physical as well as psychical exhaustion4 ,modern mankind is tired1 both bodily and spiritually4 ,the pale fireless eyes of our urban adults alone ought to make us suspect the truth about this matter4 ,two thousand years of the increasing complication of ,life1 during which man's attention has had ever more and more detail to occupy it1 together with a feeling of very genuine disillusionment on the part of the most enlightened regarding the highest ideals of the past2 two thousand years1 moreover1 of progressive debilitation1 during which the resisting powers of exuberant health have gradually and steadily been worn down--must have had their effect upon recent generations1 and materially impaired their ability to face the institutions of their forefathers with their forefathers' spirit1 health and understanding4 ,it cannot be repeated too often that it would be gravely unscientific1 nay imprudent1 to proceed to an examination of the modern hostility to traditional ideas and principles without taking into account p#bh the attitude of mind1 the tone of mind1 and the degree of health1 of those who represent this hostility4 ,the fact that modern books on political questions usually take as their data the very conclusions to which this hostility has led1 without previously determining the validity of the whole standpoint1 or discovering the kind of minds that are responsible for it1 need not deter us from departing from the customary method4 ,nor can our superior caution in this respect be fairly interpreted as bias4 ,it must surely be clear to most of us that1 not only we ourselves1 but all our contemporaries as well1 are radically and incurably weary4 ,our physical resistance against disease is as seriously in peril as is our spiritual resistance against error1 or against those ideals and desires that can appeal only to invalids4 ,where life is ebbing1 however1 her most fundamental principles1 her most inexorable demands1 must be losing the force of their appeal4 ,an ear is therefore lent ever more willingly and eagerly to doctrines and precepts which are non-vital1 which already have about them the bitter effluvia of death2 and it becomes ever more and more difficult to withstand the fascination of this new persuasiveness4 ,but because ,man has reached a degree of lassitude that induces him to listen more patiently and submissively than of yore1 to doctrines and precepts of decline and decay1 it does not follow that these doctrines are irresistible either in their rational or emotional appeal4 ,it does not even follow that their rational dressing is any more p#bi above suspicion than they are themselves4 ,the attempt intellectually to justify and bolster up a sickly tenet may be as unhealthy as that tenet itself4 ,it is suspicion1 above all1 that is needed wherever we turn in our modern storehouse of ideals and panaceas--suspicion coupled with the conviction that man is desperately weary in body and soul4 ,now there is a state of weariness and apathy in which things that have become out of gear are no longer readjusted or repaired1 but deliberately and ruthlessly destroyed4 ,each of us can picture in our mind's eye1 the behaviour of the nervous invalid who1 too exhausted to repair a persistently clanging bell1 tears down the whole fitting1 wires and all1 so that the disturbing sound may cease for ever4 ,such an act is typical of exhaustion4 ,it amounts to a deep-seated surrender of the power of repair4 ,brain and body tissues that are not themselves regularly repaired or recreated can hardly be expected to devise the means of repairing or recreating other things4 ,thus we should expect the modern and exhausted mind to proceed in its corrective lust1 not by means of readjustment1 but by amputation1 not by therapeutic art1 but by extirpation4 ,there are thousands of bells clanging discordantly in the house of civilisation to-day4 ,the temptation of the modern man is therefore to tear them down1 wires and all4 ,whenever anything goes wrong--and things cannot always work smoothly in society1 particularly in vast and complex communities like those of ,western ,europe--it is p#cj natural for a certain large element in the population to proceed by means of suppression and amputation1 by lopping off some creation of the past1 and advancing the most convincing arguments for so doing4 ,if the ,lords fail us1 the simplest method is to do away with them4 ,if individual enterprise falls short of its promise1 a clamour is raised for its abolition4 ,family life goes wrong1 married life goes wrong1 and the remedy suggested is to make the dissolution of the marriage tie easier4 ,it does not matter whether you are destroying a portion of your organism and therefore impoverishing yourself thereby1 for you are simplifying your task1 and this for an invalid is an achievement of maximum importance4 ,everything thus falls into a process of general disintegration1 all troublesome appendages are sloughed off1 and the body of civilisation is gradually truncated or dissolved4 ,meanwhile1 however1 since every step in this process of decomposition receives the most convincing intellectual support1 no one suspects that there are other and better methods of setting to work4 ,it never occurs to the typical modern mind that if institutions are to be abolished as fast as degenerate people show themselves unable to uphold them1 then an immediate and far more speedy way of refuting and abolishing all civilisation would be to fill all its leading positions1 and to invest all its institutions1 with raw savages from the ,cannibal ,isles4 ,every institution and tradition would then break down1 and presumably the modern mind would be satisfied that the only remedy p#ca would consist in the abolition of all institutions and traditions4 ,long ago the present writer pointed out that to set a buffoon on the throne is not to confute monarchy1 and yet this is the principle we work upon in all our reforms4 ,we never once question whether it may not be modern man himself who is wrong or decadent4 ,this at least might lead us to look in the proper direction for improvement4 ,we merely assail with savage fury every institution that modern man can no longer run to his and our own satisfaction4 ,thus the instinctive and morbid indolence of sickness1 to which amputation and suppression are naturally the most tempting corrective methods1 becomes the standard of judgment for all ills2 and where ignorant minds are added to sick minds1 the natural bankruptcy of ignorance joins hands with the destructive lust of the sick1 and the two together1 hatchet in hand1 set out to 8reform0 the world4 ,can anyone doubt that this is indeed what we are witnessing on all sides8 ,and does not the very specious seductiveness of the ,socialist and ,bolshevist propaganda lead us to suspect that here1 at least1 we are invalids listening to invalids8 ,the principle of ,private ,property is being assailed on all sides4 ,it is now the fashion to talk glibly of the evanescence of private property1 just as it is the fashion to be suffering from pyorrha or caries4 ,private property is another of the features of ancient societies which in this ,muddle ,age has got out of order2 and the consequence is1 as we should expect1 that it is beginning p#cb to be suggested--nay1 it has already been loudly proclaimed--that private property1 as the root of all evils1 should be abolished4 ,now in this new project of vandalism1 we have not only one symptom of disease1 but two4 ,for1 while we have our old friend1 the morbid indolence of the sick1 which cannot recreate or repair1 but must suppress1 we also have a frontal attack on ,life itself1 pressed by the forces of decay and disintegration disguised as ,utopians4 ,for private property is a principle of ,life4 ,the fact that this is everywhere apparent1 does not1 of course1 prevent the myopic from overlooking it2 it should1 however1 prevent the multitude from being deceived1 and we believe the multitude are still not deceived4 ,for it is obviously the multitude1 the vast mass of mankind1 who have the least of this world's goods1 who should be the first to be duped about this matter2 and yet how long it is taking to convince them6 ,how tenacious they seem of the old principle6 ,how deeply must they believe in private property in order1 with their handful of household sticks and baubles1 to resist the morbid lie which is being reiterated by a thousand moribund voices all round them1 that private property is wrong4 ,it has been said that private property is a principle of ,life4 ,what1 then1 is its biological value8 ,its biological value is the same as the biological value of the best life itself4 ,to be quite plain1 ,life as a whole does not represent a general movement upwards1 from the standpoint of quality4 ,on the contrary4 ,the great majority of ,life's activities p#cc have a gravitating or descending tendency--that is to say1 in a large number of organisms1 acquired embellishments or acquired faculties and qualities more frequently have to be dropped than retained in the course of generations4 ,spencer has shown conclusively that by far the greater number of existing organisms are the degenerate descendants of higher species 7see ,collected ,essays1 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #cgi74 ,the laws of evolution1 therefore1 cover millions of cases of retrograde metamorphosis1 or change consisting of the loss of complex qualities or members for the purpose of survival4 ,and in all these cases of retrograde metamorphosis1 instead of the identity of the individual becoming extended1 it is actually diminished or reduced4 ,development is1 therefore1 really the exception rather than the rule4 ,it covers only those cases in which a cumulative or forward metamorphosis has taken place4 ,it is characteristic only of those species in which identity has been extended4 ,indeed1 development might be called the law of higher life1 or of that life which advances by gradual steps from the homogeneous to the heterogenous1 which1 in fact1 unfolds itself only to reveal and to perpetuate ever fresh and new attributes and activities4 ,development is a name which1 though not descriptive of all organic evolution1#c certainly describes the changes of a species that has grown through its thousands of generations--grown1 that is to say1 in the sense of having become more and more--more and more capable of multifarious activities and adaptations4 ,development in this correct and restricted sense of 8growth10 thus implies 8becoming more10 8extending identity40 ,becoming more1 therefore1 is a principle of higher life4 ,now what does this conclusion necessarily involve in the terms of humanity8 ,it means that the ascending line of life in the genus ,homo ,sapiens1 at least1 has not only become more and more1 but must also have been characterised by the spiritual counterpart of this physical striving1 which consists in desiring to become more and more--that is to say1 to extend identity4 ,any slackening1 any reversal1 any paralysis of this desire to become more and more1 may thus be regarded as the beginning of the other movement--the movement of retrograde development1 of decline4 ,in each healthy individual of a truly developing species1 we should therefore expect to find the conscious counterpart of the principle of higher life1 which will be the desire to become more and more1 to extend identity4 ,to assail this desire to become more and more is therefore tantamount to a conspiracy against life1 it is tantamount to a denial of the healthiest instinct of the species4 ,it is the hand of death outstretched across the ascending road of the animal man4 ,call this adverse criticism or hostility p#ce what you will--,socialism1 ,communism1 or ,bolshevism1 it is all one4 ,it is the cry of those who have lost ascending or developing life's strongest instinct against those who still possess it4 ,or else it is the cry of the envious in life's battle1 who pretend to have lost life's strongest instinct1 in order to acquire power over those who have not4 ,i shall hardly be called upon to draw the obvious conclusion4 ,how does1 how can1 the individual of a species that falls naturally under the head of ,development manifest this incessant striving to become more1 which is the conscious counterpart of the physical evolution of the race1 except by means of private property8 ,how can he achieve this becoming more which1 as we have seen1 constitutes an extension of his identity1 without private property8 ,i do not refer here to those exceptional individuals who are content with a non-material expression of this 8becoming more10 but to the mass of mankind1 in which individual extension must take a material form4 ,private property is the only means1 and this private property is so closely identified with individual extension that1 as we know1 in certain ,ages and climes1 wives and children have been included in the category4 ,it constitutes the gratification1 nay the very necessity1 of one of the deepest instincts of man4 ,it is indistinguishable1 inseparable1 from the law of growth2 hence the obstinate attachment even the poorest still reveal in regard to it2 hence the uphill work which the preachers of ,death and ,decay1 still find their propaganda to be4 ,the very morality of development says p#cf 8,yea0 to this desire to be and to become more4 ,the very morality of development identifies growth1 in the individual sense1 with the general growth of the species1 and therefore sanctifies and hallows the instinct of self-extension which is the instinct of private property4 ,only the sincere and whole-hearted pessimist can logically assail the principle of private property1 for he alone can honestly desire to cripple his fellows1 paralyse their life instinct1 and curtail their existence on the globe4 ,it is hardly necessary here to refer to the dawn of the sense of private property in the lower animals4 ,this has been done often enough4 ,suffice it to point out1 however1 that in them also it is most apparent where the variety of activities and adaptations is most complex--among the bees1 the ants1 the dogs and the cats4 ,true1 the private property in question is only food1 or matter which will one day be used as food4 ,but is this not true of all property8 ,has not the revolution in ,russia shown that all property is merely so much frozen food1 so much wealth that can ultimately be bartered for nourishment8 ,and does not this again point to its deep relationship to the highest law of growth8 ,the important outcome of this inquiry into the ultimate relation of private property to biology and to the highest laws of life1 however1 is that it enables one to recognise the ,socialist1 the ,bolshevist1 and the ,communist 7where they are most sincere and fervent7 in their true guise--that is to say1 as the convinced and determined opponents1 not only of a particular class1 but of ,life p#cg itself2 as pessimists and bitter misanthropists1 who do not scruple to conceal their hostility to an important life-principle beneath the most engaging and most unctuous of altruistic poses4 ,but then is all well with the principle of private property to-day8 ,and are the ,socialists1 ,bolshevists and ,communists all wrong8 ,all is certainly not well with the principle of private property as it is allowed to work in our societies at the present day4 ,hence the colourable warrant that is given to the attacks of the ,socialists and ,communists upon it4 ,hence1 too1 the plausibility of their claims4 ,for it is the simplest of feats to confuse an issue1 and in societies where the right of private property is abused1 it is easy to convince the thoughtless that the thing abused1 and not the abuse itself1 is the real curse4 ,it is1 therefore1 readily admitted that there is a good deal that is wrong about private property as a principle practised by modern man2 the wrong1 however1 is no more inherent in the principle itself1 than cruelty to children1 because it happens to occupy the attention of a large and wealthy society in ,england1 is inherent in the principle of parenthood4 ,and it is because the present evils of the distribution of wealth are not inherent in the principle of private property1 that it is ridiculous--not only ridiculous1 but also highly suspicious--to wish to sweep away the institution itself in order to remedy the evils that now unquestionably account for its disrepute4 ,it has been shown why this desire to p#ch sweep away the institution is doubly suspicious3-- 7a7 ,because it is the natural resort of sick and exhausted people1 who are incapable of repairing or recreating anything4 7b7 ,because it is the action of people who are hostile not merely to private property1 but to ,life in general4 7,the fact that they are usually completely unconscious of this hostility only renders them all the more dangerous47 ,the recognition of the right of private property is probably the oldest of all human principles4 ,it is seen in all great civilisations4 ,every great culture has been built upon it4 ,all societies1 however1 have not created the evils of modern ,western civilisation4 ,this alone ought to have provided a hint in the right direction4 ,it ought to have been seen that the evils attending the distribution of wealth to-day1 are evils more or less peculiar to the kind of culture we have evolved4 ,what are these evils8 7#a7 ,the chief evil of all is that by our present method of wealth distribution1 the best people are not infrequently the most sorely oppressed1 the most severely chastised by poverty and lack of power4 ,the correlative evil to this is that those who are powerful to-day through wealth1 are frequently so hopelessly unfitted to hold their position that the system which elevates such people to their present eminence seems as if it must be bad to the root4 7#b7 ,the next in importance is that life at present is organised in such wise that poverty does not mean merely humbleness p#ci of station2 for which of us would object to that8 ,it means being compelled to perform some of the most heart-rending1 most unhealthy1 most besotting and characterless work that the economy of the community has to offer4 ,society should be organised in such a way that either filthy and besotting labours should not be necessary or else that where they are necessary1 they should entail compensating advantages4 7#c7 ,the next in importance is that1 as society is organised at present1 poverty1 which might be readily and cheerfully accepted by thousands of us1 aye1 actually preferred in some cases--now almost necessarily signifies bad air1 ugly surroundings1 poor food1 and consequently an unsecured bill of health4 ,accessibility to conditions in which good air and beauty are1 as it were1 happily wedded1 is becoming ever more and more the restricted privilege of the wealthy4 7#d7 ,owing to a misunderstanding of the true nature of social unity1 wealth1 or extensive private property1 now gives certain classes the power of trespassing upon the life-needs of their fellows1 without1 however1 being amenable to law--cornering markets1 levying undue profits1 destroying beautiful sites1 supporting a host of societies which are simply parasitic pests on the nation's back1 unwise disposal of fortunes1 etc4 7#e7 ,owing to the educational advantages associated with wealth--an association which is quite unessential and arbitrary--modern society imposes a certain measure of benightedness and ignorance as an inevitable inheritance upon poverty1 which is not in the least essential to poverty per se4 p#dj ,after this brief enumeration of some of the leading evils of our present system of wealth distribution1 is it not1 however1 more than ever clear that none of these evils is inherent in the principle of private property itself8 ,who would venture to prove that any one of the wrongs enumerated was 7a7 either inherent in the principle of private property1 or 7b7 irremediable without the sacrifice of that principle8 ,if we consider the first and chief wrong which consists in the fact that private property at the present day frequently elevates to power people who are totally unfitted to wield any power at all1 while it as frequently condemns to impotence1 obscurity and ignominy1 people who would be eminently fitted to wield power1 we realise at once that the fault does not lie in the amount of property held by these people1 but upon the significance which current opinion and the prevailing estimate of wealth attaches to the accident of great or small possessions in either case4 ,it is well known1 everybody indeed has heard of it1 that in certain cultures that have existed and still exist1 the significance of great possessions has not been the same as that which ,western civilisation has chosen to attach to them4 ,the ,brahmin of ,india1 for instance1 although he is doomed to poverty in the most literal sense1 is the most highly respected among rich and poor alike4 ,he rules and directs opinion1 neither because he is rich1 nor because he is poor1 but because he is profoundly wise1 and because power does not happen to be connected1 in the enlightened ,hindu mind1 p#da with great possessions4 ,it can be shown1 and has been shown often enough1 that the famous mendicant monks of the ,middle ,ages did not increase their power1 but actually forfeited it1 when they acquired riches and became as the other holy orders4 ,evidently1 then1 the equation ,wealth ,importance ,power1 is not an inevitable one4 ,it does not depend upon mathematical necessity4 ,it is a perfectly arbitrary association of ideas1 which is the result of a singular and quite gratuitous valuation4 ,the fact that it is deeply seated in the prejudices and prepossessions of all ,western peoples1 appears to give it the sanction almost of a social law4 ,it would1 however1 constitute the acme of imprudence and superficiality to allow oneself to be led by this apparent unanimity into the belief that it either denotes or implies an ordinance of ,fate4 ,the unanimity with which reverence is now felt for wealth alone1 is only one of the many instances which it would be possible to give1 of the stubborn and determined manner in which an arbitrary valuation strikes root in the heart of whole nations1 when once it has been systematically and painstakingly inculcated upon them4 ,it is one of those cases which inspire with hope all those who may be confronted with the apparently thankless task of altering the prejudices and prepossessions of a people4 ,for1 if it has been possible erroneously to raise wealth to the highest among our valuations1 without a trace of social law to help us1 it is clear that it must be possible to alter that valuation1 to 8transvalue0 it1 p#db as the technical phrase has it1 and to bring mankind back to a more rational understanding of the proper equipment of power1 which consists chiefly of wisdom1 virtue1 character and resolution4 ,nobody denies1 of course1 that when once wisdom1 virtue1 character and resolution1 happen to combine in the same individual1 the addition of wealth may make that individual exceptionally precious2 but wealth1 as we frequently see it to-day1 endowing with power people who are neither wise1 virtuous1 characterful nor resolute1 is little less than a national curse4 ,for what does wealth mean8 ,it means simply that the owner of it has a purchasing power over the services of his fellows4 ,it by no means signifies that this purchasing power will of necessity be wisely1 virtuously or profitably exercised4 ,wherever it is not wisely1 virtuously and profitably exercised1 therefore1 it becomes a scourge4 ,the power itself becomes violence2 and it is incumbent upon the laws of all well-regulated communities to suppress at least man-made violence4 ,the besetting vice of all ,western societies1 whether ,monarchies1 ,aristocracies1 ,republics1 or 8,democracies10 has been and is still that they have never taken adequate steps to suppress this particular kind of violence4 ,but the remedy for such violence would not consist in abolishing the principle of private property4 ,you might just as well abolish knives because they are frequently used by homicidal maniacs4 ,the remedy consists in so modifying the life of the nation1 and the prejudices and prepossessions of the p#dc nation1 that wealth may not necessarily mean power1 and that poverty may not necessarily mean ignominy1 ignorance and ill-health#d2 also that it should be difficult for material success to be achieved by people who are frequently the most contemptible members of the community both in spiritual and physical gifts4 ,all those who question the possibility of such an achievement in the recasting of values1 are invited to dwell upon the genesis and growth of the prevalent ruling equation1 ,wealth ,importance ,power4 ,they are invited1 furthermore1 to discover the moment in history when another valuation showed signs of becoming prevalent1 and to ascertain by what means1 foul or otherwise1 it was made to fail4 ,then only1 in the light of what they found1 will they be able to decide whether a new equation and a new valuation have not even now a chance of being initiated1 accepted1 and universally believed4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #c3 ,an enormous amount of confusion has been caused by the loose application of the term 8,development10 to all processes of change in life4 ,strictly speaking1 development means unfolding4 ,but the process by which the tape-worm has degenerated from the higher species to which it once belonged is not a process of unfolding or development1 but one of loss and reduction1 one of gradual truncation and limitation4 ,footnote #d3 ,it should be remembered1 however1 that in a society in which success really did depend upon the possession of the highest moral and bodily qualities that the community could display1--which is by no means the case at present1--poverty or failure would undoubtedly have a certain inexpungeable stigma upon it2 and quite rightly too4 ,that which removes the stigma from poverty or failure to-day1 in the eyes of the enlightened1 is the fact that riches and success are frequently achieved by people who could not possibly lay claim to any high moral and bodily qualities1--not to mention the highest4 p#dd ,,chapter ,,ii ,,justice 8,si nos coeurs battent1 c'est dans ce but 444 c'est pour que nous puissions compter sur l'avenir et savoir s'il y a dans les choses d'ici bas une justice immanente qui vient son jour et son heure#e40--,l4 ,gambetta 7,cherbourg speech4 ,august #ith1 #ahhj74 ,a discussion of the idea of justice almost necessarily precedes the subject of the next chapter1 for the kind of justice which is the object of public clamour outside the law and police-courts1 and beyond the dealings of man with man1 provides one of the principal arguments to those who believe in human equality4 ,in this essay1 then1 it is clear that we shall not be concerned either with the justice which includes the administration of the law1 and the incidence of the law of any country1 or with the justice which relates to the unwritten rules of conduct governing the commerce of men and women2 but rather with that idea of equity which1 while it enjoys a fast hold upon the imagination of all ,western peoples1 is supposed to have an existence apart from statutes1 codes1 regulations and by-laws1 and human conventions4 ,it is an abstraction1 somewhat like the idea of equality2 but it is not a mathematician's abstraction1 it is the abstraction of a moralist4 ,it arises out of the idea of a moral order--that is to say1 of a supposed universal tendency to arrive at a perfect equilibrium between deserts and rewards1 and it assumes that the moment this perfect balance is disturbed1 a violation of this abstract justice--,gambetta's 8justice immanente10--is supposed to have occurred4 ,to take an instance which illustrates this notion of justice1 it is popularly supposed that for a child1 who can have committed no crime sufficiently great to deserve severe punishment1 to be born in a sordid home1 in a still more sordid city-quarter1 of drunken parents1 some disturbance of the balance of justice must have occurred--a disturbance which1 if it is to be corrected1 must require some kind of compensation4 ,if the compensation cannot be conceived as forthcoming in this life1 another life is postulated1 in which the proper equilibrium between deserts and rewards2sic will be restored4 ,it is not enough to say that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation4 ,although the ancient ,jewish view of universal justice doubtless required some such explanation1 and found it satisfactory1 the modern view of 8immanent justice0 is not satisfied by this method of settling the question4 ,indeed1 the very idea that children should expiate their parents' sins is abhorrent to the modern mind1 steeped as it is in this notion of justice4 ,it only consents to it as a fact in the face of overwhelming p#df physiological and biological evidence1 and1 even then1 takes refuge from the apparent harshness of the law1 in the settled conviction that somewhere1 somewhen1 compensation will be provided for the expiatory suffering4 ,it is the suffering that can be traced to no particular transgression on the part of the individual1 that chiefly outrages the modern man2 that is why it seems fair to conclude that this notion of immanent justice has a moral foundation4#f ,as a matter of fact1 there is nothing more unjust than this notion of justice1 but its injustice is by no means obvious4 ,there is no outcry when a murderer is hanged1 although psychology1 heredity and even sociology1 may be called to witness that his act was as inevitable as is the crippledom of the child born of tainted blood4 ,there is no outcry when a vicious reprobate dies in poverty and pain4 ,there is no outcry when an habitual criminal ends his days on the treadmill4 ,morality here receives its tribute4 ,chemistry1 physiology1 biology1 and the laws of heredity that derive from them are superseded by the moral bias1 and there appears to be no violation of that 8immanent0 justice when one of ,nature's born ne'er-do-wells comes to a sad end in a prison quadrangle4 ,in cases of suffering which are less easily traced to an apparently deliberate transgression of moral laws1 however1 a miscarriage of universal justice is supposed to have occurred1 and the sympathy of all1 and even the indignation of some1 are immediately aroused4 ,it is true that attempts have been made to withhold even this sympathy1 as in the case of the second commandment already referred to above2 but the best instance is that of ,david's famous observation in the #cgth ,psalm3 8,i have been young1 and now am old2 yet have ,i not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread40 ,this1 however1 is so obviously a desperate endeavour to square a moral reading of the universe1 or the conception of an eternal justice behind all phenomena1 with the spectacle of misery and indigence1 that its transparency offends the dullest vision4 ,it is not unlike the attitude of some ,eugenists who would argue that the poorly remunerated of to-day should be prevented from multiplying because they are not only the unfit1 but the undesirable4 ,to call them unfit is biologically correct2 for it merely amounts to saying that they are unadapted to their environment4 ,the idea of undesirability is1 however1 smuggled in gratuitously1 only in order to try to account for what would otherwise appear an injustice4 ,if the poor be made to appear as lying under a stigma1 p#dh the difficulty presented by the apparent injustice of their position is easily removed4#g ,in the same way the necessity of condoling with an invalid is unconsciously resented by most of us when we endeavour1 particularly to the invalid's face1 to ascribe his or her trouble to some glaring imprudence or violation of rational living1 through which we infer that the illness or indisposition has been brought about4 ,we thus reduce it to a pain or penalty that the sufferer has deserved1 and in this way we release our minds from the constant preoccupation concerning justice and injustice4 ,women1 who are very much less social in their instincts1 and1 therefore1 much harder than men1 repeatedly behave in this way1 even with their own children2 and before they make a movement to relieve suffering1 their lips will have pronounced innumerable reasons why the particular indisposition or pain confronting them is the sufferer's own fault4 ,why did ,david say that he had never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread8 ,why do certain ,eugenists try their hardest to attach some stigma to poverty1 or to what they call the poorly remunerated8 ,and why do people suddenly heap all kinds of blame upon the head of an unfortunate man1 woman or child1 who has suddenly contracted an illness8 ,it is suggested that the reason is because the acceptance of the view that there is a moral order to the universe1 implies two conditions3 7a7 ,that nothing occurs that is not just2 7b7 that1 therefore1 there is no suffering that is not in some way retribution or penalty4 ,when confronted with any form of suffering1 therefore1 the first impulse of everybody trained in this school of thought is an attempt1 at once1 to square the particular example of unhappiness before them with this notion of universal justice2 and if it will not square1 without supposing some ultimate compensation that will balance it1 or some pain or crime that is sufficient to account for it1 some such ultimate compensation or some such transgression is quickly imagined1 which seems to satisfy the requirements of 8immanent justice40 ,if it is quite impossible to discover a sin or a crime in the individual that will account for the individual's suffering--as1 for instance1 when a child is born of diseased or drunken parents--when1 moreover1 doubts are beginning to be felt1 as they are to-day1 in a large number of minds1 regarding the possibility of compensation in another world for undeserved miseries in this world--then a gross injustice is supposed to have occurred1 and everybody who looks at the universe through moral glasses1 feels acutely uncomfortable4 8,why should ,tommy ,jones10 they say1 8be born of diseased or drunken parents1 when ,thomas ,vere de ,vere was born of healthy or sober parents6 ,it is unjust60 ,they are indignant1 and they look indignant1 and those among them who cannot believe in an after-life in which this apparently p#ej monstrous miscarriage of 8immanent justice0 will be rectified1 become social reformers who are prepared to fight1 and lead others to fight for--justice6 ,those people1 on the other hand1 who are persuaded that their religion can explain anything1 and who enjoy the most determined optimism where the suffering of others is concerned1 have yet another loophole of escape from the disagreeable certainty that a miscarriage of universal justice has occurred4 ,nodding their heads gravely and wisely1 they say3 8,who can tell8 ,providence moveth in mysterious ways4 ,may not these sufferers be the most sorely tried because they are the most loved8 ,for whom the ,lord loveth ,he chasteneth40#h ,everything is done1 every expedient is tried in order to escape from the maddening certainty that suffering is possible without a sin or a crime having been committed4 ,when finally it is discovered that such things as pain and misery do co-exist with innocence1 or at least with a lack of guilt1 then the feeling arises that an injustice has been perpetrated which must at all costs be corrected4 ,and since eternal1 or universal1 or immanent justice cannot be held responsible1 man himself and his civilisation are frequently accused of having been guilty of an injustice of which neither is in any way capable4 ,what is it that has forced this conviction upon mankind8 ,failing the comforting assurances of religion1 which postulates a heaven in which the uneven balance of pain and pleasure is adjusted1 and a deity who chastens those whom he most loves1 why is it that at the sight of unearned misery and pain the average man has a feeling of revolt1 as if a primary law of the universe had been wantonly outraged8 ,i have suggested that the average man reads morality into phenomena1 that he imagines that the world is a moral world1 and that consequently pain and pleasure alike must have a moral explanation or cause4 ,it is this that creates the idea of an 8immanent0 justice4 ,but1 if we contemplate the world as a whole1 what justification have we for postulating a moral order of phenomena8 ,why should we expect something so essentially peculiar to human society to pervade the design of things in general8 ,as a matter of fact1 from the standpoint of civilised human society1 ,nature is utterly immoral1 ,life is hopelessly unjust4 ,it is not only the sinful young rabbit that provides the fox with his meal4 ,it is not only the guilty mouse that dies an agonising death in the cat's jaws4 ,it is not only the dissipated sparrow that is torn to fragments by the young of the sparrow-hawk4 ,neither is it only the vicious worm that gets rationed out piecemeal to the young of the mole4 ,and what of the antelopes that fall victims to lions and tigers1 the sheep and cattle that fall victims to man1 the pheasants that fall victims to our sportsmen1 the fish that fall victims to their larger fellows8 ,wherever we look1 we see suffering--undeserved suffering--aye1 undeserved agony4 ,the world and ,life are therefore essentially unmoral1 they p#eb are not concerned with justice4 ,the rain falls both on the just and on the unjust4 ,the hurricane kills the just and the unjust alike4 ,the lightning burns the house of the just or unjust indifferently4 ,microbes feed on the pure and undefiled virgin just as ravenously as upon the polluted jade4 ,tuberculosis does not pick and choose2 it kills where it can4 ,virtue is no safeguard against it1 neither is genius4 ,wherever we look1 either in the jungle or the prairie1 we see the blood-red fangs and the carmine claws of the bully rampant6 ,fair play8 ,where is the fair play between the cat and the mouse8 ,where is the fair play between the stoat and the shrew8 ,where is the fair play between the wolf and the lamb8 ,justice8 ,what is justice1 where is justice in ,life and ,nature8 ,in the vegetable world1 which is said to be inanimate1 the fierce uneven struggle is not even mitigated by the 8sporting chance0 of escape4 ,truth to tell1 the word justice--whether immanent or otherwise--is meaningless when applied to the universe4 ,nobody has ever dreamed of thinking out the billions and billions of post-mortem compensations which would be necessary to adjust the balance of only one year's rapine and slaughter in the world of nature4 ,nobody has ever dreamt that such a calculation would even be possible4 ,injustice1 if it have any meaning at all in this respect1 is therefore written large all over the face of ,life and ,nature4 ,sentimentalists1 like ,wordsworth and ,rousseau1 by wilfully turning their backs upon p#ec the cruel sufferings of animals and insects in ,nature1 have been able to present a picture of ,life to the world as attractive as it is false4 ,but although pleasant lies of this sort are bound ultimately to do a good deal of damage1 and have actually done a good deal of damage1 they are also bound ultimately to be found out1 and it is to be hoped that there is then an end to them1 once and for all4 ,it is not accurate1 therefore1 to read a moral order into the ,universe4 ,life and ,nature are essentially amoral4 ,they are not concerned even with the ,a4,b4,c4 of morality4 ,all life outside human society1 therefore1 knows nothing of justice4 ,on the contrary1 8,life is appropriation1 injury1 conquest of the strange and weak1 suppression1 severity1 obtrusion of its own forms1 incorporation1 and1 at the very least1 exploitation40 ,there is no such thing as a natural balance of virtue and reward1 crime and punishment--even in the realm of social justice this balance is difficult enough to achieve4 ,misery is frequently encountered in ,nature--in fact1 universally so1 divorced from sin4 ,to perceive anything else in ,nature is to contemplate her through rather smoky human spectacles--anthropomorphically4 ,if1 then1 this notion of justice exists at all1 it is only in the fancy of the morally prejudiced4 ,morality arises only in human society2 therefore justice is exclusively a social phenomenon1 a social expedient4 ,it is not a universal law1 but a concept of the social human being4 ,it is not a principle transcending social life2 it is the creation p#ed of social life1 and means nothing outside it2 it is man-made1 man-maintained4 ,in the light of this conclusion1 what is meant1 therefore1 when ,mrs4 ,jelleby-,jones1 of ,hampstead1 who is a welfare worker1 exclaims over her dinner to her husband that it seems so 8unjust0 that the poor little diseased babies she has been inspecting that afternoon should have been born with such a heavy handicap8 ,whose injustice1 what injustice does she mean8 ,does she know what she means1 and does she mean anything8 ,we have seen that if her statement is to have any meaning at all1 it must signify that mankind is unjust1 that human society is unjust1 and that1 therefore1 her particular form of human society is unjust2 consequently that she and her husband1 as forming part of that society1 are unjust4 ,truth to tell1 she will mean nothing half as intelligible as that2 but since this is the only meaning her remark can have1 let us examine it calmly4 ,she supposes an injustice to have been perpetrated because--say--three babies she has seen were born diseased4 ,this happens in every class1 irrespective of banking account1 and the poor are not more unhealthy than the rich4 ,she says the babies will be handicapped4 ,their disease is an obstacle in their road2 therefore it is unjust4 ,she is perfectly right1 in a sense1 when she says that disease is an obstacle4 ,but it might be pointed out to her that to be born of stupid or criminally disposed parents would also constitute an obstacle4 ,psychologists now tell us that even to be born of parents p#ee who disagree constitutes a grave obstacle in life4 ,it might be argued that to be born of people who can afford to keep cars also constitutes an initial obstacle1 because great comfort and luxury reduces moral fibre1 paralyses energy1 and destroys eagerness for the fray4 ,it might be pointed out to her that to be born the son of the ,king of ,england is an obstacle in life1 because it limits freedom2 a man cannot aspire to becoming ,bishop of ,bristol if he is destined to become his ,britannic ,majesty4 ,if being born of sick or stupid parents is an injustice1 all these cases are injustices also4 ,mrs4 ,jelleby-,jones might reply that illness or disease is at least an obstacle that could be avoided1 whereas to have as father the ,king of ,england1 is not a fate that could so easily be circumvented4 ,agreed6 ,but only flagrant cases of illness or disease are even noticeable4 ,what about those more subtle gradations of health or ill-health which though they are frequently sufficiently virulent to convert a potential genius into a merely talented man1 or a potentially talented man into a fool1 are nevertheless not sufficiently glaring to be observed or guarded against8 ,would ,mrs4 ,jelleby-,jones argue that to be born of ugly parents1 for instance1 is an injustice8 ,to be ugly is certainly a great disadvantage1 particularly to the women of any tasteful country4 ,is it also an injustice8 ,look at it how we will1 injustice1 or inequality of endowment and of chances of survival1 is rooted in the very heart of ,nature4 ,society endeavours to mitigate ,nature's harsh rule by means of preventing p#ef or assuaging unnecessary suffering1 succouring indigence1 and trying to make ugly and botched people forget their ugliness2 but society cannot divorce herself completely from ,nature4 ,she is bound to act with ,nature and allow natural laws to operate with comparative freedom in her midst4 ,particularly is this so with regard to the act of pro-creation4 ,here is a natural process1 and a natural passion1 on which society can only impose a certain modicum of order2 she cannot do away with it4 ,now1 as we have seen1 the sort of injustice that we are examining in this chapter1 is rooted in the very act of procreation1 which is essentially a natural act4 ,two people1 male and female1 decide to procreate a third creature 7more frequently they do not give the third creature a thought7--a child1 who can have no voice in deciding whether it should be born or not1 whether it should be born of precisely those parents or not1 or whether it should be their daughter or their son1 their legitimate or illegitimate offspring4 ,it cannot even choose which parent it will resemble4 ,what could be more unjust8 ,it is obviously one of those manifestations of ,nature1 of ,life1 which like all those we have been examining1 is completely and hopelessly unjust4 ,it is the amoral character of ,nature and ,life persisting in spite of moral or social conditions4 ,this amount of ,nature's1 or ,life's1 inevitable injustice must be accepted1 or included with the bargain which is life4 ,what1 then1 do these people really mean who rail against this so-called injustice--this necessary survival of natural and vital p#eg amorality within a moral society8 ,they are1 of course1 extravagantly stupid4 ,they read their own back-parlour ethics into ,nature's scheme1 conclude erroneously that she is just1 and then wherever this kind of injustice appears1 they throw the responsibility of it on to man instead of on to ,nature4 ,they rightly assume that 8injustice0 can be only man-made1 and imagine that in railing against this 8injustice0 of their fancy1 they are really opposing something substantial1 some grievance that could1 or ought to be1 redressed1 if society or the government were more moral4 ,this 8injustice0 of their fancy1 however1 as we have seen1 is built up upon an idea of universal and eternal ,justice which is a pure myth4 ,justice exists nowhere outside civilised man's own institutions1 and least of all in ,nature4 ,whenever and wherever1 therefore1 ,nature1 pure and undefiled1 peeps out even in our civilised societies1 as it does in procreation1 there also appears1 and cannot fail to appear1 what these people call 8injustice40 ,civilised man has done his utmost to mitigate ,life's natural 8injustices0--to use these people's language--but since in order to survive he is bound to allow ,nature a certain modicum of free-play within his societies1 a certain modicum of so-called 8injustice0 cannot be removed from even the most ideal and perfect community4#i ,thus1 far from this 8injustice0 of the stupid sentimentalists la ,gambetta1 etc41 etc41 being man-made1 or man-contrived1 it is man who has done1 and still does1 his utmost to mitigate its asperities4 ,but because he cannot sweep it away without also sweeping away ,life itself1 or without tampering with a very sacred function of his fellows1 it is preposterous to hold him responsible for it4 ,apart from the creation and administration of law in an organised society1 therefore1 and the accepted rules which control the treatment of one man by another1 or of a child by its parents1 or vice vers1 justice has no genuine existence at all4 ,to complain about the absence of a purely fantastic conception1 therefore1 is an absurdity4 ,as well might you complain that your son is born without wings1 or that you yourself do not possess seven-league boots4 ,in its essence1 however1 this act of setting up an impossible ideal1 which is supposed to belong to the very scheme of the universe1 amounts to an attitude of hostility to life1 because it is tantamount to a refusal to accept life as she is--that is to say1 amoral4 ,it is equivalent to setting up a false scale of measurement1 in order to depreciate human society and its value4 ,when once these people are convinced that the 8injustices0 about which they complain really are rooted in ,life and ,nature1 they cry out desperately3 ,look how dreadful ,life is1 she is unjust6 ,but it is only in their benighted brains that the ideal of justice was ever conceived as inherent in phenomena1 as a possible attribute of life ,life is amoral2 therefore she is essentially beyond or beneath justice4 ,you can only p#ei love her or loathe her as she is4 ,and it is a proof of degeneracy to loathe her as she is4 ,hence degenerates invariably clothe her with false attributes1 and talk about a 8justice immanente02 they are not brave enough1 or proud enough1 to love her without trying to paint her in the light of their back-parlour morality4 ,all ,life's light and shade1 all her excitement1 all her incitement to man to compete with energy and spirit in her game1 depends for more than half its charm precisely on the fact that she is amoral--that is to say1 that she produces inequalities1 contrasts and divergent types1 indifferently1 lavishly1 without taking thought1 without mercy4 ,her call is to the brave1 to the stout of heart1 and to the adventurous and spirited4 ,those who in the midst of this great adventure cry out 8,injustice60 either misunderstand1 or wilfully misrepresent the whole scheme4 ,the alleged 8injustices0 of ,life1 can never be put right by man4 ,they are beyond his power to remedy1 however just his laws may be4 ,all he can do is to mitigate the asperity of life for those of ,nature's less fortunately endowed offspring1 who cannot aspire to the highest ridge2 but even in doing this1 he must be careful not to make it too easy for ,nature's failures to multiply over abundantly1 otherwise the race most certainly deteriorates4 ,the modern tendency1 therefore1 which consists in deliberately confounding the issue1 by pointing to a number of ,nature's own 8injustices0 as if they were the outcome of man-made law1 man-made conditions1 p#fj and clamouring for them to be redressed1 is wholly vicious4 ,it deceives the multitude1 maddens them into a false sense of their grievances1 and frequently leads to disturbances which1 though they prove sadly destructive of life and treasure1 must leave things more or less as they were1 because the grievances chiefly complained of1 are frequently rooted in ,life itself4 ,this does not mean that there are not man-made injustices in the creation and administration of law4 ,unfortunately they are too often as plentiful as those of ,life itself4 ,but by far the grossest so-called injustices are those of ,nature and ,life1 which cannot by any means be removed1 and least of all can they be even mitigated in a country whose population distinguishes so imperfectly between grievances which can be rightly brought home to man1 and those that are inherent in the natural order of existence1 that while they blindly clamour for the removal of the latter1 the former1 which might be corrected and are within man's power to correct1 are generally left studiously alone4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #e3 8,if our hearts beat1 it is with this object 444 it is in order that we may rely on the future and know whether there is an all-pervading justice in the things of this world1 which ultimately has its day and comes to light at its appointed time40 ,footnote #f3 ,the present writer has even heard women declare that the lot of the female human being1 with all its disabilities and physical burdens1 constitutes an 8unjust0 apportionment of pain and pleasure when compared with the lot of the male4 ,it is difficult to discover what injustice is meant here1 unless we conclude that women who speak in this way have acquired from their stupid men-folk ideas about a certain justice behind phenomena or in ,nature1 which in their particular existence appears to be transgressed4 ,in any case we are quite safe in assuming that it cannot be an infringement of man's justice that is meant here4 ,it must1 therefore1 be the imaginary justice which is the subject of this essay1 and which moral people read into the universe4 ,footnote #g3 ,it would only be correct to say that the poor are the undesirable as well as being the biologically unfit1 if successful adaptation to modern conditions demanded the highest virtues and abilities of which the community is capable4 ,footnote #h3 ,paul's ,epistle to the ,hebrews4 ,chapter xii4 #f4 ,footnote #i3 ,so long1 that is to say1 as free mating is not made a criminal offence1 and even then the harshness of the natural law will only be partially mitigated4 p#fa ,,chapter ,,iii ,,equality 8,we hold these truths to be self-evident2 that all men were created equal2 that they were endowed by their ,creator with inalienable rights2 that among these are life1 liberty1 and the pursuit of happiness40--,thomas ,jefferson 7#aj;,declaration by the ,representatives of the ,united ,states74 ,from whichever quarter the principle of human equality is approached1 it appears to recede into ever deeper dimness and obscurity the more hotly it is pursued4 ,what does this elusiveness signify8 ,has the principle any reality at all8 ,that is to say1 is it something that can be realised8 ,or is it the most unscrupulous lie that has ever been sewn as a device upon the banner of a faction8 ,in any case it seems to provoke very real emotions4 ,thump your fist hard enough1 and shout from a public platform3 8,ladies and gentlemen1 what we want more than anything else to-day1 that which our birth1 our common origin1 our common shape and stature--aye1 even our common spark of ,divine ,spirit--most surely guarantees us1 is ,equality1 ladies and gentlemen1 the blessed condition of ,equality60 ,pronounce the words emphatically enough1 as your exordium1 and your whole audience will cheer and applaud as with one voice4 ,not one of the assembled crowd will protest indignantly that you have been talking nonsense4 ,everybody will really believe that your words have some meaning1 and a beautiful meaning4 ,we have already seen1 however1 that a word does not require to have any precise meaning1 or any definite association whatever1 in order to excite pleasurable feelings in those who hear it pronounced1 or in order to provoke these people to energetic action4 ,is ,equality perhaps one of these empty1 inflammatory words8 ,it is originally a term borrowed from mathematics4 ,the mathematician says3--8,two and two are equal2 this triangle and that are equal2 this length and that length are equal2 this weight and that weight are equal40 ,he is dealing with mere ciphers1 symbols or abstractions1 and consequently the mathematician has everything his own way1 and so long as he abides by ciphers1 symbols and abstractions we have no wish to interfere4 ,he can carry his egalitarian principle right through the ,english weights and measures1 vi the decimal system1 into geometry4 ,he is speaking of pure abstractions1 arbitrarily supposed to be identical1 and if it amuses him to postulate equality as their characteristic1 nobody cares4 ,they are his abstractions1 his ciphers1 he can postulate what he likes about them4 ,we have the feeling that it does not matter4 ,it is only when the mathematician1 who1 as a rule1 is a hopeless psychologist1 begins to apply p#fc the lifeless notions he has learnt in his study1 to the world of activity and reality2 it is only when he begins to speak of things that are not his own abstractions--things that really have an existence known to us--that we immediately begin to feel that he is taking liberties with reality4 ,for instance1 if he say that a certain #b1jjj pear leaves are equal to another #b1jjj pear leaves1 we who know that no two leaves have ever been known to be exactly the same1 straightway call him to order and say3 8,no1 sir1 abide by your abstractions6 ,that statement of yours is not true40 ,likewise1 if he say that a certain #b1jjj cows are equal to another #b1jjj cows1 we feel that he is either taking too much for granted1 or else that he should try to enlist our confidence by specifying the precise weight and individual qualities of each cow in each set1 before inviting us to acquiesce in his assertion4 ,and even if the two sets of #b1jjj cows weighed exactly the same amount and were of the same race1 we should still feel that there were differences in the quality and supply of milk in each set1 as also in the vitality of the respective cows in each set1 etc41 which ought to be taken into account and which it would hardly be possible to estimate with perfect accuracy4 ,but let us think of things which have less individual divergence from the common type4 ,let us think of screws1 bolts1 plates1 chain links1 etc4 ,after these have been made with the utmost care by means of machines capable of almost mathematical precision1 and when once they have been accurately weighed and found equal both p#fd as regards size and ponderability1 you would think that you had groups of things or individual things as between which you would be justified in postulating the attribute equality4 ,but if you should ask anyone accustomed to dealing with such things1 he would tell you that one bolt in ten or in twenty usually splits1 that one screw in a hundred or in a thousand usually strips1 and that one plate in fifty usually cracks4 ,thus here and there1 even when enormous pains have been taken to attain uniformity1 marked differences become apparent4 ,what about those differences that are not sufficiently marked to be noticeable until some considerable time has elapsed8 ,can equality be postulated of no two objects on earth then8 ,provided that the mathematical abstracts1 or arbitrary identities1 size1 weight1 bulk and number1 alone1 are in question1 equality can be postulated2 but the moment mathematical abstractions are departed from1 it is not only unsafe1 it is positively dishonest to speak of equality4 ,for instance1 you can say that these hundred rails are equal to those hundred rails in number1 in weight1 or in length4 ,you could not say that these hundred rails are equal to those hundred rails in durability1 resilience1 or frangibility4 ,you might say they are approximately equal in these attributes1 or as nearly as possible equal2 but apart from the arbitrary identities or abstractions of the mathematicians1 you could not postulate perfect equality4 ,does the term 8,equality0 mean anything at all apart from these mathematical p#fe abstractions then8----,absolutely nothing6 ,what1 then1 are those people who earnestly and warmly claim and advocate equality among men--men who are so different in their ancestry1 size1 shape1 endowments1 beauty1 desires1 appetites1 and spirit1 whose very features proclaim their inequality as they approach us8 ,are such clamourers for equality all liars8 ,they are certainly liars1 but the majority of them are probably perfectly unconscious liars4 ,from childhood onwards they may have heard the word 8,equality0 pronounced as if it implied a very certain reality1 a very much coveted desideratum4 ,deep emotions over which they have no control1 and concerning which they have even less understanding1 are therefore stirred every time they hear the word1 or see it written or printed2 and thus they live and die earnestly believing that this meaningless principle 8,equality10 if it could be realised1 would be an unqualified boon4 ,how the equality is to be achieved1 whether by bleeding the too sanguine1 truncating the too tall1 deliberately debilitating the too healthy1 delicately injuring the brains of the too intelligent1 or systematically fattening the too thin1 nobody troubles definitely to specify4 ,egalitarians have a vague notion concerning a still more vague desideratum1 and this1 coupled with the word 8,equality10 that is utterly meaningless outside the abstractions of the mathematicians1 completes the content of their hallucination4 ,but1 it may be objected1 the world is surely not so foolish4 ,what men mean p#ff when they demand equality1 is equality before the law--that is to say1 that the law-officers should regard them1 for the purposes of law-administration as equal to one another in their chances of being right4 ,this may be true of a few cases in which the cry 8,equality0 is set up2 but is it true of all8 ,do all egalitarians court equality because at some time or another they may have to confront the officers of the law8 ,no1 says the objector1 but the law is not merely felt when two litigants face each other1 or when a criminal is apprehended2 it is felt in the home of the just as well as in that of the unjust2 it is felt in the life of the city1 in the village and in the factory4 ,but it is precisely in such circumstances that the law would be most harsh1 if it assumed equality4 ,it is compelled to assume inequality in legislating for large communities1 otherwise it could not be just at all4 ,the very symbol of justice--a blindfold female with a pair of scales in one hand--is a mathematical symbol1 which can have no relation to human affairs1 but only to the mathematical abstraction1 weight4 8,a good law should be good for all men10 said ,condorcet1 8even as a proposition is true for all men40 8,the capital error of the whole ,french ,revolution10 says ,louis ,madelin1 8lies in the dogma thus proclaimed by ,condorcet40#aa ,yes1 but ,condorcet was not a political thinker1 he was one of the foremost mathematicians of his time6 ,and ,thomas ,jefferson1 whose words head this chapter1 was his disciple4 ,the danger to which the mathematician1 like the engineer exposes us1 begins when he pretends to apply his principles to human affairs4 ,but1 continues the objector1 although it is admitted that initial equality1 as between human beings1 or any living things for that matter1 is an impossibility1 seeing that nature's products are all diverse and unequal2 and although subsequent equality is hard to achieve without behaving unjustly and barbarously to all those who depart from a certain norm or standard--that is to say1 without bleeding1 debilitating1 truncating1 or otherwise injuring all those who vary from an arbitrarily selected pattern--there surely can be such a thing as ,equality of ,opportunity4 ,at this point in the discussion it is only fair to say that most opponents of ,egalitarianism promptly capitulate1 and eagerly concede that equality of opportunity is a genuine desideratum capable of practical realisation4 ,at the risk of appearing captious and sophistical1 however1 it can no more be admitted here that ,equality of ,opportunity has any actual possibilities of realisation than has the principle of equality itself4 ,it is1 in fact1 an illusion rather more complex and more serious than the latter4 ,for it presupposes1 not only equality among men1 but equality of opportunity--two equalities instead of one--and among a class p#fh of things which can be made equal only by a miracle4 ,in the first place1 it may be assumed1 without any further discussion1 that a moment's calm reflection is enough to dispel even from the meanest intelligence1 the illusion that men can ever be equal4 ,on this score1 alone1 then1 opportunities cannot be equal1 because1 however accurately their equality may be established1 in regard to a supposed standard man1 the moment they are placed in relation to the multitude of unequal men1 they1 too1 become unequal4 ,for an opportunity is not a thing in itself2 it only becomes something in relation to the creature who seizes it4 ,given an equal means of access to a particular ridge or hill-top1 the opportunity to reach that hill-top or ridge1 is the equal means of access plus the kind of creature to whom it is afforded4 ,the introduction of an unequal element on the one hand--the men--makes the other element1 the means of access1 not unequal as means of access in the abstract1 but unequal as opportunity in the concrete4 ,suppose as much inequality between three men as exists between a hen1 a hare1 and a hippopotamus--and as regards fleetness and swimming power such inequality is not unusual between men--how could you devise equal opportunities which would enable all three men to reach a certain objective at the same moment of time1 if a strip of water1 a high wall1 and a ravine stood between the starting point and the objective8 ,you might do it by first holding a rehearsal1 in which you would accurately time p#fi each man and note his abilities1 and then handicap the fleetest accordingly4 ,but unfortunately life cannot be rehearsed1 a life-handicap cannot be calculated4 ,besides1 it is to the advantage of society not to handicap her fleetest and her best4 ,as ,lord ,morley very rightly says3 8,the well-being of the community demands the allotment of high function in proportion to high faculty40#ab ,but suppose our objector replies3 ,very well1 but that is all we ask4 ,we do not demand a handicap2 we simply demand an equal means of access to a particular objective1 no matter whether ultimately those means prove unequal or not1 owing to the inequality of the men to whom they are open4 ,it may then be asked whether even this equality in means of access is not in itself utterly fanciful and fantastic4 ,given the radical inequality of men at birth1 together with the highly complex arrangement of modern society1 with its enormous variety of prizes1 it may reasonably be questioned whether it be even possible1 not to mention practicable4 ,a large number of people cannot all travel along the same narrow path4 ,several narrow paths all exactly alike would have to be constructed4 ,the accidents1 vicissitudes1 fatalities that would attend some of the early travellers along the roads--faintness1 loss of luggage1 sprains1 deaths1 etc4--would either impede or facilitate the way of the later travellers4 ,thus1 in life1 the means of access themselves1 however equal at the start1 would quickly acquire unforeseen inequalities4 ,let us select an example from life in ,england4 ,two boys1 ,a and ,b1 one living at ,whitstable1 the other in ,london1 are quite unequal in gifts1 ancestral tradition1 build and tastes4 ,nevertheless1 it is desired to give them an equal opportunity1 say1 of earning #a1jjj a year when they are forty4 ,the father of ,a wishes ,a to have the same opportunities as ,b1 and ,b's father holds the same view about ,b in his relation to ,a4 ,very well1 ,a1 having learnt the art of oyster fishing1 which is the principal industry of ,whitstable1 is sent to ,london to learn to be a clerk1 and ,b is sent from ,london to ,whitstable1 after training as a clerk1 in order to have an opportunity of being an oyster fisherman4 ,meanwhile1 ,a's father has heard that ,b is also studying agriculture at a school of agriculture somewhere near ,whitstable4 ,a1 after having trained as a clerk1 is therefore recalled to ,whitstable and made to undergo a course of agriculture1 and ,b having acquired a knowledge of oyster-fishing and agriculture1 is sent back to ,london to learn ,french1 which ,a acquired there4 ,ultimately1 however1 ,a's father1 remembering that a brother of his did extremely well as an engineer1 prevails upon ,b's father to consent to the plan of sending both boys ,a and ,b to ,armstrong ,whitworth's or to ,vickers4 ,we can imagine both ,a's father and ,b's father dying long before ,a and ,b had had every opportunity that society now offers p#ga to the aspirant for success2 we can also picture ,a and ,b themselves becoming grey-haired octogenarians before they finally settled down4 ,no1 says the objector4 ,that is not what opportunity egalitarians mean4 ,they mean not that everybody should have an equal chance of succeeding in all the careers that lie open1 but that they should have an opportunity of succeeding in life4 ,but what is meant by success here8 ,does it consist in becoming ,prime ,minister of ,england1 or ,commander-in-,chief in ,india1 or ,lord ,mayor1 or ,editor of ,john ,bull8 ,in any case opportunities for becoming any one of these four cannot be made equal4 ,perhaps success consists in becoming a millionaire8 ,but who is going to determine the equality of opportunity for this achievement8 ,pullitzer1 one of the most powerful ,american millionaires of the first decade of this century1 crawled ashore in ,america as a penniless fugitive1 after having swum from the ship that had conveyed him as an emigrant from ,europe6 ,moreover1 supposing that a boy's opportunity-egalitarianism extends beyond the shores of his native land1 and he says3 ,i wish to have the same opportunity as the ,frenchman1 or the ,canadian1 or the ,chinaman4 ,what then8 ,is there any valid reason why opportunity-egalitarianism should be confined to a single country1 or even to a single continent8 ,what1 then1 is left of this cry for equality of opportunity8 ,simply the sting of resentment which gives rise to it2 and this we shall now proceed to examine4 p#gb ,what kind of person is it who clamours for this meaningless desideratum1 equality8 ,certainly not the beautiful person1 because to him equality1 if it could be achieved1 would result in bringing him down to the common level4 ,neither can it be the person specially gifted in any of the arts and sciences2 for1 again1 equality1 if it could by some miracle be wrought1 would amount to wiping out the advantage of such special gifts4 ,the self-reliant1 the strong1 the skilful1 the able and the desirable1 in all walks of life1 are never stirred by this cry for equality2 because they look down from their eminence1 and cannot therefore conceive that levelling could possibly prove an advantage4 ,it must therefore be the undesirable1 the unskilful1 the incompetent1 the ugly1 the ungifted1 in all walks of life1 the incapable of all classes1 who want equality4 ,and they want it because1 looking up from their position of chafing mediocrity and ungainliness1 and beholding their more gifted brethren1 they realise that equality must redound to their benefit4 ,a moment's reflection would tell them that it is an impossible ideal2 their mortified vanity1 however1 is stronger than their reason1 and urges them to believe in it1 ridiculous as it may be4 8,envy wears the mask of ,love1 and1 laughing sober fact to scorn1 ,cries to weakest1 as to strongest1 #8,ye are equals1 equal-born4'0#ac 8,what made the ,revolution8 ,vanity6 ,liberty was nothing but a pretext60 ,thus spoke ,napoleon1 the greatest and probably the deepest man since ,csar4#ad ,but1 however fantastic the cry for equality may seem1 it is a dangerous cry1 because it is still capable of stimulating and directing energy4 ,it is1 therefore1 still a weapon in the hands of the unscrupulous agitator and demagogue4 ,it means nothing4 ,we have seen that it has only a mathematical value4 ,but until the ignorant1 the arrogant1 and the revengeful among ,nature's 7not society's7#ae failures are brave and honest enough to realise that the apparent injustice of the radical inequality of man1 is irremediable and inevitable1 until they realise that it cannot be corrected without resorting to the most savage extreme of ,procrustean barbarity1 the lie ,equality1 as a high explosive1 as a generator of social perturbations and upheavals1 as a weapon and a war-cry1 will continue to give rise to meaningless hopes1 and to suggest utterly false claims to the overweening ambition of all discontented humanity4 ,there is1 however1 another factor in this clamour for the impracticable ideal of equality1 and that is our old friend the natural indolence of the weary and the exhausted4 ,if all were equal--no matter how this equality is to be achieved--it is felt that things would be easier4 ,not only would the shame of the ugly and the repulsive in the presence of the beautiful and the gifted be spared1 but the uphill race of the poor runners beside the fleet and enduring runners1 would also be rendered less strenuous4 ,the ineffective brain-cracking of the fools beside the swift and efficient thought of the intelligent would be less heart-rending1 and so on4 ,finally1 the notion of ,justice1 of 8immanent0 ,justice1 constrains those who hold it1 to assume a scheme of life1 according to which all human beings are at least equal at birth4 ,such people very easily argue as follows3 ,if all human beings were not equal at birth1 it would not be just1 8immanent0 ,justice would be caught red-handed in an act of flagrant injustice at the very portals of life4 ,but this is inconceivable1 therefore all must be born equal4 ,we have seen1 however1 that this notion of justice is quite as mythical as the idea of equality itself4 ,generated in this way1 by innumerable powerful wishes1 the idea of equality begins to take shape and assume the appearance of a realisable object in the minds of the weary and the exhausted2 and without troubling to ask themselves what the merits or possibilities of their idea may be1 they are prepared to advocate it1 applaud it--aye p#ge and even fight for it1 at the cost of all the rest of the world--so long as they continue to be assured by unscrupulous people that it will effect all they want it to effect4 ,so far1 then1 it has been impossible to trace any substantial measure of reality behind this notion and this cry of equality4 ,is it conceivable that a word should give rise to such intense feeling and yet bear no relation whatever to practical life8 ,was ,president ,jefferson raving when he1 following the lead of almost thirty millions of ,french people1 also spoke of equality as a desideratum that could be gravely and confidently placed on a political programme8 ,for it seems only fair to presume that he could not have been serious when he maintained that all men were created equal4 ,it is possible that at the end of the #ahth century equality as a cry had a very definite meaning4 ,it probably meant in its best and most rational interpretation1 that every citizen had an equal right to have his interests safeguarded by the laws of his society1 that is to say1 by the government of his country4 ,this was not recognised as a principle by the rulers of ,france before the ,revolution1 and it is at least conceivable that the substantial reality behind this cry for equality was precisely the demand on the part of all that each man's interests should be protected with equal vigour and conscientiousness by the state4 ,but in this sense has the cry for equality any meaning8 ,in so far as certain sections of the community may still believe that their interest is not so perfectly safeguarded as that of p#gf other sections1 the cry for equality of treatment has as much meaning to-day as it had in the last years of the #ahth century1 but beyond this one claim1 it is difficult to discover any meaning in it whatsoever4 ,unfortunately1 however1 this very necessary and incontrovertible limitation of the idea of equality1 is not likely to deter those whose base purpose may best be served by extending the significance of the word beyond its proper bounds1 when appealing to the least desirable elements in every nation2 and unless in the mass of the people of all countries there is that understanding of the term which alone bears any resemblance to reality1 mankind will continue at intervals to be incited to energetic though fruitless violence in the pursuit of a phantom which can have no practical or effective existence outside the calculations of a mathematician's brain4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #aj3 ,perhaps it is only fair to remind the reader that ,jefferson was the ,united ,states minister plenipotentiary in ,paris in #aghe1 and that he had1 therefore1 imbibed deeply much of the nonsense that was current in ,france at the time4 ,footnote #aa3 ,see ,the ,french ,revolution1 by ,louis ,madelin1 p4 #ae4 ,the author continues3 8,he ,condorcet and his co-religionists1 who knew nothing of true sociology1 which has its foundations in psychology1 here prove themselves still more ignorant of history40 ,footnote #ab3 ,rousseau4 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #aha4 ,footnote #ac3 ,see ,tennyson1 ,locksley ,hall1 ,sixty ,years ,after4 ,footnote #ad3 ,see also ,h4 de ,balzac4 ,le ,cabinet des ,antiques3 8,en ,france1 ce qu'il y a de plus national1 est la vanit4 ,la masse des vanits blesses y a donn soif d'galit40 ,footnote #ae3 ,nature's failures and society's failures are not identical4 ,nature's failure is frequently a creature below par1 he is frequently botched and undesirable4 ,society's failure may be an extremely desirable person1 to whom modern conditions are so loathsome that he cannot adapt himself to them and become successful4 ,that is why the ,eugenists1 who are prone to class the unsuccessful of the age with the undesirable1 still have a good deal to learn4 ,the unsuccessful now-a-days are certainly the biologically 8unfit02 but the question that must be decided before you conclude that they are also 8undesirable0 is whether present conditions demand desirable or undesirable qualities in those who become successfully adapted to them1--in those1 that is to say1 who are 8fit40 p#gg ,,chapter ,,iv ,,freedom 8,freedom such as ,god hath given ,unto all beneath ,his heaven1 ,with their breath1 and from their birth1 ,though guilt would sweep it from the earth40 --,byron 7,poems on ,napoleon74 8,man was born free1 and everywhere he is in chains40--,this meaningless1 but highly inflammatory statement of ,rousseau's is probably at the root of most of the misunderstanding that prevails to-day in regard to the subject of liberty4 ,just as people eagerly accept1 without a moment's thought1 the lie that men are born equal1 so they are only too ready to embrace a doctrine according to which they may lay claim to a sort of primitive1 or natural freedom1 which has been stolen from them by their rulers1 their civilisation1 or by invading hordes4 ,on examination1 of course1 the proposition 8men are born free0 proves to be wholly and wildly fantastic4 ,freedom implies1 one would suppose1 the right1 the capacity1 and the opportunity to choose one course from another1 one kind of life from another4 ,but how much can a man really choose8 ,at birth1 for instance1 all kinds of conditions are imposed upon the future adult--conditions which are bound to determine the whole of the principal events of his or her p#gh career1--over which there is no possibility of control whatsoever4 ,it may be assumed1 for instance1 that a baby might like to choose its nationality and the language that it will speak in later life4 ,can it do so8 ,it may reasonably be taken for granted that a baby might like to choose its parents1 its brothers and sisters1 and its other relatives4 ,can it do so8 ,its very constitution and health are dependent upon the kind of mother and father it has2 its very happiness and success as an adult may depend upon the way in which it is treated as an infant4 ,has it any choice1 any freedom1 in regard to any of these matters8 ,it is not fanciful to suspect that the baby might like to choose its particular form and features1 its ultimate height as an adult1 etc41 etc4 ,the most vital and important issues will hang upon this question of its face and form when it is grown up4 ,but it has no power whatsoever to determine any one of these most vital and important conditions4 ,an imaginative baby1 realising the inexorable fate which hangs over certain gifts1 certain endowments1 and a particular sex1 might regard it as all important to be able to select these freely4 ,but the rigidity of natural law1 the impossibility of controlling any of these matters1 ordain that at birth a baby has all its important ultimate characteristics1 and therefore all its proclivities1 tastes1 vices1 virtues1 and even aspirations settled for it4 ,its nationality1 its language1 its parents1 its other relatives1 its constitution1 its degree of beauty1 its stature1 its physical and mental endowments1 its sex1--all these things1 upon which the p#gi figure it will ultimately cut in the world most surely depend1--are fixed by an iron necessity which allows of no choice1 no preference1--aye1 and scarcely any modification either4 ,if this is freedom1 then what does constraint1 what does oppression mean8 ,it may be objected that this is not what ,rousseau meant2 that ,rousseau maintained that man was born free1 because in a savage state he would really be free from the conventions1 laws1 and constraints of civilisation4 ,this appears convincing enough4 ,the savage is certainly free from the laws and constraints of civilisation1 but the savage race has yet to be found that is free from all conventions1 laws and constraints1 nor is it by any means certain that these obstacles to freedom are the more pleasant for being barbarous instead of civilised4 ,but even if we suppose that ,rousseau's alleged freedom of babies is a reality1 at what point1 it may be asked1 is it exchanged for bondage8 ,most people would reply3 when the child goes to school4 ,it is at school that the shackles of civilisation are first fastened on the free infant's wrists4 ,it is the work that civilisation ultimately holds in store for the child that necessitates his being trained and 8educated40 ,to this the naturalist and anthropologist might reply3 is there now1 or has there ever been1 a race of men or animals that did not have to undergo some process of training in childhood in order to learn to be efficient adults8 p#hj ,of course there neither is1 nor ever was any such race4 ,iron necessity again precludes the possibility of this alleged freedom even in childhood4 ,in manhood1 again1 freedom is purely a will-o'-the-wisp4 ,no man who wishes to continue living is free4 ,he is bound to procure food and clothing for himself even in the cannibal islands4 ,if he have passions1 he is bound to find some means of gratifying them4 ,this means shouldering responsibilities2 for no community1 even of animals1 undertakes to rear the fruits of other people's passions4 ,he cannot even select his calling1 for his calling will depend upon his special aptitudes4 ,in fact1 the more gifted he is1 and the more marked his capabilities1 the less will he be able to choose how to earn a living4 ,only a man of mediocre and insignificant gifts is really free to choose his calling1 because he feels no irresistible impulse in a given direction4 ,but these mediocre people who are free to choose their calling1 don't really choose a 8calling0 at all--the very idea of choosing something to which one is called is absurd--what they choose is a more or less characterless and humdrum means of earning a living1 which requires neither very special gifts nor any marked proclivities4 ,to be free to choose what one will be1 is always a sign of hopelessly humble tastes and endowments4 ,putting it at its lowest1 however1 we might concede the point that as far as choosing a means of livelihood is concerned1 there are a certain number of very mediocre men whose gifts are so indistinct and feeble1 and whose p#ha tastes are so wavering and undefined1 that they are 8free40#af ,apart from these unhappy individuals1 then1 if ,rousseauesque freedom exist at all1 it exists only between the hour of birth and the hour when the child first goes to school4 ,we have seen that even this is untrue4 ,but has it even a semblance of truth as a conclusion8 ,surely nothing could be clearer than the fact that even in those years freedom is as remote as ever2 for quite apart from the reasons already adduced above1 it will easily be seen that the infant is as much the victim of convention and form as any adult could possibly be4 ,it has a home1 its life is subjected to rules1 to a time-table1 it cannot eat or do what it likes1 except within very well-defined limits severely imposed4 8,it can think what it likes10 somebody may object4 ,but even this is not strictly true4 ,its thoughts are as much necessitated by its environment and its constitution as is its food4 ,if it is born in ,england or ,france1 for instance1 it will be brought up to believe in 8immanent justice10 in 8equality10 in 8freedom40 ,it cannot escape these imbecilities4 ,they are its fate4 ,it will be taught the inanity that 8every man has a right to his own opinion10 and that 8,britons never never never shall be slaves10--whatever that means1 if it means anything at all4 ,later in life it may claim the idea that 8every man has a right to his own opinion0 as its own4 ,it will have forgotten how it could not help holding this idea1 any more than it could help learning the ,english language4 ,rousseau then was talking nonsense when he said that men were born free2 but both his reading and his education were so pool that it is doubtful whether he knew that he was talking nonsense4 ,apart from ,rousseauesque freedom1 however1 has the word no meaning8 ,it will be seen that1 in the end1 it has very little4 ,voluntary actions1 or actions that are performed as the result of a free choice between two or more alternatives1 are not known4 ,they never occur4 ,even when they appear to occur1 they are generally1 if not always1 associated with a weak or useless personality4 ,strong natures have no choice2 they have no alternative2 they have therefore no freedom4 ,they are driven to their deeds by an iron necessity4 ,if they speak or write1 it is out of the fulness of their hearts4 ,it is a phenomenon akin to the mechanical overflow of a flooded basin4 ,if they go in search of big undertakings and of vast responsibilities1 in order to shoulder them1 it is because they have a store of accumulated energy which must discharge itself over a large area1 over a large mass of material4 ,when ,napoleon took leave of his comrades in ,egypt1 before embarking on that gigantic enterprise1 the reconstitution of anarchical bleeding and devastated ,france1 he said3 8,i am going to drive out the lawyers40 ,his strength demanded a gigantic task1 just p#hc as the nasal horn of the rhinoceros drives the animal who possesses it to uproot the soil4 ,he could not help himself4 ,martin ,luther likewise had no choice4 ,before the famous ,diet of ,worms1 he openly avowed this lack of freedom4 ,he said3 8,here ,i stand4 ,i cannot act otherwise4 ,god help me40 ,indeed the character of all strength is precisely that it gives those who possess it no choice1 no 8freedom40 ,the moment choice enters into the domain of action1 the moment there is apparent freedom or self-determination1 weakness1 or a lack of native impetus may be suspected4 ,thomas de ,quincey1 that profound psychologist of the artist's soul1 explained the matter very well in his ,autobiography4 ,discussing the nature of true poetry1 he said3 8,by far the larger proportion of what is received in every age for poetry1 and for a season usurps that consecrated name1 is not the spontaneous overflow of real unaffected passion1 deep1 and at the same time original1 and also forced into public manifestation of itself from the necessity which cleaves to all passion40#ag ,it will be seen that de ,quincey here speaks of a 8spontaneous overflow0 which is 8forced into public manifestation of itself from the necessity which cleaves to all passion40 ,there is no freedom about it1 no choice4 ,it flows from an impetuous and imperious abundance4 ,in the light which this throws on all human greatness or strength1 what does the value of freedom appear to be8 ,does it not seem as if freedom and the apparent liberty to choose belong essentially to a lack of strength1 to an absence of necessity in the characteristic action of man8 ,to be able to weigh and select either one of two alternatives1--say action or inaction1--implies that no overwhelming native impetus forces a man to the one and blinds him to the other4 ,is it possible then that the very cry of 8freedom0 belongs essentially to weakness8 to feebleness of character8 ,let another example be taken4 ,a young man ,a4 has just reached the age of one and twenty without having had a serious affair of the heart4 ,his friends regard him as free to pursue any pastime1 any sport4 ,when once he has discharged the duties by means of which he earns his livelihood1 he is always free to join a tennis party1 a cricket team1 a bridge party1 or a debating circle4 ,his mind can devote itself to the task of choosing what he shall do1--is it to be tennis1 cricket1 bridge1 or argument8 ,he has no overpowering inclination for anything particular1 consequently he is free to choose4 ,suddenly1 however1 he meets a young lady ,b1 who strains a certain fibre in his being almost to snapping point4 ,the tension of this strain is so powerful that1 like the main spring of a watch1 it presses its host to constant activity in a certain direction4 ,the direction in this case is ,b's person4 ,now choice falls out of the question altogether4 ,it is no longer a matter of dwelling critically upon cricket1 tennis1 bridge or argument1 and selecting that which seems for the moment the most alluring pastime4 ,the tension in ,a's being relaxes only at one sound1 at one p#he call4 ,it is ,b ,b ,b --,b recurring4 ,when urged by his whilom tennis companions to join them1 these friends now encounter1 not hesitating freedom1 but formidable resistance1 immovable decision1 determined refusal4 ,when approached by his debating society1 he declares that all his spare time is now taken up4 ,he is in fact no longer free4 ,something strong in him has been roused4 ,he cannot help himself4 ,his actions are no longer voluntary4 ,but who would long for freedom in such circumstances8 ,who longs for freedom when bondage is sweet8 ,it may be taken for granted1 then1 that strength and greatness know nothing of freedom4 ,the strong man is not free2 the great man is not free2--nor for that matter1 as history or the observation of our fellows can show1 do they wish to be free4 ,only weakness is apparently free1 or is conscious of desiring freedom2 because1 having no strong native impetus to drive it willy nilly in any given direction1 it appears to be able to choose its own direction4 ,thus only weakness can even desire freedom4 ,the obvious inference would be that as fast as the mass of mankind decline in strength and greatness1 the louder would become the cry for freedom4 ,is this conclusion valid8 ,it is only partially so2 for there are cases when freedom is demanded not from weakness1 but from strength4 ,let us abide by the examples we have chosen4 ,napoleon1 driven by the iron necessity of his native strength1 leaves ,egypt to make p#hf himself master of ,france4 ,but suppose that he had been conquered and kept as a harem servant in ,egypt1 or restrained in some other way from exerting his strength1--what then8 ,it is conceivable1 in that case1 that he would have longed for the freedom which would have allowed him to fall into the bondage of his own overpowering impulses to rule and to direct the destiny of ,france4 ,for the first time the idea of 8freedom0 begins to assume a definite shape4 ,it begins to acquire the appearance of a genuine reality4 ,judging by ,napoleon's case1 therefore1 we may say of the desire for freedom1 that although it never arises in normal conditions1 it begins to make a definite appeal when it signifies a release from bondage that is incompatible and inharmonious with strong innate impulses1 for a bondage that is compatible and harmonious with strong innate impulses4 ,the bondage consisting in being a harem servant is incompatible with innate impulses of a stronger order2 therefore1 although the obedience to impulses of a stronger order also constitutes bondage1 ,napoleon1 as a harem servant1 would have longed for the freedom to fall into the bondage of his stronger impulses1 because it was there that his 8calling0 lay4 ,reverting to the case of the young man ,a who became enamoured of a young lady ,b1 we are confronted by a case that is somewhat different2 because1 although ,a was apparently 8free0 before meeting ,b1 he nevertheless p#hg prefers the bondage of his attachment to ,b to his former freedom4 ,why1--obviously because his former apparent freedom1 was freedom for nothing1 a state of being constrained to nothing in particular1 a lack of bondage to anything1 which was tantamount to a lack of everything4 ,he finds his strength on meeting ,b4 ,he finds one of his powerful impulses taking possession of him4 ,he is therefore happy1 because1 though he is in bondage1 a vital impulse is directing his life1 a necessity of his being has found a pursuit for him4 ,if his cricket club now kidnap him and imprison him in the cricket field1 in order to play in a cricket match1 he will make a determined attempt to escape4 ,he will endeavour to obtain freedom4 ,freedom for what8--,freedom from a bondage incompatible with the powerful impulses of his being1 for the purpose of falling into a bondage compatible with the powerful impulses of his being4 ,has the 8liberty0 of our political agitators this meaning8 ,has it any meaning8 ,we know that man can never be free4 ,we have seen that from his very birth conditions are imposed upon him which direct his subsequent career as inevitably as railway lines direct the course of a train4 ,nothing that lives in finite conditions can be free4 ,and no other conditions are known4 ,life even in the animal world means work1 battle1 struggle1 the observance of certain very strict habits4 ,human life means work1 the observance of social conventions2 even the necessity of eating1 drinking1 breathing and performing the other bodily functions entails responsibility4 p#hh ,work may be altered1 the particular social conventions of a nation may be changed2 but it is merely a matter of altering one kind into another kind1 exchanging one rule for another rule4 ,what then does the political agitator mean when he offers 8,liberty0 to those whom he would induce to support or follow him8 ,it has been seen that the only sense in which liberty as an idea bears any relation to reality1 is when it signifies the opportunity that can be given to a man to enable him to exchange a bondage incompatible with his strongest impulses for a bondage that harmonises with them4 ,is this the meaning of the cry for freedom to-day8 ,when the newspapers told us that the ,great ,war was fought by us in the cause of 8freedom01 is this the freedom they meant8 ,how many of those who believe they aspire to something definite and real when they aspire to 8freedom10 fully understand the limitations of their ideal8 ,how many of them really possess stronger impulses than those that actually find expression in their daily work8 ,some people might reply1 8very few40 ,i reply that the number of men and women to-day1 who yearn for freedom vaguely1 fretfully1 and insistently1 because they realise dimly that they seek a kind of bondage in which their stronger impulses would have more scope1 is very much greater than is generally supposed4 ,one of the results of the industrial revolution1 and of the vast increase of mechanical p#hi appliances and machinery generally1 has been the creation of occupations by the hundred thousand1 which are in every way besotting1 heartrending1 and depressing4 ,sometimes it is their asinine simplicity and their monotony1 that destroy the heart of those employed in them1 frequently it is their extreme disagreeableness1 noisiness or unhealthiness4 ,the particular objection that is common to almost all of them1 however1 is that the natural impulses which most strongly animate a human being at his work1 the impulse to make 8a good job0 of the task he is occupied upon1 the impulse to excel his neighbour in his skill1 care or foresight1 the impulse to earn the praise of those for whom he is producing the work1 the impulse to improve day by day in his own speciality and to derive fair profit from this improvement1--all these natural impulses scarcely ever get an opportunity of expressing themselves in the whole of the week's round2 and when the weekly wage is received1 it is felt that it has been earned by a species of prostitution rather than by an occupation of which the wage-earner can justly feel proud4 ,this1 as ,i understand it1 is the fundamental meaning of the cry for freedom to-day4 ,in any case it is the only meaning it can have4 ,for freedom in the sense of non-relation1 non-dependance1 absence of duties1 absence of work1 and absence of responsibilities or conventions1 is utterly impossible4 ,not only is it utterly impossible to-day1 but it has always been impossible4 ,even animals in a state of nature cannot achieve that condition4 ,it behoves all those1 therefore1 who nowadays p#ij feel this craving for liberty1 and who are tempted to follow wherever and whenever it is upheld before them as a cause1 thoroughly to understand what it is they are invited to fight for4 ,they must not allow themselves to be led astray by those who would promise them unconstrained freedom of action1 for that is a physical impossibility1 a lie1 an illusion1 and a mirage only of the ignorant4 ,they must not be deceived by agitators who lead them to imagine that this 8freedom0 for which they are invited to strive1 is a sort of paradise of fairies1 from whom the natural cares and responsibilities of this world have been miraculously lifted4 ,nor must they suppose that it has much to do with the kind of government which their country enjoys1--whether monarchical1 aristocratic1 plutocratic or ,bolshevik4 ,modern governments in their nature can do little for the spiritual requirements of the working man4 ,as far as that freedom is concerned which consists in finding expression in one's daily duties for the strongest impulses of one's being1 the masses of the working people in this country were infinitely more 8free0 under the despotic ,tudors than they are at present under the benign rule of the people's elected representatives4 ,thus the only kind of freedom that the most honest politician can definitely promise1 political freedom--is in itself one of the most wanton deceptions ever practised upon humanity4 ,for what does this political freedom consist of8--,it begins and ends with the vote4 ,but in what manner does this constitute freedom8 ,to what extent does p#ia the voter at the poll secure or realise his own freedom by the vote he registers8 ,he gives his vote on a programme which frequently has only a very remote relation to his private life or interests4 ,what can his vote accomplish then in the cause of his own freedom8 ,in registering his vote he is bound to choose one out of two or three men who stand as candidates for his constituency4 ,he may heartily dislike every one of them1 and yet be driven to vote for ,a because ,a's programme is a little less pernicious than that of ,b or ,c4 ,after having voted for ,a1 if our voter is lucky1 ,a may get into ,parliament4 ,every time ,a votes in the ,house itself1 however1 he may be out-voted by other members1 so the very reason for which our voter elected ,a may be frustrated when once ,a is an ,m4,p4 ,if1 however1 our voter does not succeed in getting ,a into ,parliament1 he may be one of six or even ten thousand in his constituency who will not be represented in ,parliament for four or five whole years4 ,every ,parliament that sits in ,england fails in this way to be representative of millions of voters4 ,in what manner have these millions of voters achieved their own freedom1 or in what manner are they safeguarding it8 ,for even if we grant that it is right that millions of voters should not be represented in ,parliament because they belong to the out-voted minority1 can we reasonably speak of this vast minority as having secured their political freedom by their vote8 ,but the case is in fact worse than this2 for ,john ,stuart ,mill1 that whole-hearted believer in 8democracy10 has shown1 not only that the minority in the land is bound to be unrepresented in every ,parliament1 p#ib but that it is also possible for the majority in the land to be unrepresented4#ah ,how then the promise even of political freedom1 which is the only promise of freedom that an honest politician may make1 can even appear to possess any reality1 so long as it is dependent entirely upon the vote1 it is difficult to discover4 ,there is only one kind of freedom that bears any relation to reality1 only one kind of freedom therefore that can be striven after1 that can be realised2 and that is the freedom to exchange a bondage incompatible with our strongest impulses for a bondage that harmonises with them4 ,nothing else has any meaning4 ,the very success with which voluntary recruiting proceeded directly after the declaration of war against ,germany in #aiad is one of the best demonstrations of the truth of this conclusion4 ,for it was the opportunity to exchange an occupation incompatible with the strongest impulses of their being1 for an occupation that harmonised with those strongest impulses1 that led the majority of those young men to embark for the shambles in ,france4 ,i mixed with them1 so ,i ought to be able to speak with some knowledge of the subject4 ,now the fight for this freedom1 for the freedom that1 as we have seen1 has some meaning1 really is worth while4 ,it is a noble fight1 and a decent fight4 ,but it is a fight with which no modern ,government1 ,liberal1 ,socialist1 or ,bolshevik1 can possibly have any sympathy4 ,for ,liberal policy has always meant commercial and industrial expansion2 ,socialist policy must1 if it is honest1 include in its programme1 compulsory labour1 whether compatible or incompatible with the strongest impulses of our being2 and ,bolshevik policy1 as we have already seen1 insists upon this kind of labour4 ,it is1 however1 precisely the ,liberals1 the ,socialists1 and the ,bolsheviks who have been loudest in their cries for freedom4 ,if1 therefore1 this humble attempt at investigating the meaning and limitations of the idea of freedom has done nothing more than demonstrate the hollowness of this ,liberal catchword1 it cannot have been written or read in vain4 p#id ,thus1 it is not merely a matter of caution1 it is in the highest degree wise1 to test every yearning and every demand for freedom1 even in one's own breast1 with the practical question1 8,what for80--8,what is the strongest impulse that would find expression if the bondage of the present task were exchanged for the bondage of a new occupation80 ,only those who can answer that question satisfactorily1 only those who feel that they would increase the fullness of their lives1 and thus add to the sum of beauty and happiness in the world1 have any right to 8freedom10 or have any understanding of the only sense in which the idea of freedom can have some meaning4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #af3 ,but even this amount of freedom in the mediocre is limited by the fact that the mediocre cannot choose a means of livelihood in which super-mediocre endowments would be necessary4 ,footnote #ag3 ,collected ,writings4 7,london3 ,a4 ,c4 ,black74 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #aid4 ,footnote #ah3 ,see ,considerations on ,representative ,government1 ,chapter ,,vii41 par4 #d3--8,there is not equal suffrage when every single individual does not count for as much as any other single individual in the community4 ,but it is not only a minority who suffer4 ,democracy thus constituted does not even attain its ostensible object1 that of giving the powers of government in all cases to the numerical majority4 ,it does something very different2 it gives them to a majority of the majority1 who may be1 and often are1 but a minority of the whole4 ,all principles are most effectually tested by extreme cases4 ,suppose then that in a country governed by equal and universal suffrage1 there is a contested election in every constituency1 and every election is carried by a small majority4 ,the ,parliament thus brought together represents little more than a bare majority of the people4 ,this ,parliament proceeds to legislate and adopts important measures by a bare majority of itself4 ,what guarantee is there that these measures accord with the washes of the majority of the people8 ,nearly half the electors1 having been out-voted at the hustings1 have had no influence at all in the decision2 and the whole of these may be1 a majority of them probably are1 hostile to the measures1 having voted against those by whom they have been carried4 ,of the remaining electors nearly half have chosen representatives who1 by supposition1 have voted against the measures4 ,it is possible therefore1 and not at all improbable that the opinion which has prevailed was only agreeable to a minority of the nation1 through a majority of that portion of it whom the institutions of the country have erected into a ruling class40 p#ie ,,chapter ,v ,,socialism ,,and ,,communism 8,there is at the present day too great a tendency to believe that it is impossible to resist the progress of a new idea40 ,disraeli's speech on the ,compensation for ,disturbance ,bill4 7,august1 #ahhj74 ,a certain fatalism seems to have overtaken the people of ,europe1 a mood under the dominion of which they are prepared to regard even their own vagaries and whimsicalities as heretofore most men have regarded the weather1 that is1 as something inevitable and fore-ordained which nothing can modify1 resist or avert4 ,if a particular group manifest a disposition for war1 then it is war to which they resign themselves2 if it is female suffrage1 then lo6 ,votes for ,women come upon them with the certainty of the monsoon or the mistral4 ,nobody moves1 nobody holds up a hand to ward off the approaching scourge1 because everybody is either too indolent to make an effort1 or too thoroughly persuaded beforehand that nothing can avail1 to attempt to interfere with what he calls 8the natural course of events40 ,the scrub on a wind-swept moor offers more resistance to the elements than does modern man to his fellows' restless tinkering at the social structure2 and as for the gentle fine rain which1 falling athwart the fiercest blast1 ultimately constrains it to abate its fury1 and to die down1 modern man has no knowledge of such tactics1 and even p#if if he had a knowledge of them he would not put it into practice4 ,despite the enormous amount of apparent hostility aroused by the immense progress that ,socialism and ,communism have made since the war1 it must not be supposed that with regard to them modern men are feeling any more actively indignant than they have felt towards any other impending change4 ,the hostility1 as we have pointed out1 is only apparent4 ,for1 in their heart of hearts the men of the present day are just as much prepared to resign themselves to ,socialism as to civil war1 class war1 or any other kind of social upheaval4 ,the factor in the threatening reform which makes certain sections of the public stand as if they really meant to offer resistance1 is unfortunately not their intellectual conviction that ,socialism or ,communism is so palpably wrong that it must be resisted at all costs2 but rather the negative quality of inertia1 which in this case assumes the appearance of positive resistance because1 as it happens1 ,socialism and ,communism propose to oust from positions of ease a great number of people who have not only grown accustomed to ease1 but to whom life without ease presents few if any attractions4 ,otherwise1 ,socialism1 ,communism1 ,bolshevism1 ,nihilism--who cares8 ,they appear right because so many millions seem to believe in them4 ,any 8ism0 seems to be right to modern man1 provided a sufficient number of people raise their hands in favour of it4 ,in this sense1 be he a ,tory1 a ,conservative1 or a ,monarchist1 modern man is essentially democratic in spirit4 p#ig ,in the circumstances1 with this very doubtful weight of inertia alone on his side1 that man may very easily be suspected of quixotic candour1 who at this late hour of the day pretends to stand up in face of the approaching wind1 not only to resist it1 but also to beat it down4 ,and yet this is what the present writer proposes to do1 provided only he can demonstrate the validity of his standpoint in a sufficient number of convincing ways to emulate that fine gentle rain which ultimately beats down any wind4 ,moreover1 in order to do this1 it will not be necessary to examine the proposals of ,socialism and ,communism in detail1 but simply to concentrate upon their basic principles1 and to show how entirely untenable are the very first positions they take up4 ,stated in the fairest possible way1 their position is as follows3-- ,the leading ,socialist and ,communist thinkers are men as a rule whose hearts have been moved by the spectacle of sorrow and hardship which is the lot of a large number of their fellow-creatures on earth2 and they are earnestly desirous so to modify the organisation of society as to render that burden of sorrow and hardship lighter for the mass of mankind4 ,they see all about them inequalities of the crudest kind1 sharp contrasts1 and abysmal chasms1 and they wish to achieve greater evenness among men4--,why8--,not because the spectacle of mankind thus evened up will necessarily be more picturesque or more harmonious to behold2 but because on the whole it will be less heartrending1 less revolting1 less inequitable4 p#ih ,they detect in society1 as it is at present constituted1 an element which they maintain has no business to be there1 an element which they honestly believe is not human2 and they feel confident of being able to eliminate it if only they are allowed to effect certain readjustments and re-arrangements of the whole which will radically change the relation of every member of the community to every other member4 ,this element1 which the ,socialist and ,communist detect in modern society and which they wish to eliminate because it is not human1 is ,violence4 ,according to the present writer's belief this is1 in a few words1 a fair statement1 if not the fairest possible statement1 of the ,socialist and ,communist's position4 ,assuming at all events that it is correct1 it is now possible to examine it and to call attention to the amount of error it contains4 ,for1 let the ,socialist and ,communist say what they will1 let them wish rather to substitute the word ,predatoriness1 or ,oppression1 or ,exploitation1 or ,slavery1 for the word ,violence1 or for the particular quality in modern society which they would fain eliminate1 it does not signify much4 ,all these words in their essence are reducible to the one notion ,violence1 and ,violence we shall therefore name the feature that ,socialists and ,communists propose to remove from human communities1 and which we propose now to examine4 ,violence as a phenomenon is not presented to us chiefly in our own societies4 ,where we recognise its sway to be most general and most rigorous1 is in ,nature herself1 and all p#ii life outside human communities4 ,the life of the jungle1 the life of the prairie1 the life of the ocean1 in all these departments of life1 ,violence reigns supreme4 ,indeed we are so familiar with its existence there that we should be astonished if we failed to find it4 ,we open the stomach of a shot leopard and we find in it the mangled remains of some other animal or bird4 ,when we kill a bird and inspect its viscera1 we discover the remains of insects1 small quadrupeds1 or smaller birds4 ,life outside human societies is little less than a process of preying and mutual suppression and incorporation4 ,every species behaves as if it alone had the right to prevail1 and it endeavours by every means in its power--self-preservation1 propagation1 rapine and parisitism--to make its own kind predominate on earth4 ,we ourselves are guilty of violence towards the lower animals1 and there are few people who1 upon dying a sudden death1 would not betray this violence by the contents of their stomachs or intestines4 ,violence1 therefore1 constitutes no novelty to the human being4 ,he knows of it in ,nature and he knows he is guilty of it towards those lower animals which he consumes as food4 ,at a first glance then it would appear that violence of a sort is an essential factor in all life1 even in human life4 ,the kind of violence1 however1 that the ,socialist and ,communist wish to eliminate from human society is not the violence which men perpetrate against the lower animals2 though there are certainly some ,socialists who would wish to eliminate that also2 but chiefly the violence between man and man1 p#ajj man and woman1 adult and child1 or child and child3 violence by means of which some man1 woman1 or child is made the instrument or the tool or the chattel of some other man1 woman1 or child4 ,this you may protest is what all societies since ,moses1 and even before him1 have tried their utmost to suppress4 ,to some extent this is true4 ,murder and assault have been prohibited by most moral codes4 ,the kind of violence1 however1 that the ,socialist and ,communist wish to suppress is the violence that is at present tolerated by law1 that receives its sanction from society at large1 and that men now perpetrate with clean consciences4 ,how does this violence chiefly arise8 --,by means of the inequalities of human advantages4 ,one man ,a finds himself by birth or by his own efforts 7frequently the outcome of his endowments at birth7 in possession of something that somebody else ,b very much requires2 and before ,a relinquishes a particle of it1 convention allows him to exact some service from ,b4 ,according to the urgency of ,b's needs and the quality of ,b's gifts that service is either very strenuous or comparatively light4 ,for instance1 if ,a happens to be a man of rare genius1 holding in his mind the secret of his country's salvation ,b1 the country1 may voluntarily offer him fabulous wealth from her own coffers to divulge his secret knowledge1 and may even involve herself in a crushing debt in order to do so4 ,or ,a may be simply a producer of corn1 and ,b an impecunious starving man begging corn of ,a because he needs it as food4 ,in the latter case1 short of an act of immorality p#aja or one involving the certainty of ,b's immediate injury or demise1 there is scarcely anything the law forbids ,a from exacting from ,b4 ,the service may involve ,b's gradual injury4 ,to this the law says nothing4 ,the service may be debasing or degrading from an intellectual or spiritual point of view2 it may deteriorate ,b's eyesight1 impair his physique or his good spirits3 to all these things the law says nothing4 ,while the service is being performed and ,b is obtaining corn from ,a1 ,b who cannot pay cash for the corn1 may be asked to do pretty well anything1 with the gloomy alternative before him of going without corn altogether4 ,this ,i take it is the meaning of the word violence in the mouth of the ,socialist and ,communist3 it is the power that one man can exercise over another1 in determining his occupation and in exacting service or else withholding food from him4 ,the ,socialist would admit that service must be exacted from all at some time or other1 but he suggests that the ,state should exact it1 so that the power may be exercised corporately1 and the profit1 if any1 allotted1 not to individuals1 but to the whole body4 ,the extent to which an element of violence adheres even to the proposition that the ,state should exact service and not the individual1 would be an interesting speculation2 for the fact that some violence still remains implicit in the proposition everybody will see at a glance4 ,but the present writer hopes to point to other means by which violence must inevitably enter into the ,socialistic ,state1 just as forcibly as it does now into any well ordered capitalistic ,state4 p#ajb ,quite apart then from the violence which is inherent in the proposition that the ,state must exact service under the ,socialistic rgime1 it is suggested that no one1 who has been following the analysis of the ,socialist and ,communist's first principles given above1 can up to the present be satisfied that violence would be eliminated from society under their rgime any more than it can be under the present rgime1 and for the following reasons3 ,so far the ,socialist's proposals appear to contain no measures for ridding human stock of its pronounced inequalities4 ,it is1 however1 from inequalities that apparent injustices and violence ultimately arise4 ,men of great talent and men of the most miserable endowments1 will continue to be born in any ,state1 whether ,socialistic or capitalistic4 ,so long as the individual right to procreate be admitted there will continue to be pressed into the community1 not only the offspring of the virtuous man1 the sage1 and the craftsman1 but also the offspring of the knave1 the mediocre and the fool4 ,so long as the individual's right to parenthood is accepted as inviolable1 society will therefore continue to be perturbed as it is now by an uninvited access of one1 two or even half a dozen to a dozen1 new mouths1 from certain individuals1 the low quality of whose accompanying bodies may be out of all proportion 7in regard to the services they can render7 to the high quantity of food and other supplies they can account for4 ,new members will be forced into the community by procreation which1 according to the quality of p#ajc their endowments will either considerably enhance its efficiency or considerably cripple it4 ,if they are to enhance it1 and it is in the interest of the community that they should enhance it1 then they will require to be encouraged for so doing2 on the other hand1 if they are going to cripple it1 their crippling influence will recoil on each member of the social body1 and each will suffer from the presence of the new arrivals4 ,further to elucidate this point1 let two extreme examples be given3-- 7#a74 ,a man of singularly high gifts1 ,c by name1 presses upon the community in his lifetime eight children all of which take more or less after him4 ,their endowments are so conspicuous that they plainly overshadow all the other higher men of the community4 ,it happens1 moreover1 that the community has reached a crisis in its affairs when it urgently needs men of ,c's type4 ,obviously then ,c1 by presenting the community with eight singularly gifted replicas of himself1 has profoundly affected its life and its constitution4 ,by elevating the standard of the administrative work1 some of the whilom administrators will have been driven from office and forced to take up an inferior form of service4 ,a perturbation will have occurred4 ,in its ultimate analysis it will have amounted to a coercive act1 an act which though tolerated by the ,state 7assumed in this case to admit the individual's right to procreate7 thus turns out to be an act of violence4 ,it was not deliberate1 or of a kind savouring of malice aforethought1 but it is nevertheless an act which forces a change on the community at large1 and a marked change of position on a p#ajd certain number of the community's members4 ,it is therefore tantamount to an act of violence3 it is in fact an act of violence4 7#b7 ,now suppose the case of a man who is the butt of everybody's ridicule for his stubborn stupidity and intractable indolence4 ,suppose his condition of utter unworthiness1 from the intellectual and moral point of view1 to be moreover aggravated by poor health4 ,this man1 too1 we presume1 claiming by law the right of parenthood1 forces upon the community half-a-dozen new members in the form of his offspring1 who are so far like him that the competent authority can scarcely cover the cost of their clothes and food by the produce of their labours1 and has to encroach upon other resources of the ,state in order to provide for them4 ,here again we have a profound perturbation1 resulting from the pressing of a new set of members upon the community by the act of procreation4 ,nobody asked for them1 nobody wanted them4 ,but now they have come1 everybody has to work a little more or a little longer in order to provide for them4 ,in its ultimate analysis this is once more a coercive act1 an act which1 though tolerated by the ,state that admits the individual's right to parenthood1 thus turns out to be an act of violence4 ,it certainly was not deliberate1 or designed particularly to harass the community2 but it forces an extra burden on the social body1 it is therefore tantamount to an act of violence3 it is in fact an act of violence4 ,now here we have two extreme instances of violence entering a socialistic society against which it would appear to be impossible p#aje to take any preventive measures4#ai ,and how did the violence enter8--,in the same way as it enters all life1 all ,nature1 all societies3 through the act of procreation4 ,between the two extreme cases given the imaginative reader will easily be able to supply a vast number of intermediate cases1 which though perhaps less powerful in the ultimate violence of their effect on the community would nevertheless partake each in its way of the nature of violence4 ,the act of procreation is thus an act which in the long run amounts to a means of pressing any number from one to a dozen 7sometimes more7 of new members upon a community1 which members may1 in one way or another1 cause a profound perturbation of the balance of that community4 ,the act of procreation is1 therefore1 an act of violence1 of trespass1 of invasion4 ,the continuity of a species in ,nature is secured by procreation2 but the balance of ,nature is constantly made to fluctuate around a mean by the act1 notwithstanding loss from predatory and other causes4 ,in human society the continuity of the species is secured by procreation2 but since reciprocal destruction does not occur to nearly the same extent among human beings as it does among the lower animals#bj1 in a healthy society1 which is an increasing society1 the balance of the community1 far from fluctuating around a mean1 tends to be thrown ever more seriously out with each successive generation4 ,thus in a healthy society1 which is an increasing society1 procreation is not merely a transitory but a perpetual source of violence4 ,the present writer is not arguing that this is right or wrong2 he is only trying to state a fact4 ,whether it be a pleasant fact1 or a desirable fact1 is for the moment beside the point4 ,it is at all events a fundamental truth of life1 and as such it would be idle to devise any new scheme of society in which it is not allowed for4 ,it may be objected that the whole of a man's offspring in modern society may elude their destiny of impinging violently against that society by becoming emigrants4 ,this appears to be forcible enough4 ,but is not emigration in itself merely a means of postponing the act of violence by one stage8 ,besides1 is not emigration--say to the colonies--possible to-day only because we happen to be living at a period subsequent to an act of violence on a grand scale1 by which the land constituting the colonies1 whether of ,france1 ,england1 ,holland1 or ,italy1 was wrested from other people8 ,and even so1 have we not seen recently1 during a time of serious unemployment in ,england1 certain politicians object to ,mr4 ,lloyd ,george's schemes of emigration on the ground that1 to send our unemployed to ,canada1 ,australia1 or ,new ,zealand1 where labour conditions were also unfavourable1 would be an act of provocation to those colonies8--,why an act of provocation8--,because to impose a number of extra mouths on a community unless there is a genuine industrial demand in that community for the able bodies possessing those mouths1 is an act of gratuitous violence4 ,it serves no purpose to revile life and the world because we happen to have lighted upon a fundamental fact that is unpleasant to our cultivated sensibilities4 ,life is as it is1 and ,nature is as it is1 and no bewailing or reviling on our parts will alter them4 ,the brave attitude1 the healthy attitude1 indeed the only dignified attitude1 is to accept life and ,nature as they are1 and to endeavour to discover the most desirable method of dealing with both of them4 ,this primary act of violence1 which is procreation1 cannot be cancelled out or annulled2 it cannot be expunged from the essential character of existence4 ,it must be accepted4 ,this much1 however1 should be immediately understood2 you cannot have at the very portals of life an act of violence1 and hope to build upon it a form of society in which violence in some form1 however attenuated1 p#ajh will not appear4 ,to make any promises to this effect is the plainest humbug4 ,it may appear an alluring prospect2 it may sound an attractive picture2 it may deceive and it may delude2 but it is an impossible undertaking notwithstanding2 and those who declare that they are prepared to embark upon it are either too ill-informed to realise the true data of their problem1 too dishonest to admit that they know these true data1 or too inept properly to deal with them4 ,starting out then with this original act of violence which is rooted in life and in ,nature and enters into every form of human society willy nilly1 it is obvious that its reverberations must proceed rhythmically throughout all the sections of any human community whatsoever1 be its organisation what you will4 ,thus inequalities1 apparent injustices and even bondage1 appear only as the necessary ultimate repercussions of the original perturbing influence4 ,and in every society hitherto1 such regrettable repercussions of the original act of violence have always been regarded as inevitable4 ,as a rule the authorities have1 according to their lights1 endeavoured to mitigate the asperity of these perturbations2 but to eliminate them completely they have always known is an impossible achievement1 because they are not man-made1 but created by the laws of life itself4 ,all societies hitherto appear to have recognised with varying degrees of liberality the sacredness of man's right over his procreative powers4 ,but what a large number of recent sociological thinkers appear to have forgotten is1 that since procreation and its p#aji consequences are part of the original elements of life and nature1 which are allowed to persist in the more or less artificial arrangement called society1 this artificial arrangement must partake of the harshness1 the inequalities and the apparent injustices of life and nature1 to the extent to which it allows these original elements of life and nature to operate freely in its midst4 ,to check procreation1 or limit it by law1 would involve the violation of the sanctity which has hitherto been accepted as the one attribute shielding every man's right over his procreative powers4#ba ,acquiescing in the inviolability of this right1 then1 the utmost society could do1 was to mitigate the worst consequences of its free operation1 by ordering as far as possible the union of couples1 and by properly allocating the general burden of responsibility for the support of the offspring arising from these unions4 ,albeit no amount of order introduced into the joining of couples1 could possibly place a check upon man's procreative powers when once he had fulfilled all the formalities that the ,state demanded2 consequently1 despite all its attempts to regulate the relations of the sexes1 society's ultimate control over the act of procreation and its results remain more or less ineffectual1 and in so far as it attempts to establish any reasonable proportion between a man's powers of procreating and his powers of providing for the consequences of his act--or for that matter his children's power of providing for themselves in after life--the outcome of all society's efforts have been practically nil4 ,evidently mankind seems to have come to the conclusion fairly early in the history of civilisation that if there is one kind of interference1 one kind of control or of constraint that his fellows can with difficulty brook1 it is that which would presume to meddle with their right over their procreative powers4 ,but the consequences of this attitude in regard to so vital a function as procreation should not be overlooked by shallow political thinkers and other romanticists4 ,this consequence1 which cannot be repeated too often1 is that with the free operation of the right to parenthood every society hitherto has incorporated in its organisation a piece of life and nature1 raw and unmitigated by any softening influence4 ,and1 having done this1 it cannot hope to eliminate from its organisation that modicum of violence1 harshness and inexorability which attaches to the free operation of all natural and vital laws4 ,the lack of candour and bravery in the ,socialist's and ,communist's position1 is that they do not refer to this basic natural element in all human societies1 and furthermore that they propose a form of society in which this basic natural element is not even reckoned with4 ,for it must be clear that to hope on such a basis to build up a social structure that will be all mutual help1 mutual give and take1 p#aaa and mutual good will--quite apart from the known character of human beings--is simply romantic reverie2 and in refusing to recognise that more than three-quarters of the apparent injustices1 asperities and disabilities of human society1 are the inevitable repercussions upon individuals of the incessant working of the primitive act of violence at the base of the social edifice1 the proclaimer and preacher of a ,utopia free from violence publishes broadcast either his own ineptitude or his own dishonesty4 ,but this is not the only form in which the dishonesty of ,socialist and ,communist propaganda manifests itself4 ,for the ,socialist and ,communist not only refuse to recognise the violence inherent in the consequences of the free operation of the right to parenthood1 they also lay to the score of man's legislation the injustices and inequalities which are clearly the outcome of that right alone4 ,in all societies1 however wisely controlled and directed1 there are certain to be thousands of malcontents4 ,those malcontents who owe their position of failure1 obscurity1 or impotence to circumstances over which no organised community ever has had or ever can have control1 are however easily won over to an attack upon society1 if they can be shown by unscrupulous or incompetent thinkers that their position is due1 not to an essential law of life or nature1 but to the peculiar conventions or rules regulating the community of which they happen to form a part4 ,men who are congenitally inefficient1 beneath even mediocre attainments in their intelligence1 their physical strength or their health1 very naturally find p#aab themselves relegated to inferior responsibilities1 subordinate places and menial tasks4 ,in any community in which there is a high appreciation of quality1 or a conscious effort towards good qualitative results--and no other community is worth considering--this must be so4 ,now nothing is easier1 nevertheless1 than to convince this class of malcontents that their subordinate positions and menial tasks are the result of a social rather than of a natural injustice1 and the dishonesty of ,communistic propaganda1 consists very largely in the fact that it will not scruple to delude this class of malcontents into believing that in a perfectly realisable ideal state of society their disabilities would be removed4 ,nay1 it goes further than that1 it adds to the small list of remediable injustices which are really of man's creating1 the long list of gross injustices which are the work of life and nature1 and flinging the whole sum of these injustices at the head of society1 leads the ignorant and the thoughtless to believe that the grand total of the account can legitimately be charged against man and his institutions4 ,and this brings us to the next step in the argument4 ,so far we have seen3-- 7a74 ,that procreation acts as a perturbing force in society1 and that in its consequences it is therefore an act of violence4 7b74 ,that tradition and recent investigation lead us to believe that it is not advisable to meddle with the individual's sacred right over his procreative powers4 7c74 ,that therefore in any community where p#aac the individual's right to parenthood is regarded as inviolable1 violence must reverberate throughout the whole social structure and in its repercussions must impinge with more or less severity against individuals4 ,the next step in the argument is the consequence of 7c7 and it is that where there is violence1 however slight or however carefully regulated1 its results must redound with more or less severity to the disadvantage of certain individuals1 that is to say1 there must be someone or some group that suffers4 ,and this appears to be another of the fundamental social truths without allowing for which it seems hopeless to set forth to rebuild society4 ,to deny it may sound pleasant1 kind1 humane1 charitable1 and chivalrous2 but it is not candid2 and although to the ignorant1 to the sentimental and the thoughtless1 that which is pleasant frequently makes the appeal of truth itself1 in the end that man or party who is not straightforward about these matters is bound to be discovered and reviled4 ,those therefore who wish to reform all future societies1 and who wish to make it unnecessary for sufferers or suffering to exist in the world1 except at the will of the legislature1 can do so only in one of two ways4#bb ,either they must close the backdoor through which the violence of nature and life enters the community--that backdoor being the free operation of the right to parenthood--or else they must do what no society hitherto has ventured to do1 i4e41 they must determine by law beforehand who is and who is not to be sacrificed4 ,the suffering which in society is the necessary outcome of the act of violence which is procreation1 that suffering which is the only means of balancing this violence1 does not necessarily fall on the heads of all4 ,it selects its victims as it were with a certain caprice4 ,and hitherto1 while endeavouring to mitigate the severity of it as far as possible1 society has been content to leave its incidence more or less to chance1 to the blind forces which ultimately determine1 as they do in nature1 the fate of all individual beings4 ,it is only in war time1 when the kind of person to be sacrificed for the whole is definitely indicated1 that society proceeds by legislation to select those who should suffer from those who should be spared4 ,and even then1 a certain element of chance remains over by means of which it is possible for large numbers of young men to escape the ultimate price4 ,if1 however1 it is proposed to reform society so that it shall either contain no violence1 or that the effects of that violence shall be annulled for the majority by legislative means1 then whatever the ,socialist or ,communist may have to say to the contrary1 this can be done only in one of two ways3 7a7 ,either man's right to parenthood must be violated4 7b7 ,or the section of society which is to be sacrificed to balance the original act of violence must be deliberately decided upon by legislative means4 p#aae ,and since these are the only two alternatives1 the ,socialist1 the ,communist1 and the ,bolshevist1 are just as hopelessly committed to them as any other advocate of a new social scheme1 from which the inequalities and injustices inseparable from all human communities heretofore are to be absent4 ,the fact that they are impossible alternatives invalidates the whole of the ,socialist and ,communist's position4 ,to promise a ,utopia from which inequalities and injustices will have been removed1 without stating frankly that one or the other of the above alternatives is necessary1 is therefore the acme of dishonesty2 and in this respect the present writer has reluctantly to admit that the ,socialist1 ,communist and ,bolshevist1 whether from ignorance1 ineptitude or design1 appear to be radically dishonest4 ,it has been shown1 however1 that their dishonesty does not stop at this4 ,in addition they fasten the few remediable injustices which are of man's own creating1 on to the grosser and more flagrant injustices in modern society which are only the inevitable repercussions from the original act of violence we have been examining1 and then proceed to declare that the whole sum of injustices are of man's own making4 ,this is their greatest perfidy1 their most misleading and most dexterous feat of legerdemain4 ,the ignorant and the thoughtless are very naturally deceived1 and it is always too late when they discover how clumsily and how cruelly they have been deceived4 ,it has been pointed out that it is an indispensable portion of life and of nature which p#aaf in all our societies introduces the element of violence and leads to inequalities and injustices2 but this aspect of the matter is the darkest and most displeasing that could possibly have been put forward1 and in dealing with it first the present writer has postponed to the end of the discussion the more grateful duty of considering it on its more valuable and deeply attractive side4 ,true in its repercussions it leads to some of the chief asperities of human life2 but is it not accountable for most of humanity's principal joys as well8 ,on its shadow side it may appear harsh1 but seriously would we have it otherwise8 ,and are not those who pretend that it can be otherwise merely romanticists who want all life to be the perpetual white glare of a noonday sun without any shadow8 ,consider1 to begin with1 the sanctity of the individual's right over his procreative powers4 ,how many of humanity's finest emotions and most treasured virtues arise out of it8 ,this is not sentiment1 but psychological fact4 ,and what does society expect to become if it succeeds in suppressing the source of these virtues and emotions8 ,how many sober-minded men1 actually faced with one of the two alternatives stated above1 as the essential first measure to the establishment of a ,utopia without violence or accidental suffering1 would give that ,utopia a second thought8 ,there is nothing the present writer deprecates more sincerely than an appeal to the emotions alone4 ,he is aware that in the above paragraph he has made a frank appeal to the emotions4 ,but surely in this particular instance it is amply justified8 ,having made p#aag his principal intellectual appeal1 he now confronts his readers with the sthetic aspect of the alternatives proposed4 ,for is not life and the enjoyment of life largely a question of sthetics8 ,is not our emotional nature competent therefore to decide upon a question of taste or pleasure8 ,life offers many alternatives2 human life presents hundreds of possibilities4 ,in the end it is our emotional nature and our sthetic sense that decide which road leads to the greatest amount of happiness1 although the intellect may have directed us all along4 ,can we really suppose then1 that a change that can cut at the root of so much virtue and so much traditional sentiment1 can possibly be one that is going to bring us happiness8 ,and even in its inevitable repercussions--the inequalities and injustices of which so much has been said above--has the free operation of the individual's right to parenthood not also immense advantages8 ,in nature it is the violence and inexorable character of the forces at play that give life its manifold beauties and contrasts1 the mountains and the valleys1 the rivers and the lakes1 the tableland and the gorge1 the forest and the open plain4 ,in the animal world it is the difference between the tiger and the antelope1 the vulture and the hare1 the lion and the jackal1 that lends to life that panoramic charm of variegated virtue and adaptation to ends4 ,while in the domain of plants it is the divergences of the oak from the shrub1 of the palm from the cactus1 of the poplar from the plum tree1 that combine to produce that harmony and dissonance which the landscape painter converts into graphic music4 p#aah ,is it now contended that in human society we can dispense with inequalities and injustices without also sacrificing three-quarters of its beauties8 ,apart altogether from the fact that it is utterly impossible to achieve this end1 would it be desirable8 ,how much of the joy of life does not spring from the thirst and thrill of adventure1 from the consciousness of being an individual trying to establish one's right of citizenship among people who are sufficiently unlike one 7unequal to one7 to introduce an element of uncertainty1 of sport if you will1 into the undertaking8 ,how much of the charm of life does not arise from the vast repertory of different powers and virtues which inequality alone makes possible8 ,a beautiful medal has its reverse side4 ,and is not so-called injustice merely the reverse side of the medal of inequality8 ,the multifariousness which lends social life its variety and its incidents1 the pronounced divergences from life which give it its light and its shade3 all these things have hitherto constituted the essential conditions out of which the thing we know as human society has grown4 ,even if we could alter these conditions we cannot even picture the kind of result we should obtain4 ,we know of no society wherein inequalities and their consequent injustices do not exist4 ,we cannot imagine such a society4 ,this is not empty imagery and grandiloquent sentiment1 it is the plainest truth4 ,it is impossible to conceive of a society at all unless we presuppose among its members the presence of those particularly happy results of inequality which are higher men4 ,even the lowest forms of gregariousness--the wolf p#aai pack and the herd of antelopes--benefit from this kind of inequality by the function that it enables their leaders to perform4 ,for a society implies cohesion1 it implies unity of purpose and desire2 it also implies a more or less uniform outlook on life4 ,but how are these things possible without higher men8 ,when in the history of the world have these results been achieved without the help of superior beings8 ,but the idea of something superior immediately suggests inequality1 and inequality right down to the lowest man2 but with this inequality we must as we have seen accept so-called injustices and consequently suffering4 ,to inveigh against the necessary consequences of life is not to open a 8class war10 as the ,socialist and ,communist claim to have done1 but to open war against life itself2 and this conclusion supplies me with the terms of my last charge against them4 ,the ,socialist and ,communist do not really know their true objective2 they do not really know against whom they are marching and levelling their attacks4 ,in addition to being dishonest1 therefore1 they are utterly confused4 ,it is life itself that causes the chief among the grievances that they propose to redress1 and thus their description of their campaign as a class war is the outcome of a most complete misunderstanding4 ,they are the advocates of a principle of death1 or putting it more mildly1 at least of a movement hostile to life1 and they do not know it and never have known it4 ,their banners are sewn with false and meaningless devices calculated to delude only the ignorant p#abj and the thoughtless1 and they are not even frank about the necessary logical conclusions of their own first principles4 ,if they really wish to put an end to violence in human society1 they would sew on their foremost banner the device3 8,down with procreation40 ,this might prove unpopular1 it might even sound less alluring than 8,down with the bourgeoisie60 but at least it would be honest and might help them to achieve their real aim4 ,the present writer does not suggest that the mass of the people of ,england or ,france understand the real errors in the ,socialist and ,communist's position4 ,he does not even believe that when once these errors have been made known to them they will be able to grasp or understand them2 but certainly the capacity which very large numbers of them are showing for resisting the seductive appeal of these so-called 8class-war0 doctrines1 points to a certain instinctive insight on their part which does them credit1 and may possibly be a sign that they are moved by a vague1 but none the less powerful1 suspicion that all is not as golden as it glitters in the ,socialistic creed1 and therefore that there is still a chance for those who would win them back to a wisely controlled capitalism1 and to a future in which reform rather than revolution is the general programme4 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,is the case against ,socialism as strong as this8 ,is there really nothing to be said for the position that the ,socialist and ,communist assume8--,certainly there is nothing to be said for it4 ,then what gives it its seductive plausibility8 ,what is it that makes three-quarters p#aba of those who have interested reasons for opposing it1 suspect in their heart of hearts that ,socialism and ,communism may be right after all8 ,those among the possessing classes who1 while opposing active ,socialist propaganda1 yet believe in their heart of hearts that ,socialism is right1 are usually as confused as the ,socialists and ,communists themselves1 and as incapable of tracing political propositions back to first principles4 ,they make the same mistakes as the ,socialists1 and confound life and nature's injustices with the remediable injustices which are the outcome of human legislation1 and after adding the two together charge the whole sum to the account of society or civilisation4 ,they belong to the class of thoughtless people who are in the habit of saying in the face of every impending reform good or bad1 8,the thing must come02 and their attitude of forestalled acquiescence offers so little opposition1 that as a rule the thing to which they refer does come4 ,but the reason why the claims and proposals of the ,socialist and ,communist succeed in displaying a certain modicum of plausibility is not because1 on examination1 they impel the inquirer to agreement2 for1 as we have seen1 the more thoroughly they are investigated1 the more impossible does it become to accept them2 it is rather because in modern ,european society certain unnecessarily gross evils which are truly the creation of man and which seem to lend a colourable warrant to the revolutionist's position1 are too glaring to be overlooked4 ,we have seen that where there is violence p#abb some one or some group must ultimately be victimised or sacrificed4 ,this does not necessarily involve death or annihilation1 it may simply amount to failure1 failure to hold their own4 ,now it is the first duty of rulers1 as we have seen1 to watch vigilantly that the violence is not of man's making1 for that can be helped1 but only of life's making1 for that cannot be helped4 ,the second duty of rulers1 however1 most certainly is to assuage as far as possible the asperities resulting from the violence that is life's making4 ,charles ,i4 was an ideal monarch in this respect2 not only did he suppress fraud1 profiteering1 and the exploitation of the poorer classes1 all means by which violence of man's making breaks loose in society2 but he also sheltered those whom natural disaster had overtaken4#bc ,now the gross evils of modern ,european society which lend a colourable warrant to the otherwise absurd proposals of the ,communist and ,socialist1 are the multifarious deeds of violence of man's making1 that have been allowed to break loose on the community4 ,among those deeds of violence we may mention3 7#a7 ,sweating4 7#b7 ,the act of inviting the proletariat to engage in unhealthy occupations1 frequently resulting in permanent ill-health or premature death4 7#c7 ,profiteering and the turning of any form of temporary distress to advantage4 7#d7 ,speculating in the first necessaries of life4 7#e7 ,unwise and wasteful disposal of property after death3 as for instance for the support of cranky and faddist societies1 of useless and non-productive people in unnecessary affluence2 the endowment of institutions that have a degenerating effect on the general standard of health of the nation4 7#f7 ,class cleavage and snobbery4 7#g7 ,the encouragement by the legislature of the growth of large urban centres1 and the ill-health and general unwholesomeness of the poorer quarters of such centres4 7#h7 ,the purveying of inferior food to the masses1 and of food that is not strictly life-supporting1 such as vegetable margarine1 dried fruit and vegetables1 adulterated beer1 tinned foods of all kinds 7except possibly tinned tomatoes71 dirty milk and adulterated bread4 7#i7 ,the lack of protection afforded to the masses against3 7a7 usurious money lending 7a penny a week per shilling is not uncommon71 7b7 pollution and demoralisation through inferior and pernicious literature1 7c7 pollution and demoralisation through alien immigration4 7#aj7 ,the failure to impart to the masses by means of education any thorough grasp of any branch of knowledge which might ennoble their outlook1 add dignity to their characters1 and lend support to their self-esteem4 ,in addition to all this1 not a single item of which deals with any evil that is not susceptible of reform1 it should be borne in mind that modern western civilisation has in some way failed so miserably to mould her values p#abd so that the successful in life's struggle should in all cases be the most virtuous1 the most intelligent1 and the most desirable1 in the minds of tasteful people1 that a certain stigma now attaches to the materially successful--particularly those who have attained material success in commerce and industry--which cannot be said to be altogether unmerited1 and which the ,communist and ,socialist naturally exploit to the utmost in their propaganda4 ,the greatest indictment of modern society is perhaps the frequency with which vulgarity and the meanest attainments in virtue and intellect achieve phenomenal material success2 and since this is the outcome of values1 and the laws governing commerce and industry1 it is obvious that in this direction reforms must be effected1 if the ,communist and ,socialist are to be deprived of the small amount of validity which appears to attach to their sweeping condemnation of society and civilisation4 ,on the other hand1 while we have seen that the original act of violence at the base of all society1 must lead to suffering somewhere and somewhen1 the characteristic about modern western civilisation which lends so much colour to the ,socialist and ,communist's schemes1 is the frequency with which this suffering seems to be borne by people who are by no means the unworthiest in the community4 ,the values of modern society have become so vulgar and mercenary that again and again it happens that the section of the social body which the chance play of forces selects for sacrifice1 is superior to the section which is p#abe spared1 and which not infrequently wields the most power in the community4 ,thus it is not the suffering in modern society that lends support to the so-called class-war doctrines2 for as we have seen suffering of some kind is inevitable where there is inequality and injustice2 but it is the fact that the suffering in question often falls upon the most desirable members of the community1 or at least upon those who are capable of the greatest virtue and the greatest industry1 and this is the outcome purely of the vulgarity and coarseness of our values which are quite as susceptible to modification and reform as any other man-made feature of our lives4 ,the fact that after all these reforms1 however1 there will still remain a residuum of violence in all civilisation1 which it will be impossible altogether to eliminate1 so long as nations recognise the individual's inviolable right to parenthood1 should nevertheless be carefully remembered and reckoned with2 for1 both as a check upon any too romantic schemes of our own1 as well as a means with which to criticise our enemies' proposals1 the recollection of this unpleasant but ineluctable principle is one of the most valuable measures of caution by which it is possible for us to abide2 and he who1 by forgetting it1 fancies he has discovered a royal road to his ,utopia1 will find perhaps too late that life1 nature and society are not easily made the sport of false ideals and shallow fantasies1 but are ruled by inexorable and frequently unpleasant laws the rigour of which it is safer to acknowledge than to ignore4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #ai3 ,the present writer has purposely avoided reducing the violence to an act of depredation in regard to food1 air and space2 although in a steadily increasing community1 which is the only healthy community1 surrounded by other steadily increasing communities1 this aspect of the question would have to be taken into account4 ,in such a community every baby born may rightly be said to constitute a menace to every other baby's food1 air and space4 ,nor has any mention been made of the multiplication of people who become a burden to the rest of the community by the sheer inferiority of their physique4 ,but again in their case provision would have to be made by the administrators of a ,socialistic ,state1 just as it is made by capitalistic ,states2 and the parents of such physically inferior people would thus1 by the act of procreation alone1 have pressed a burden upon their fellow citizens which would virtually amount to an act of violence against them4 ,though the parents of such physically inferior people might scruple to put their hands in their fellow members' pockets for food or money1 by means of their offspring they thus indirectly perpetrate a predatory act against them4 ,footnote #bj3 ,there are reasons for believing that ,socialists promise to make it cease altogether among human beings4 ,footnote #ba3 ,the wisdom of ancient societies in never checking or limiting this right is now becoming more than ever apparent in the light that psycho-analysis has thrown upon the disastrous effects of interfering too drastically with this function in human beings4 ,footnote #bb3 ,sufferers and suffering are to be understood here as of a kind which the inequalities of life and nature alone bring about--not the sufferers and suffering resulting from ordinary human passions and the accidents of their manifestation3 love1 hate1 indifference1 childlessness1 spinsterhood1 etc42 for it is presumed that no reformer has ever been so foolish as to pretend that he could eliminate these4 ,footnote #bc3 ,this ,i have demonstrated with sufficient detail elsewhere4 ,see my ,defence of ,aristocracy1 ,chapter ,,iv4 p#abf ,,chapter ,,vi ,,education 8,a city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous1 and in our state all the citizens share in the government40--,aristotle 7,politics4 ,bk4 ,,vii41 #ac74 ,education1 as organised by the state1 can have but one object--the rearing of people who are fit to be decent and worthy citizens4 ,a man may educate himself privately in vice1 in jazzing1 in motoring1 or in crime2 he is at liberty to do this at his own expense and in his own time2 but if he is educated at the expense of his fellow-men1 the intention of these fellow-men must be to train him into a desirable member of society4 ,only thus can the huge outlay be made worth while4 ,now a desirable citizen is above all a well conducted citizen4 ,he may know ,french and fencing1 and be able to beat all comers at billiards or biology1 marbles or mathematics2 but he is only a nuisance if he is not1 in addition1 well conducted--that is to say1 reliable1 sensible1 understanding1 and honest4 ,it is more important that he should thoroughly grasp the first principles of sound conduct and thought1 than that he should know the whole of counterpoint or conchology4 ,when once he has mastered the first principles of sound conduct and thought1 he is prepared to do well at anything1 according p#abg to his gifts2 whereas the most exhaustive knowledge of counterpoint and conchology will1 in the most favourable circumstances1 only make him a good musician or a good classifier of shells4 ,in short1 happiness and harmony are more easily achieved by a people holding deep and sound views concerning ,life and ,humanity1 than by people deeply versed in science1 and top-heavy with information4 ,happiness has been achieved again and again upon earth by people possessing not a billionth part of the knowledge that has been accumulated by modern man4 ,a sound instinct in regard to food1 a correct understanding of one's self and one's fellows and a decent appreciation of the limits of individual caprice in a social community1 are1 after all1 more precious than a large accumulation of facts4 ,and thus education1 if it is to be valuable1 should consist very much more in a training in manners1 sound views1 and means of intercourse1 than in the acquisition of knowledge about facts4#bd ,all adults know how very few of the facts they learned at school are ever remembered in later life1 and how only those elements of the scholastic curriculum are turned to practical account1 or even remembered1 which come into daily use throughout life4 ,thus1 a boy of the working classes may remember a little elementary arithmetic and a little geography--apart from that1 all he recalls is the trick of reading1 because he practises it every day of the year4 ,now1 since the masses of the people form the bulk of the nation1 and are ultimately the determining factor in the nation's character and achievements1 nothing could possibly be more important than working-class education4 ,state education of the masses1 therefore1 offers the finest opportunity that the legislature could obtain1 to express its concern about the nation's welfare1 and to secure that welfare by inculcating upon everyone1 except the minority constituting the well-to-do1 who cannot matter nearly as much1 decent manners1 sound views1 and a proper1 adequate means of intercourse4 ,it is certainly one of the most ugly features of our elementary education in this country1 that manners--which ought to be the first among the foremost objects of all education--are entirely omitted from the curriculum4 ,as if1 forsooth1 it were better for master ,tommy and his sister ,jane1 to know of the existence of the trade winds1 than to know how to behave when an adult addresses them6 ,in this way the legislature imposes quite an unnecessary burden of discomfort and sorrow upon the poor1 because without good manners life is made so very much more difficult and wretched1 and so very much less smooth and harmonious4 ,how the idea of education ever came to be divorced from manners1 it is hard to explain2 but that it has been thus divorced is unquestionable4 ,the consequences of this gross p#abi initial error fall with greater severity upon the poor1 or the masses1 than upon the rich2 perhaps that is why so little is done to correct it4 ,the reason of this unfair incidence of the evils resulting from a lack of manners1 is not1 however1 due to the fact that the rich are necessarily good mannered1 or better educated in manners than the poor2 for there is ample evidence to the contrary2 but that the lack of manners of the rich is not so keenly felt by those in their immediate circle1 because they live in larger rooms1 larger houses1 larger areas1 and they are thus able to get away from one another's bad manners--an escape which is denied the poor4 ,but while no attention is given to manners in elementary education1 it must not be supposed that training in sound views1 whether concerning ,life or ,humanity1 is the subject of more careful attention4 ,apart from copy-book maxims1 nothing whatever is done for the masses of the people in this matter4 ,it is true that the ,church and its teaching are supposed to cover precisely this ground in the mental upbringing of the nation1 but even if we admit that the ,church is capable of teaching sound views concerning ,life and ,humanity1 how many of the working classes still believe in ,christianity to-day8 ,how many of them believe so fervently as to insist upon their children observing all the tenets of ,christianity8 ,moreover1 it is only fair to judge this department of education by its fruits4 ,where is the evidence at present1 after generations of ,church teaching1 that the mass of the people have been taught any views at all p#acj about ,life and ,humanity--not to mention sound views8 ,at all events1 this is obviously a factor in education that ought never to have been left to an independent and uncontrolled body--particularly a religious body4 ,it ought to have been included as an essential element in any scheme of secular education that was devised4 ,what1 indeed1 could be more important than the necessity of imparting to your growing citizen sound views about himself1 his kind1 society1 and life in general8 ,what could be more vital in the formation of his character1 his outlook1 and the moulding of his ultimate conduct8 ,it scarcely requires to be pointed out1 however1 that1 like manners1 this is a factor in education which the ,state schools leave entirely aside4 ,people will tell you that there is no time for such a branch of learning4 ,no time--to attend to one of the most important prerequisites of a sound education6 ,it would be a mistake to suppose1 however1 that the wealthy and well-to-do classes are any better off than the poor in this respect4 ,on the whole1 they are a little worse off4 ,for1 while the children of the working classes are sufficiently in touch with life's realities to have a number of fundamental truths forced upon their attention1 the children of the wealthy and well-to-do classes live in an atmosphere so perfectly truth-proof1 so far removed from life's realities1 and their schools do so little to correct the benighting influence of their homes1 that there is probably no creature on earth more hopelessly devoid of sound views on any subject than the public schoolboy of seventeen4 p#aca ,everything has been done1 no pains have been spared1 to inculcate upon him every false doctrine and valuation of which the present age can boast4 ,in a complicated society like ours1 the means of intercourse in education cover practically everything that does not come under the head of 8vocational training40 ,men and women must know how to understand other people and how to make themselves understood4 ,they must know how to count money1 how to read and comprehend a letter or a book1 and command such general information as will protect them from deception1 from going astray1 or from otherwise failing to hold their own among their fellow beings4 ,now it is precisely in this department that the ,state education of ,england really does pretend to accomplish all that is desired2 and yet nowhere is the inadequacy of its achievement more conspicuous4 ,we have seen that it does not even pretend to teach manners1 and that it does not claim to inculcate sound views upon the masses whom it professes to educate2 but it does claim to teach them the means of intercourse4 ,countless millions are spent upon this instruction annually4 ,hundreds of thousands of children are bored to stultification while they are supposed to be acquiring it1 and the net result is that #ii out of #ajj of them neither know how to understand other people1 nor how to make themselves understood4 ,they do not even know how to understand what they read4 ,and nothing is done to equip them in this all-important branch of knowledge4 p#acb ,anybody would have thought that one of the first concerns of any educational body dealing with 8national0 education would have been to secure to all citizens of the same nation1 irrespective of rank1 at least a thorough knowledge of their native tongue4 ,for what1 indeed1 could be more vital8 ,it is the first pre-requisite of all satisfactory communication1 whether from or to the subject2 it is the first essential weapon of the rational faculties4 ,a particular native language may have faults and shortcomings as compared with other native languages2 it may be poorer in words1 more complicated in syntax1 less copiously supplied with racy idiom1 etc41 but surely any national scheme of education that fails to make the mastery of this native language--such as it is1 perfect or imperfect--the foremost object on its programme1 is guilty of a gross dereliction of duty4 ,for whatever its faults may be1 the masses1 at least1 have no other means of communication1 and if they are going to be made articulate1 they must be taught their native tongue4 ,at present the situation of the ,english working classes is in this respect1 pathetic in its helpless and infantile humility4 ,their talk is the babble of babes1 their vocabulary the means of expression for creatures whose feelings and thoughts are no more complicated than those of primitive savages4 ,not only are they incapable of understanding complex states of feeling or complex thoughts when they hear them accurately and carefully expressed1 but they are also utterly unable to give expression to at least three-quarters of their own thoughts and emotions4 p#acc ,in regard to a very large number of thoughts and emotions1 which1 to the cultivated man1 are commonplace matters1 the masses of ,england are therefore literally inarticulate4 ,the same word answers for a hundred meanings in their conversation1 all of which it but inadequately expresses2 while for those emotions and thoughts for which they have no words1 there can exist only mute and mystified suspicion4 ,this is bad enough4 ,life is sufficiently tragic for millions of creatures to-day1 without its being either necessary or desirable to aggravate it with the additional affliction of dumbness4 ,and yet the fact that this inarticulateness1 which ignorance imposes1 is equivalent to dumbness1 or at least to partial dumbness1 is surely incontestable4 ,but there is a consequence of this ignorance which is even more serious than that discussed above4 ,and that is the danger to which it exposes its sufferers of falling under false guidance1 misdirection and pollution from outside4 ,whereas dumbness1 although a sad affliction1 is often merely another form of constraint2 misunderstanding1 misinterpretation1 or the inability to criticise and to reject the expressed thoughts of others1 may be a source of pollution1 a source of grave error1 and a speedy means of complete and incurable perversion4 ,if people are to be protected from misconceptions1 false leaders1 demagogues1 and all those smart and slippery unemployed who are ever ready to exploit ignorance1 and take advantage of simplicity1 they must be in a position to listen critically to an address or an appeal made to them in their p#acd own language4 ,they must be in a position to tell to what extent their proposed leader or misleader understands what he is talking about4 ,how much false sentiment1 false doctrine1 inflammatory teaching1 is simply an abuse of language1 a forcing of terms1 in fact1 catachresis6 ,how much of it would be detected and exposed1 if the majority of the nation possessed that precision and understanding in the use of words1 which would come with a proper knowledge of their native tongue4 ,to-day the man who is ever ready to mislead1 to confuse1 and to inflame1 the minds of ignorant people1 encounters no check1 no critical scrutiny of his pronouncements1 for his listeners are hardly able to understand correctly the simplest words he uses4 ,the temptation1 therefore1 to use language loosely and even unscrupulously is as powerful as it is repeatedly unresisted4 ,the huge and flatulent press1 that has grown up within the last fifty years1 cares as little for accuracy of expression1 or for sober precision in language1 as it cares for any other ideal which formerly seemed worth striving after4 ,the power of the press is enormous4 ,it guides opinion1 it influences the hearts of the people1 it has the united effort of nations under its direction2 and yet where does it show any signs of being chastened by the awful duties which1 it is true1 it may never deliberately have intended to shoulder at the outset of its career8 ,the traditions of the ,middle ,ages1 at least1 included certain principles which led to the protection of the poorer and more ignorant classes2 the ,church of the ,middle p#ace ,ages also protected the poor and the ignorant according to its lights4 ,it may be questioned1 however1 whether this new force1 the press1 has as yet even considered the function of protecting the ignorant as among its most sacred privileges4 ,and by this protection there is no intention here to imply a conspiracy to withhold truth from the uncultivated1 or to distort facts for their digestion2 what is meant is that necessary vigilance and caution which1 if observed by all editors and publishers of journals and periodical literature1 would induce them to regard as a public crime1 as an unsocial act1 the inculcation upon those who are ill-equipped for self-guidance1 of any notions1 sentiments1 or points of view concerning life and human relationships that were not sound1 proper1 or healthy--not to mention noble4 ,unlike that other force1 the ,church1 the press was ushered in with scant ceremony1 almost imperceptibly4 ,it grew to omnipotence with but a fraction of the solemnity and pomp which attended the development of the ,church2 hence1 too1 it has come to ripeness1 to the zenith of its power1 without any of that centralised organisation1 without any of that self-conscious administration of its enormous powers for good and evil1 and assuredly without any of that insight into the immensely sacred responsibility of its functions1 which characterised the ,church from the beginning4 ,now its shrieking headlines1 its catchpenny exaggerations1 its hysterical falsehoods1 do not even savour of sanity4 ,how1 then1 could it be suspected of a sense of p#acf responsibility8 ,sensationalism as a moneymaking method1 ruthless and frequently thoughtless attacks on the existing order1 without any guarantee of being able to supply a better order in the place of the one attacked1 abuse of language as a method1 as the journalistic technique for all occasions1 and the determination not to enlighten1 but to dazzle1 dumbfound1 scare1 thrill and excite at all costs1 willy nilly--aprs moi le deluge1--these are among the characteristics of the modern press1 and indicate the direction in which its power is tending4 ,to overthrow or to curb this power has again and again proved too great a task even for the most popular government4 ,it is invincible1 impregnable4 ,the 8,freedom of the ,press0 may mean the freedom to abuse the credulity and the ignorance of the masses2 but powerful claims are not frustrated by exact definition1 however condemnatory4 ,there is only one way of curbing the wantonness of the press and of bringing it to a sense of the responsibility with which its power ought to have inspired it1 and that is to make the masses who are its readers capable of reading it critically1 capable of detecting its flagrant abuse of language1 and of nailing to the counter its flame-words1 its decoy cries1 its whole apparatus of sensationalism4 ,and the only means to this end is to give to the masses a knowledge of their own language4 ,who doubts that the mountains of vulgar1 inept and thoroughly deleterious literature that is being published to-day depends wholly p#acg and exclusively upon those countless hordes to whom the ,state has failed to impart that which is every man's direst need--a sound knowledge of his native tongue8 ,who doubts that all this literature would be swept away in an hour if a generation arose which was equipped to detect its solecisms1 its vulgarity1 its false sentiment1 and its tumid claptrap8 ,the newspaper press1 and the flood of vulgar literature which daily accompanies its productions into the homes of almost all ,british people1 are together partly responsible for the steady enfeeblement of the nation's moral fibre and intelligence2 and the so-called 8education0 with which the mass of the nation is equipped is one of the necessary conditions to the success both of the present newspaper press and of the vulgar literature which supplements it4 ,thus it amounts to this1 that the huge outlay which this country makes every year for the purposes of education1 is virtually a subsidy to its most incompetent1 most unscrupulous and most despicable writers4 ,in order to render the outlay worth while1 in order to convert it into a profitable investment1 which at one and the same time would produce desirable citizens and lay the foundations of order among them1 the present writer suggests as a leading reform1 to be placed at the head of every party's programme1 that the ,english language should be made the principal subject of study in our ,state schools4 ,what subject is there that is not touched upon in the learning of the precise meaning of words8 ,and what subject is of any p#ach value whatsoever if the precise meaning of words has been neglected in tuition8 ,this may sound revolutionary enough2 but on examination it will be found to guarantee a much more stable and orderly form of society than the present system4 ,for if it be asked what a man1 educated in our elementary schools1 remembers in after life of all the information he has been given as a child1 the answer is3 a little arithmetic--enough to make the everyday reckonings involved in buying and selling--and the trick of converting signs into sounds4 ,it is1 however1 precisely upon this trick of converting signs into sounds that his powers of subsequent self-education will chiefly depend4 ,for1 when once he has left his school career behind him1 the working man who wishes to increase his knowledge and grasp of vital1 human and social principles1 will rely almost entirely upon the literature he can obtain and understand4 ,if1 therefore1 he approaches this literature1 not equipped to understand1 criticise and test its soundness1 as matter1 or the care and accuracy of its form1 but only practised in the trick of converting signs into sounds1 his attempts at subsequent self-education will be a futile waste of time4 ,for there is all the difference in the world between this acquired trick of deciphering1 or converting signs into sounds1 and true reading4 ,what is precisely meant by this antithesis8 ,by the 8power of reading0 most people understand not merely the power of deciphering signs1 but also the ability to understand the meaning of the decipher once it is p#aci made4 ,reading in the ancient ,anglo-,saxon sense of the word 7rdan7 8to discern10 is the only reading that can possibly be of any value1 8discerning0 therefore is the only valuable meaning that the word reading can have4#be ,but reading in this1 its true sense1 implies an understanding of the language deciphered4 ,now can it be truly said of the children that leave our elementary schools that they have been taught reading in this sense8 ,they have certainly been taught to decipher2 they have certainly been given the mastery of converting signs into sounds2 but have they been taught to 8read08 ,at the most it might be conceded that they are partially taught to read--that is to say that they have a partial knowledge of reading2 the amount being limited by the extent of their acquaintance with their native tongue4 ,for the rest they know only a trick1 which consists in turning signs into sounds4 ,thus the neglect of ,english in our elementary schools to the advantage of other subjects1 most of which are entirely forgotten by the pupils in later life1 imposes upon our working classes1 not only dumbness1 not only susceptibility to infection by unsound opinion and doctrine1 but also the inability successfully to achieve self-education by means of reading1 when once the school career is done4 ,the question remains1 are these distressing results sufficiently counterbalanced by the advantages supposed to derive from the study of other subjects8 ,there surely can be but one answer to this question1 and that is an emphatic negative4 ,what greater asset can a man have then a sound knowledge of his native tongue8 ,what surer safeguard could be given him against corruption1 pollution1 false doctrine1 and inflammatory counsels8 ,what more coveted power could he hope to acquire8 ,and1 above all1 in this age of loose thinking and even looser speech1 what nobler check could he have upon the vagaries of his fancy or the intemperance of his tongue8 ,it would constitute his greatest possession1 and it is the nation's soundest policy to endow him with it4 ,if the principle of ,state education be admitted at all1 it is incumbent upon a people to teach its working classes to 8read0 before anything else1 because reading in itself is at once a lofty accomplishment and the most certain means to all other accomplishments4 ,among the ,state's foremost and ineluctable duties1 therefore1 is the teaching of their native tongue to the masses4 ,for1 without this1 reading is an impossibility4 ,we have seen how social disturbances--aye1 and even revolutions1 have been the outcome of falsely interpreting a single word2 we have seen how national disillusionment and depression can arise out of the pursuit of ideals that are ultimately found to be p#ada empty1 simply because the words in which they were originally framed1 though capable of creating much emotional activity never had any precise meaning4 ,we have seen1 moreover1 how difficult it is to ascribe any genuine significance to such popular decoy words as ,justice1 ,equality1 and ,liberty1 than which no words in the ,english language can make a stronger emotional appeal to a crowd4 ,if these remarks have been carefully considered1 can there any longer be any question concerning the most vital1 the most urgent reform in our educational system8 ,it now remains to discover what modifications would have to be made in our elementary school teaching in order to effect this reform4 ,the children who attend our elementary schools work about #bb hours a week--certainly not more--and they start their school career at about six years of age1 and finish it at fourteen4#bf ,the boys' curriculum at an average elementary school consists of the following subjects#bg3-- ,english1 ,arithmetic1 ,geography1 ,history1 ,nature ,study or ,hygiene1 ,physics1 ,drawing1 ,singing1 ,physical ,exercise1 ,manual ,work4 ,the reader will only need to glance at this curriculum in order to realise how varied the programme is1 and how assiduously the subjects would require to be studied in the eight years of school life1 in order to leave in the minds of the scholars a sufficient knowledge of them to be of use in later life4 ,eight years1 with #bb hours a week for forty-four weeks#bh a year1 and such a programme6 ,can it be possible for the boys to acquire anything more than a mere smattering of each subject8 ,subtracting from the total #bb hours1 the hour and forty minutes per week allotted to ,physical ,exercise1 there remain twenty hours and twenty minutes during which ,english1 ,arithmetic1 ,geography1 ,history1 ,nature ,study or ,hygiene1 ,physics1 ,drawing1 ,singing and ,manual ,work have to be taught to children who reach school not yet knowing how to read4 ,and elementary school teachers affirm that it is impossible to insist on the children doing any homework4 ,of these #bj hours and #bj minutes in ,standard ,,vii43--,english occupies #e hours #aj mins4 per week1 or #bbg hours #bj mins41 i4e41 #cb seven-hour days per year4 ,this leaves #ae hrs4 #aj mins4 per week for other subjects1 and of this total3-- ,arithmetic occupies #d hrs4 #bj mins4 per week1 or #aij hrs4 #dj mins41 i4e41 about #bg seven-hour days per year4 ,geography occupies #b hrs4 per week1 or #hh hrs41 i4e41 #ab seven-hour days per year4 ,history occupies #a hr4 per week1 or #dd hrs41 i4e41 #f seven-hour days per year4 ,hygiene occupies #cj mins4 per week1 or #bb hrs41 i4e41 #c seven-hour days per year4 ,physics1 the same as ,hygiene4 ,singing1 the same as ,history4 ,drawing occupies #b hrs4 #de mins4 per week1 or #aba hrs41 i4e41 a little over #ag seven-hour days per year4 ,recreation and ,registration occupy the remaining #c hrs4 #e mins4 per week1 or #aci hrs41 #bj mins41 i4e41 a little over #ai seven-hour days per year4 ,seeing that there is little or no homework in elementary schools1 it is obvious that none of these subjects1 except1 perhaps1 ,arithmetic1 can be taught sufficiently well to be of any use whatever to the child in after life4 ,for1 in the lower standards1 although the apportionment of time varies somewhat1 the variation is not material4 ,when1 moreover1 it is remembered that most of the boys take #c hours a week for ,manual ,work1 and that these hours have to be subtracted from the time allotted to other subjects1 it is clear that the ultimate result1 in so far as that knowledge is concerned which represents a permanent asset to the individual1 cannot be very satisfactory4 ,in fact1 take it how you will1 it must be acknowledged without either bitterness or malice that elementary education is nothing more than a very expensive and very elaborate farce4 ,it teaches the boys two things that they undoubtedly remember3 the trick of deciphering letterpress1 which constitutes them purchasers and readers of the lowest and most fatuous literature that sweated literary hacks can produce1 and enough arithmetic p#add for them to master the ordinary numerical problems that may arise in the daily routine of their adult lives4 ,of ,history nothing1 literally nothing1 is remembered1 except1 perhaps1 that there was once a king who spoilt some tarts 7they are not quite certain whether it was ,alfred the ,great or the ,king of ,hearts71 and that there was once a monarch called ,william the ,conqueror4 ,of ,geography only the vaguest notions are retained1 and these relate more often to the world as a whole than to their native land4 ,of ,hygiene1 ,physics1 not a trace is left--not even a recollection of the names of the subjects4 ,while ,singing and ,drawing1 except to the few1 are a pure waste of time4 ,it is safe to say that this is true of the majority of the scholars1 and since it is the majority of the children that constitute the great mass of the nation1 it is on them we must concentrate our attention4 ,since the object of all our expensive elementary school organisation ought to be to impart to them some valuable knowledge that they can retain throughout their lives1 some valuable knowledge1 moreover1 in the acquisition of which the highest faculties of their mind would be disciplined and trained1 surely it would be an advantage in the first place to concentrate on a fewer number of subjects1 and secondly to select only those which could be of service to them in later life 7for they are the only subjects that are ever remembered71 and thirdly1 to confine the study of the subject or subjects chosen1 as far as possible1 to those limits which1 while they guarantee a solid foundation of learning1 allow of further p#ade unassisted progress when once the school career is over4 ,now it seems to the present writer that no subject in the whole curriculum of schools answers these requirements more satisfactorily in every way than ,english itself4 ,it is at once an ideal means of disciplining and training the mind1 of clarifying thought and of correcting vagueness and looseness of reasoning2 it is an excellent preservative of natural nobility of character1 by opening up to the student the whole treasury of lofty thought and sentiment that the language contains2 it is a mental weapon against befoulment by prurient and other deleterious influences2 it is an instrument of criticism that can be employed at any moment1 in any contingency1 against the appeals of demagogues1 agitators1 and corruptors of all kinds1 and it is a means of lucid and logical communication1 without which no man can be said to be safe against misunderstanding or confusion4 ,above all--and this is its principal value to-day--a knowledge of ,english is essential to anyone who wishes to know how to 8read40 ,now what would be the extent of the reforms required in order to make our elementary education chiefly a means of imparting a good and serviceable knowledge of ,english to the masses8 ,in the first place1 the elementary school teacher himself would have to be selected from a rather higher grade of educationalists4 ,he would have to be qualified to teach ,english not only by precept but also by example4 ,to-day1 in the majority of cases1 he could not teach ,english1 even if he had p#adf the time4 ,as to expressing a thought in good ,english1 the elementary school teacher and his boys are a case of the blind leading the blind4 ,this is not the teacher's fault4 ,he does his best1 and in view of his training1 his best is sometimes very good4 ,wherever the present writer has been1 moreover1 he has been compelled to recognise the efficiency and conscientiousness of this class of ,state official1 and to applaud the result he obtains with the material at his disposal4 ,nevertheless1 able as he is within his own limits1 the elementary school teacher is1 as a rule1 incapable of teaching ,english1 and if it is ever decided to extend the programme on the ,english side1 the teacher himself will have to be the object of the first reforms4 ,as regards the curriculum1 the changes would be more simple4 ,to begin with1 the hours allotted to ,arithmetic might well be reduced to a maximum of three per week4 ,this would be ample to enable the least proficient scholars to master all the method they could ever be expected to require in after life1 and at the same time would afford adequate opportunities for the detection of any mathematical genius who might be lurking in the school1 and for whose case special provision might be made4 ,the time for ,geography1 the study of which might with advantage be confined to the general relations of ,england to the rest of the world1 without any specialisation in home topography1 which is invariably forgotten1 might be reduced to half an hour a week4 ,history might be cancelled altogether1 p#adg and the teaching of the subject confined to such historical knowledge as the scholar could not help acquiring in learning the meaning of certain ,english words such as3 ,peer1 ,parliament1 ,constitution1 ,rebellion1 ,regicide1 ,suffrage1 ,reformation1 ,prime ,minister1 etc4#bi ,hygiene1 ,physics and ,singing might also be cancelled with advantage1 and the detection of specially good voices1 or musical talent1 left to that part of the ,english lessons given to the learning of old ,english folk-songs1 canons and ballads4 ,with regard to drawing1 it seems ridiculous that all boys should devote two hours #de minutes per week to this subject4 ,to thousands it must mean the most intolerable drudgery4 ,surely one hour per week would be enough to reveal any exceptional talent in the school1 and for the teacher to discover all those who could not possibly profit from the subject1 even if they continued at it to the end of their lives4 ,the latter could then be weeded out of the class1 and the hour allotted to drawing1 in their case1 could be sacrificed to ,manual ,work4 ,at all events1 the hours set aside for ,manual ,work1 seeing that it is a form of exercise1 might be taken from the time allowed for ,recreation#cj and the time allowed for ,drawing 7in the case of untalented boys71 or from the time allowed for ,recreation and the time allowed for ,arithmetic 7in the case of artistic boys74 ,by this means it would be possible to add #g hrs4 #dj mins4 per week to the time occupied in teaching ,english1 or #ccg hrs4 #bj mins41 i4e41 #dh seven-hour days per year1 making a grand total1 with the existing hours allotted to ,english1 of #ab hrs4 #ej mins4 per week1 or #efd hrs4 #dj mins41 i4e41 #hj seven-hour days per year4 ,although this still appears to be an exiguous allowance1 in view1 not only of the importance of the subject1 but also of the home influences which for a generation at least would prove a serious obstacle to progress1 it is sufficient for much to be made of it2 and in this period1 for seven years1 it ought to be possible to give each boy a very considerable mastery of ,english4 ,in any case1 it would enable a foundation to be laid upon which subsequent self-education could safely repose4 ,the teaching would have to consist principally of exercises in the precise meaning and proper use of words1 the aim being to give each child1 not only a very much larger vocabulary than that which he learns at school to-day1 but also a mastery in the use of each word1 which would prevent both confusion in expression1 and misunderstanding in reading or listening4 ,good1 careful reading would therefore be exacted from all1 and the excellence of the performance of each boy would not be judged so much from the standpoint of glibness or fluency1 as from the ease and accuracy with which he understands the meaning of what he has read4 ,in the process of teaching the correct meaning of words1 the boys would necessarily acquire their stock of sound and proper ideas about life and humanity1 because it is impossible to teach the meaning of certain abstract words relating to society and life1 without imparting true ideas4 ,thus1 without feeling any of the natural repulsion that healthy boys would instinctly feel towards a moral or philosophical lesson1 they would nevertheless be able to absorb a philosophy of life1 the lack of which in their education to-day is one of its principal blemishes4#ca ,more stress would also be laid on the teaching of grammar than is the custom to-day4 ,the present system1 inspired by the ,board of ,education1 deliberately neglects grammar1 and the results are noticeable in every sentence that proceeds from the lips of a working class child4#cb ,since logical expression1 and the understanding of the logical construction of a long sentence are impossible without a complete mastery of ,grammar1 it is most important that ,grammar should be properly and specially taught4 ,and with ,english as the only big subject of the school curriculum1 this ought to be perfectly possible4 ,next in importance would be the study of good authors in and out of class4 ,the boys would have to learn to appreciate instances of happy construction1 or apt and vivid expression4 ,in ,standard ,,vi4 and ,,vii41 they would also be encouraged to call the teacher's attention to what they thought was a misuse or abuse of words1 either in their father's newspaper1 or in any literature of doubtful quality at home4 ,daily practice in accurate expression1 and in criticism of other boys' speech1 together with the learning by heart of long passages from the best poets1 the ,bible1 and some of the best prose writers2 weekly exercises in composition1 and a rigorous training in exact definition--these with a leisurely training in the best old ,english songs1 canons and ballads1 would complete a training that would send every child forth into the world with at least one subject thoroughly learned1 with at least one weapon well mastered for the struggle of life1 and above all with a more or less certain guarantee that he would be immune to the lure of vulgar taste in literature1 and to the deliberate deceptions and traps that all those quill-driving monsters1 who to-day stand enthroned over the minds and the hearts of our working classes1 daily and hourly prepare for the further stultification and corruption of their victims4 ,very soon a marked change would come over the nation4 ,its present highly strung and hysterical condition1 which has been induced chiefly by the sensationalism of its vulgar newspapers and other cheap literature1 would yield before a more sober and more dignified state of mind4 ,not a child whose spirits had been brought into vivifying contact with the noblest of the nation's thoughts and sentiments1 could help manifesting signs of this invigorating intercourse in later life4 ,among the meanest of them it would leave behind at least the dim recollection that there were things in heaven and earth that were greater than themselves1 that there were sacred and lofty heights in the intellectual productions of their nation1 which they had once gazed upon as it were from afar1 and while this memory would sustain them in their patriotism and fortify them in their self-respect1 it would also tend to check that spirit of irreverence for all things which is one of the most alarming features of the ,age4 ,again1 instead of opening the school gates to let loose a flood of fourteen-year-old hooligans1 with no mental equipment except gutter smartness1 children taught in this p#aeb way would be sent forth into the world possessing at least a foundation of sound knowledge1 a basis of valuable ideas and principles concerning life and humanity1 the benefit of which they themselves and their neighbours would feel at every moment of their lives4 ,and this immensely desirable result1 this crying need of the present day1 could be obtained at what cost8 ,at the cost of small smatterings of ,history1 ,geography1 ,drawing1 ,hygiene1 and ,physics1 which are forgotten within nine months of leaving school1 which even remembered would be of little practical value1 and which1 so far from having been introduced into the curriculum with serious intent1 appear rather to have found their way there by accident and to have been retained purely from motives of idle and fruitless display4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #bd3 ,even ,john ,locke1 who1 as a thinker was1 in many respects1 surprisingly superficial1 exclaims with regard to education3 8,you will wonder1 perhaps1 that ,i put learning last1 especially if ,i tell you ,i think it the least part40 7,some ,thoughts concerning ,education74 ,while ,aristotle lays it down definitely3 8,that there is a sort of education in which parents should train their sons1 not as being useful or necessary1 but because it is liberal or noble40 7,politics ,,viii41 #e74 ,footnote #be3 ,the ,german lesen and the ,french lire1 both have the same implication4 ,they both imply discernment1 understanding4 ,the old high ,german lsan meant to collect with discrimination1 and1 with the ,french lire was allied to the ,latin legere1 which may mean to choose1 to pick out1 to single out1 and to select1--all actions implying discernment and understanding4 ,footnote #bf3 ,they may now continue their studies at continuation evening schools after fourteen years of age1 if they choose1 and earn money the while in some daily employment4 ,footnote #bg3 ,the girls' curriculum1 into which it will not be necessary to enter here1 is very much the same as the boys'1 except that it excludes ,manual ,work and ,physics1 and includes ,laundry1 ,cooking and ,needlework4 ,footnote #bh3 ,all the calculations that follow are based upon the assumption that eight weeks are allowed for holidays each year4 ,footnote #bi3 ,owing to the great importance of history in inspiring children to maintain the traditions of their country1 it is only with the greatest reluctance that this subject is not allotted special hours to itself4 ,it is1 however1 felt that in view of the short space of years that elementary education covers in the life-time of the working-class child1 some drastic pruning of the curriculum must at all costs be made1 as anything in the nature of a compromise inserts the thin edge of the wedge of superficiality in the teaching4 ,moreover1 seeing that the ,english lesson will draw largely upon historical facts for the explanation of words1 the subject cannot be regarded as entirely neglected in this programme4 ,footnote #cj3 ,as the whole week's work amounts only to #bb hours1 and there is no home work1 boys at an elementary school cannot in any case be said to be overworked1 and there would be no hardship involved in curtailing the time allowed for recreation1 or in cancelling it altogether4 ,footnote #ca3 ,it is true that in its ,suggestions for the ,consideration of ,teachers 7p4 #bh7 the ,board of ,education does lay down that3 8,one of the fundamental purposes of education is to ensure that the child has an ample fund of ideas about the world in which it lives1 and that these ideas should be1 as far as may be1 full and exact02 but what follows 7pp4 #bh1 #bi7 is so meaningless and reveals such an inadequate appreciation of the value of ideas in adult life1 that it stultifies the value of the foregoing4 ,footnote #cb3 ,ibid1 p4 #ci3 8,the minuti of ,parsing should be completely omitted4444 ,there should be no ,grammar teaching apart from the other ,english lessons1 it should arise naturally out of the reading and composition lessons40 ,one headmaster of an elementary school with whom the present writer discussed the question of ,parsing1 declared that he greatly regretted that it had been dropped4 p#aec ,,chapter ,,vii ,,social ,,reform#cc 8,things are so bad that1 to have any genuine insight to-day1 any special human feeling to-day1 means perforce to devote these gifts to the social problem1 instead of to art and beauty4 ,that is the curse of having been born in this ,age40--,extract from a novel of last year4 ,a certain unaffected hopelessness characterises the mood of modern men1 for which it is difficult to find an adequate cause4 ,there is a pessimism rife to-day1 which1 far from being a pose or a pretence1 lies so deeply imbedded in the hearts of most people1 that it is their constant effort to conceal1 rather than to proclaim it1 when they are in the presence of their fellows4 ,a cheerful smile1 a laugh that sounds like merriment1 a vivacious and buoyant manner--these outward signs of unruffled gaiety may now be simulated by men when they are in company2 they may even be enjoined upon all as social etiquette2 but when once he is left to himself1 modern man smoothens out his laugh-wrinkled cheeks1 compresses his relaxed lips1 and abandons himself to that attitude of mind now perhaps as universal as it is secret1 which for lack of a better term we may describe as settled despondency4 ,among the cultivated this attitude remains more or less a private concern of the individual4 ,the thinking man1 unlike the savage1 does not beat his wife and children1 or blame his immediate surroundings1 if he feels hopeless4 ,he knows the cause is probably more remote than the behaviour of his kith and kin1 or circle of friends2 and though he may be as incapable as the savage of finding the true cause1 he withholds his anger1 or postpones the expression of his gloomy thoughts until such time as their true cause becomes apparent to him4 ,among the uncultivated1 however1 this mood of gloom or of convinced despair1 harbouring as it does in minds that are less inclined to be philosophical1 renders them litigious and vindictive4 ,some one or some circumstance not too remote must be responsible1 it is thought1 for their peevishness2 they therefore become irascible and angry1 and seek to vent their spleen on that person or thing which1 on the strength of its proximity alone1 appears to be the immediate cause of their ill-humour4 ,conditions that satisfied them theretofore now become insufferable and must be changed2 prospects that smiled upon them formerly now appear too black to be faced with calm4 ,pleasure--or rather distraction--is sought feverishly1 gluttonously1 until1 since it leaves them still with the old langour at their hearts1 it also is rejected as part of the general conspiracy to depress their spirits4 ,nothing pleases1 nothing beckons4 ,the same aching certainty of discontent always returns1 whatever else may go4 ,when a nation feels like this1 when a p#aee whole continent feels like this1 there arises what politicians are pleased to call a state of 8social unrest40 ,by giving it a name it is hoped presumably that it will be explained away4 ,unfortunately1 however accurate the terms of a description may be1 they do nothing towards helping to remove the trouble they describe4 ,but in this particular case it may be questioned whether the words 8social unrest0 form even an accurate description4 ,a society that is at rest is not necessarily the ultimate desideratum4 ,a society that is not at rest cannot therefore be necessarily bad4 ,on the contrary1 social unrest has been characteristic of all the greatest and most fertile moments in history4 ,what could have been more unrestful than the period that witnessed the spread of the ,roman power1 or the period of the ,renaissance8 ,to call the present period simply one of social unrest therefore does not even give us an inkling of the true and alarming symptom of the trouble--the settled despondency that is invading all hearts4 ,by the phrase 8social unrest10 we might1 for instance1 be led to suspect that the secondary and particular symptoms of the trouble were the primary and general symptoms4 ,what are the secondary and particular symptoms of the trouble8 ,labour's general and determined dissatisfaction with the conditions of labour all over ,europe4 ,suppose we accept the secondary as the primary symptoms1 how can we then account for the deep pessimism and gloom of the cultivated--not merely those among the cultivated who fear they may lose by p#aef ,labour's attitude1 but those who are disinterested enough to fear nothing except the incurable canker at their hearts8 ,can they truly be said to share ,labour's general and determined dissatisfaction with the conditions of labour all over ,europe8 ,labour's dissatisfaction1 therefore1 cannot possibly be a primary symptom4 ,it is only the proletariat's adaptation to the primary symptom2 just as hedonism1 neurasthenia1 lunacy and frenzied interest in new-fangled creeds and movements1 may be the cultivated man's adaptation to the primary symptoms4 ,to call the present state of affairs simply social unrest is to magnify unduly a secondary and particular1 into the importance of a primary and general1 symptom4 ,whatever the subsequent adaptation to it may be1 the true primary symptom must be common to both classes1 the labouring and the employing classes1 and that true primary symptom1 it is here suggested1 is the mood of unaffected hopelessness that characterises all modern men4 ,and since1 as a primary symptom1 it is common to all men1 it must have a common cause4 ,doubtless a good deal of it may be easily accounted for in the manner outlined at the opening of ,chapter ,i4 ,as everyone knows1 physical and spiritual weariness do not need to last very long in order to induce the most stubborn dejection2 and since there can be no doubt that1 as the result of life's present unprecedented complexity and breakneck speed1 modern men of all classes are suffering from physical and particularly nervous exhaustion1 we might reasonably p#aeg expect to find depression as one of its accompanying features4 ,to the present writer1 however1 the recognition of this modicum of melancholy that must be found everywhere wedded to bodily and spiritual weariness1 although important1 does not seem sufficient to explain the universality of the present existence of secret low spirits4 ,it seems to him that a deeper cause must be sought2 for it has come to his own1 as it must have come to other people's notice1 that the low spirits in question are to be found even where the harassing complications of life and the present high speed of life are least often and least severely felt4 ,it is as if a sentiment1 and not a material cause were the chief source of the pessimism that we are now considering4 ,and1 since this pessimism is everywhere rife1 it must be supposed that the sentiment also is universal1 and must have preceded the former in all men's hearts4 ,as to the precise nature of this supposed sentiment1 there may be various and even conflicting opinions2 the hypothesis favoured here1 however1 is the following3-- ,the sentiment that is now lodged in all ,european hearts1 irrespective of class or country1 and is responsible for the gloom that has descended upon all nations1 is a compound of deep and bitter disappointment on the one hand1 with the suspicion of having been duped and left stranded on the other4 ,there is a feeling that the leading ideals by which our fathers and grandfathers guided their lives1 and to which we1 who were born in the last century1 also aspired1 have proved false ideals4 ,and1 coupled with this p#aeh feeling1 there is1 in the first place1 the growing conviction that we should have done better1 and shown ourselves more expert in managing our affairs1 if1 instead of trying to act up to those ideals1 we had renounced them altogether2 and secondly1 that now that we see ourselves compelled to abandon these old ideals1 we are stranded without any guiding principles whatsoever4 ,the old ideals have proved worthless and even dangerous1 and we are therefore abandoning them2 but no new ideals have been created to take their place4 ,it is this feeling that now constitutes the disease in all men's hearts--the feeling of the enlightened child of besotted and degenerate parents1 who1 looking back upon them calmly and dispassionately in his maturity1 is ashamed of the guileless filial passion he once felt for them in his childhood1 and yet knows himself to be terribly cold and alone in his spiritual orphanage4 8,progress10 that toughest among our grandfathers' and fathers' ideals1 has been the last to perish2 but with it perhaps went our stoutest hopes and our firmest beliefs4 ,we have now buried it1 to the accompaniment of the gravest doubts concerning not merely whether we are better1 or better off1 than the men of the #afth and #agth centuries1 but also whether we are better1 or better off even than the ,cro-,magnon men who lived thirty thousand years before the present era4 ,to those who could believe in the existence of an all-powerful1 beneficent deity--and which of us had grandfathers or fathers who did not8--there was something supremely p#aei logical and inevitable in this idea of ,progress4 ,how could life fail to improve seeing that a beneficent deity was controlling it1 and must therefore be directing all things towards a common good8 ,but now the objections to this belief scarcely require to be stated4 ,everybody knows1 everybody sees1 that it must be wrong4 ,and those exceptional people whose minds and eyes still need some assistance before they feel able to reject it1 have only to examine certain statistics in order to become assured that their conservatism is without foundation4 ,and how many ideals have not gone the same way as 8,progress08 ,who believes in 8,democracy0 nowadays8 ,who believes in ,parliamentary ,government1 in the ultimate triumph of ,altruism1 in the ,brotherhood of mankind1 in ,universal ,suffrage8 ,in short1 who believes in the desirability of the whole of ,western civilisation1 or of its extension to countries that are still uncontaminated by it8 ,how could the contemplation of such a hecatomb of perverted ideals fail to create despondency1 seeing that despite the lack of other ideals to take their place1 and everybody's horror at what has occurred1 every sane man in every civilised land is convinced that1 had the hecatomb not already been made1 he would have been compelled to pile it up with his own hands8 ,perhaps it may sound to some an unwarrantable assumption to maintain that a complete negation of the beliefs of a former century--aye1 and in some cases1 of a former p#afj millenium--necessarily constitutes a state of deep distress4 ,those who entertain this view can only be recommended to ponder the enormous influence that strong1 deep-rooted beliefs play in the lives of large communities1 particularly when these beliefs constitute the very confidence1 trust and faith which such communities feel in the worthiness and the value of their common aims and endeavours4 ,shake these beliefs1 and the energy which theretofore had been directed evenly towards a certain bourne1 a definite goal1 finds itself dammed up or lost on the high road2 remove them altogether1 and it is not impossible that the very generation of energy itself will cease4 ,people become listless1 indolent1 hopeless2 and the acute stage of danger is soon reached when everyone cries openly or in his heart3 8,what is the good of it all8 ,cui bono80 ,the repercussion of this state of distress upon language has already been discussed4 ,it is clear that1 with the loss of guiding ideals and beliefs1 the important leading words connected with these ideals and beliefs become entirely meaningless and devoid of any distinct associations4 ,in addition to finding himself completely astray1 therefore1 modern man's forlorn condition is complicated by serious bewilderment4 ,a large number of the words which1 owing to their long association with deep-rooted beliefs and guiding ideals1 still stimulate great emotional excitement in him1 have no corresponding meaning in reality--in fact1 have no meaning at all4 ,the sounds remain1 and from sheer habit evoke certain sensations2 but the p#afa beliefs which gave these sounds some reality have departed4 ,thus even the least sensitive man of the present age1 has gradually become conscious of no longer having any secure footing4 ,the ground under his feet seems to be slipping away and he throws out his arms desperately to catch at some support4 ,deep1 almost rancorous disappointment1 coupled with the suspicion that he has been duped and left stranded--this compound1 it is suggested1 constitutes the sentiment which is now lodged in the heart of every ,european4 ,and it is this sentiment which is the cause of the present universal and stubborn pessimism in all countries where ,western civilisation prevails4 ,unfortunately the only cure for this kind of chronic melancholy is the promulgation of new beliefs1 new goals1 new values4 ,a new faith is perhaps the most crying need of all4 ,but where are the great men of to-day who could undertake this task8 ,in the masses1 or proletariat1 of all countries1 this pessimism1 arising out of the sentiment analysed above1 expresses itself1 as is only natural1 in the most irreconcilable discontent4 ,what does the man in the street know of remote causes1 particularly when they are spiritual8 ,as we have already hinted above1 material causes are the first he thinks of2 because they are the first that lie to hand4 ,and when1 moreover1 he finds every self-seeking agitator ready to prove that material circumstances are the cause of his trouble1 how can he any longer doubt that here indeed he has traced his misery to its source8 p#afb ,thus among the masses1 the prevailing pessimism takes the form of an economic struggle1 which has little or nothing to do with the actual amount of happiness or unhappiness that is to be gained4 ,and in the leisured classes1 the same affliction is leading to mad hedonism1 neurasthenia1 lunacy1 and a thirst for new religions and movements1 which is frequently out of all proportion to the sanity of the interests these have to offer4 ,while1 however1 the masses1 owing to the more precise nature of their demands 7always confined to the economic field and never touching upon spiritual needs7 and also to the greater volume of their clamour1 have succeeded in directing the attention of all would-be reformers upon themselves1 the cultivated also1 partly hypnotised by the insistence of the proletariat's outcry1 have made the mistake of supposing that in material reforms alone can salvation be found4 ,in the absence of new ideals1 sound beliefs1 and a great new faith1 that would once again knit modern mankind together in a united effort and a common aim1 not only the proletariat1 but also large numbers of the cultivated classes1 have come to the conclusion that it is in economic changes that a recovery of the joie de vivre is to be found4 ,and such ideals as ,communism1 ,socialism1 and ,bolshevism1 which are purely economic 7i4e41 material71 in their objects and methods1 are now held up as panaceas for the ills of the whole world4 ,to suppose1 however1 that economic changes alone will make any difference to the present p#afc deep depression of man1 is to misunderstand the whole nature of his trouble4 ,if there is anything in the analysis contained in the preceding paragraphs2 if the diagnosis of modern pessimism which it offers is not entirely wrong and beside the mark1 it is obvious that economic changes1 however drastic1 can and will do nothing to alleviate the state of distress in which everybody who lives where ,western civilisation prevails1 now finds himself4 ,improve the conditions of the indigent how you will1 elevate the standard of living as high as you choose1 you are nevertheless powerless to reduce even by one gush of tears1 the misery and discontent that prevails among all classes in the modern civilised world1 unless you understand and can deal with the more profound and more complicated spiritual cause that lies at the root of this misery4 ,nobody in his senses denies that there is yet room for improvement in the standard of living among large sections of the proletariat2 nobody who has studied the question doubts for one instant that the conditions of the indigent are frequently directly conducive to both physical and spiritual disease1 and therefore that they require modification2 but to suppose that the need for this departmental improvement is sufficiently pressing and promising of good far-reaching results1 to justify the upheaval of the whole of the existing system of life1 is to confess yourself so completely fascinated and hypnotised by a particular aspect alone of modern unhappiness1 as it is manifested in one particular section of society1 as to have remained blind p#afd to all other aspects of it which are to be observed in other sections4 ,posterity will certainly look back upon this ,age as an epoch in which there existed but one really strong obsession4 ,it will recognise that in matters of religion we were independent1 individualistic1 disunited1 and scattered4 ,it will also see that in the domain of art1 literature1 and science1 divergence of opinion1 to the extent of open civil war1 was general and commonplace4 ,on one question1 however1 it will be compelled to acknowledge our complete unanimity and concord1 and that question is ,social ,reform4 ,all classes and all political parties at the opening of the #bjth century in ,great ,britain will be declared to have been solidly bent on achieving this one object2 and for some obscure reason1 which perhaps will for ever remain a mystery even to an enlightened posterity1 that social reform will be characterised as having had in view always the amelioration of but one section of the community--the poorer section1 from the standpoint of material wealth--that is to say1 that it was certainly a downward glance1 a downcast eye1 that constituted the attitude of its most fervent advocates and their followers4 ,subsequent generations1 if they are sufficiently philosophical1 will perceive the error here1 without perhaps being able to explain it4 ,it may be possible now1 however1 to forestall their speculations and to shed upon the question some light that may be helpful to them4 ,it has been said that misery is at present p#afe general1 that it runs through all classes in all countries4 ,furthermore1 it has been suggested that this misery has its root in a sentiment which is a compound of rancorous disappointment and the feeling that we have been duped and left stranded4 ,this sentiment has been traced to the failure and demonstrated emptiness of all the leading beliefs and ideals of the last century1 and even before that4 ,now the particular expression of this misery which is at present given by the more indigent sections of the community1 is discontent with their condition1 leading to an economic struggle4 ,the expression of this misery which is at present given by the wealthier sections of the community consists in an unusually fierce form of hedonism1 insanity1 neurasthenia1 and religious mania4 ,strange to say1 however1 the cure for the misery which is being recommended by the proletariat and in the general terms of which large numbers of the plutocracy are already acquiescing1 is ,social ,reform1 which1 in its more moderate guise1 aspires simply to the elevation of the standard of living among the labouring classes2 and in its extreme form 7as in ,russia1 for instance7 envisages the overthrow of the present system in favour of ,communism1 ,socialism1 or ,bolshevism4 ,now even if the analysis of modern misery given above were only approximately accurate1 it must be plain that3-- 7#a7 ,to set out to relieve the misery of only one section of the community--the p#aff poorer section--when all the community is unhappy1 amounts obviously only to attempting a partial cure1 in fact to concerning one's self only with one aspect and secondary manifestation of the general trouble4 7#b7 ,to concentrate upon social reform1 even in its most moderate form1 is to assume that which has yet to be demonstrated3 that an improvement in the material conditions of the proletariat is really all that the world wants in order to recover happiness4 7#c7 ,to suppose that any such purely material or economic reform as ,communism1 can effect a complete cure all round1 is to assume that the causes of modern unhappiness are purely material or economic--an assumption which1 so far from being supported by the facts1 has all the evidence of the unhappiness of the wealthy classes against it4 ,now let these objections be taken one by one in their order1 and considered more fully4 7#a7 ,is it1 or is it not a fact1 that all classes1 rich and poor alike1 are now suffering from deep spiritual depression8 ,if it is a fact1 it is obviously ridiculous and unfair to attempt even along economic lines 7that is by material reforms alone7 to alleviate the pain only of one class2 and the concentration of attention upon proletarian unhappiness1 constitutes an absurd and utterly unjustifiable obsession4 ,if1 on the other hand1 it is not a fact that all classes are suffering equally from deep spiritual depression1 a somewhat formidable array of unpleasant facts are left utterly unexplained p#afg and unco-ordinated4 ,these are3 the steady spread of apathy1 cynicism1 listlessness and recklessness--always signs of great unhappiness--among the wealthy classes2 the frenzied search for new creeds1 new movements1 new interests1 however childish1 always a sign of despair2 and the unceasing pursuit of pleasure among the non-religious sections of the wealthy classes--a sign of intense boredom1 weariness and gloom4 ,now it is only due to the characteristic obtuseness and shallowness of this ,age1 that no attention has been paid to the unhappiness of the wealthier classes1 which in many instances is very severe indeed2 and it is due to the absurdly exalted notion of their prestige1 and their own extravagant estimate of their dignity1 that they themselves have not made more clamour to call the attention of the community to their misery4 ,labouring under the utterly unsupported modern belief that where economic conditions are sound1 everything is sound1 we do not find the leaders of the ,church organising missions to the mansions of the wealthy in order to make sure that their spiritual life is healthy and free from the blights of gloom and despair2 obsessed as everyone is by the supposed inaccessibility of wealth to the common spiritual distempers of the ,age1 we never hear of charitable charwomen undertaking a course of district visiting to the women of the wealthier classes1 in order to investigate the cause of their despondency and to help them to overcome it4 ,and yet1 strange as such a procedure would sound to modern ears1 is it really so palpably offensive to good sense8 ,the very fact p#afh that most people would suspect a man of joking who recommended such action1 shows conclusively how far we are from realising the extent of the spiritual misery1 besottedness and turpitude prevailing among our wealthier classes4 ,is this misery to be left entirely suspended in the air by the proposed economic reforms of the coming era8 ,as a symptom it has been shown that the unhappiness of the wealthier classes is as important and significant as any other phenomenon of modern times4 ,do people really suppose that certain economic changes1 certain improvements in the standard of living of the poor1 are going to set the whole world right1 including the chronic unhappiness of the present wealthy classes8 ,it has been suggested that this unhappiness of the wealthy has a deep root1 and that at its root it joins with the unhappiness of the indigent4 ,how can any tinkering at material conditions possibly be expected to reach that root8 ,if social reformers had their way1 if in their superficial analysis of modern misery1 they were allowed to proceed with their 8improvements10 the changes they would be able to bring about would leave absolutely intact the whole of the major cause of the trouble that obsesses them4 ,in a trice the 8improved0 conditions would become habitual conditions1 and then1 once the diversion had spent its force1 the old unhappiness would return with possibly even greater malignity4 ,anybody who doubts this is invited to dwell on the economic improvements already achieved among the poorer classes of the nation1 and to assess the proportionate p#afi amount of increased happiness that has accompanied them4 7#b7 ,many years ago1 ,george ,gissing1 than whom no ,english writer was better qualified to speak with authority on the question of rich and poor1 made the following remark3 8,a being of superior intelligence regarding humanity with an eye of perfect understanding would discover that life was enjoyed every bit as much in the slum as in the palace40 ,in other words1 it must have occurred to most thinking people that laughter1 if heard at all1 is heard quite as frequently in the kitchen as in the drawing-room1--that is to say1 that happiness is relative1 and that the possibility of ultimate adaptation to all conditions makes the degree of happiness enjoyed by each human being more or less uniform4 ,at all events1 the fact that material conditions are the first1 which1 if constant1 cease to be noticed1 and therefore cease to contribute actively to happiness1 must have been observed by most people of ordinary acumen4 ,it would therefore constitute a gross misunderstanding both of human nature and of life in general1 to suppose that standards of living1 even very much lower than those of our present unskilled labouring classes1 would necessarily destroy happiness for those compelled to endure them4 ,and1 conversely1 it would constitute a grave misconception of the nature of happiness to suppose that an improved standard of living necessarily brings happiness in its train1 or has anything to do with happiness4 ,all those who1 for five years of the ,great ,war1 had to live on indifferent food1 imperfectly cooked1 served p#agj in inconvenient and frequently filthy quarters1 and on unsightly and grubby utensils1 will bear the present writer out in this1 and will agree with him when he says that material conditions cannot possibly bear the deep causal relation to happiness that so many thousands of solemn would-be philosophers now allege4 ,beyond a certain point--that is to say1 when once the possibility of daily repletion with wholesome foodstuffs1 and sufficient daily repose has been attained1 material conditions1 so far from being conducive to happiness or unhappiness1 are not even noticed4 ,to improve the material conditions of the proletariat beyond the stage of comfortable security1 therefore1 will not and cannot increase their general happiness by one iota4 ,it may urge them to the mad hedonism of the rich1 it may drive them to the surfeited apathy and neurasthenia of the plutocratic classes and stimulate their appetite for new-fangled creeds and movements1 but it will not increase their happiness1 neither will it do anything to alleviate the misery that was analysed in the first half of this chapter1 under which they1 like the wealthier classes1 are now groaning4 7#c7 ,assuming1 however1 that the whole of the above reasoning is hopelessly wrong and even vicious2 taking it for granted1 as many undoubtedly will1 that the misery here alleged to be common both to the modern rich and the modern poor1 which social reform cannot alter1 is a pure myth1 an ingenious fiction1 inspired by the trumpery aims of reaction alone2 it may still be asked whether those who concentrate so painstakingly p#aga upon material and economic reforms1 have satisfied themselves that their diagnosis of the trouble is the correct one4 ,the implication underlying their activities and their programme1 is that material and economic conditions should be the principal concern of all4 ,they pin their faith to the amelioration of the standard of living1 and whether they wish to achieve this end by ,communism1 ,socialism1 or ,bolshevism1 they confess by the principles they adopt1 that they recognise no other avenue to salvation4 ,but it is surely no quibble to demand of them some proof that their proposed cures have been conceived as the result of a scrupulously careful investigation into the causes of the disease4 ,without necessarily incurring the suspicion of undue prejudice1 it is surely not unreasonable to request them1 before inaugurating their subversive reforms1 to give their critics some demonstration of the accuracy of their diagnosis4 ,has this been done8 ,has any conclave of accredited psychologists1 thinkers and social reformers1 ever sat to deliberate upon the true causes of modern misery8 ,and having deliberated1 have they published to the world any conclusion to the effect that everything in modern society except only the condition of the poor1 can be continued and maintained with impunity1 without fears of a recurrence of the present malady8 ,nobody can contend that the advocates of social reform in so far as this is confined to material and economic changes1 have even satisfied themselves--still less the rest of the world--that economic causes are the most potent in accounting for the p#agb misery prevailing in ,western ,civilisation4 ,nobody would even argue that they had begun to question the correctness of their materialistic interpretation of 8,social ,unrest10 and since the reforms they propose are drastic and destructive1 as witness the ,utopia in ,russia1 the world has a right1 and more particularly have the working masses in all countries a right1 to insist upon the disease of modernity being thoroughly understood before it is treated4 ,it is not claimed for an instant that the analysis given in the first part of this chapter is necessarily the right one2 but it is certainly hoped that by suggesting perhaps a new avenue of approach to these problems1 it will not only show that there are more ways than one of solving them1 but also stimulate thought along lines not habitually followed by social reformers4 ,the present writer himself is1 at any rate1 convinced of two things3-- ,first1 that social reform1 either moderate or in its extreme expression as ,communism or ,bolshevism1 is a modern obsession1 resulting from a gratuitous concentration upon the material conditions alone of one class only of the community2 and that all changes that are inspired by this obsession are certain to be wrong and utterly disastrous1 seeing that it takes no cognisance of the great unhappiness that is unconnected with the state of indigence4 ,second1 that the relation of happiness to material conditions is a subject of such deep misunderstanding at the present day that1 at all events1 reforms which rely too obstinately upon the accepted and general p#agc view of this relation1 are sure to lead to the most distressing blunders1 without relieving by one iota1 the burden of misery that is borne by the whole population1 rich and poor alike4 ,in conclusion1 the following considerations may prove of value in regard to the general question of social reform1 and to the particular question of happiness3-- ,the present state of settled despondency in all classes may be the result of a number of agencies1 with the continued operation of any one of which it might be fatal to start a new era with any hope of achieving greater happiness4 ,the world has come to its present pass by means of the observance of hundreds of values1 among which it is possible that the most unsuspected are the most powerful causes of the general decline in the joie de vivre4 ,for instance1 to make a few suggestions at random1 it is possible that the general ,european attitude of toleration towards disease1 crippledom1 congenital debility and physical disabilities of all kinds1 may be totally wrong4 ,it may be that the steady infection of the healthy mass of the people by the careful perpetuation1 preservation and propagation1 of the population's unhealthiest elements1 may have acted as a gradual poison in four ways3 7a7 as a depressing spectacle and therefore as a destroyer of joy to the sensative2 7b7 as an unnecessary burden upon the hale and the hearty1 exacting too heavy a toll from their energy and good spirits2 7c71 as a source of deterioration to the healthiest elements in the race2 and 7d7 negatively1 by making it difficult for the desirable percentage of very successful creatures to be p#agd born1--those creatures who1 by their beauty1 grace and wanton spirits1 ennoble life1 by holding up a lofty example of ,life's highest possibilities4 ,it is possible1 that is to say1 that ,humanitarianism is merely an inverted form of cruelty2 in other words1 instead of directing their cruelty against the undesirable1 humanitarians direct it against the desirable1 and cheerfully sacrifice the hale and the hearty to the physiologically botched4 ,it is also conceivable that democratic institutions1 by levelling competition and rewards down to the plane of the meanest attainments1 have introduced a sort of craft-apathy1 or eagerness-mute-stop1 into the hearts of all those superior workmen who1 along ordinary unrestricted and unconstrained paths1 would have delighted in displaying the higher gifts that differentiate them from their fellows1 and would thus have increased the sum of general happiness by their contribution of triumphant spirits and the expression of their gratified effort4 ,it is possible1 too1 that life in very large cities1 like ,london1 ,birmingham1 ,manchester1 ,liverpool1 ,edinburgh1 etc41 by bringing each individual man and woman too constantly into touch1 in fact into daily irritating contact1 with thousands of their fellows1--so that in the thoroughfares of these large cities human beings may truly be said to stand as rank as weeds1--has led to a kind of semiconscious misanthropy1 which steadily depresses the joie de vivre1 by destroying the joy that all should feel in the contemplation and society of their fellows4 ,the struggle for room1 for sheer air space1 is sometimes so acute in these large cities1 and in the fight p#age for unobstructed progression each advantage is contested with so much malice and spite1 that it is not extravagant to suppose that a natural and perfectly instinctive impulse to be friendly and philanthropic1 may step by step1 be turned to the most irreconcilable hatred and contempt of humanity4 ,it is not even impossible for this change to occur without the person in whom it has taken place being in the least conscious of the true causes of his mental transformation4 ,but upon convinced misanthropy of this sort it is impossible to build a happy and contented community4 ,hence possibly a goodly portion of the unhappiness of modern times in large cities4 ,again in regard to the very alternative of philanthropic or misanthropic sentiment1 in a well-known passage of the moral teaching of most ,europeans1 there occurs the famous command 8,love thy neighbour40 ,and there are not a few sentimentalists who1 accepting this doctrine as the remedy for all social evils1 proclaim with full-throated fervour1 that if only there were more love in the world1 all would be well4 ,now it must surely have occurred to a large number of people1 that if there is one human impulse known to all mankind that responds with difficulty to the word of command1 it is precisely the impulse to love4 ,a man may1 by an effort of will1 stop his breathing and die1--it is said that negro slaves constantly did this in the holds of humane ,british seamen's ships in the #ahth century2--a man may by an effort of will obey the command to kill himself and unhesitatingly raise the means of suicide to his throat2--in ,japan this command used p#agf frequently to be given and as frequently obeyed2--but by no effort of will1 however severe the command1 can a man be made to feel the impulse to love his neighbour4 ,love springs spontaneously in the human breast4 ,its provocation is invariably1 not a word of command1 not a behest1 but the charm1 grace1 or other perfection of an object contemplated4 ,there is therefore little psychological insight in the command 8,love thy neighbour40 ,nobody would deny that to love one's neighbour is an excellent prescription for happy social life2 but nobody who was not sadly ignorant of human nature1 or divinely insular1 would dream of attempting to achieve this end by commanding it4 ,the only way to set about loving one's neighbour1 with benignity aforethought1 as it were1 is1 in the first place1 to make him loveable4 ,for love is a spontaneous impulse springing up in the breast through contemplation or comprehension of some charming or otherwise alluring object4 ,now it is possible that modern life1 with all its besotting1 emasculating1 and uglifying occupations1 with its total absence of any check upon the multiplication of the unsightly and unsavoury1 its sickness1 and its second-rate1 third-rate and fourth-rate healthiness1 is pursuing diametrically the opposite aim4 ,it is destroying the sthetic basis of the impulse to love2 and1 except where sexual attraction is at work1 renders love of one's neighbour a practical impossibility4 ,it would be ridiculous1 and eminently unscientific1 to overlook this factor in the gradual disintegration and unhappiness of modern society4 ,for a community in which all the p#agg elements fly asunder when they meet1 is unlikely to be either harmonious or happy4 ,thus the increasing unloveableness of one's neighbour1 as the result of the increasing ugliness and unsavouriness of most ,european populations1 cannot be altogether disregarded4 ,the above are only a few among the unsuspected and possible contributory causes of modern misery4 ,it would be easy to continue on the same lines at considerable length1 and further suggestions will be made in the last chapter2 but surely1 even at this stage1 enough has already been said1 to persuade the thoughtful reader that social reform alone1 as it is generally understood1 both in its moderate and extreme guise1 might be completely and even magnificently realised1 and yet leave some of the most potent causes of despondency as flourishing and as prevalent as ever4 ,some of our most respected values lie at the root of the contributory causes just outlined4 ,would it not be wiser1 before starting on our wild goose chase in search of new world orders1 to decide whether such values as those which are radical to the contributory causes1 are sufficiently sound to be maintained8 ,for these contributory and unsuspected causes1 which have been outlined above1 are all supplementary to the principal cause analysed in the first part of this chapter4 ,thus a good deal of spade work would appear to be both wise and even indispensable1 before we can proceed with any confidence to the facile solution of modern misery1 consisting in altering our economic p#agh conditions2#cd and this spade work1 which seems to the thinker to be little more than a measure of ordinary prudence1 overlooked though it has been by the ,bolshevists1 may in the end prove the very means of sustaining the success and ensuring the permanence of whatever economic modifications may subsequently appear necessary and advisable4 ,at all events1 to proceed along any other lines1 would certainly mean that a large number of essential and principal elements in the general causation of modern misery1 would run a grave risk of being overlooked2 it would therefore mean that the continued presence of these elements would remain to mar any measure of success that any radical economic reform might achieve1 and would thus demonstrate to the whole world a fact which1 despite the example of ,russia1 is by no means sufficiently clear3 that social reform like ,protestantism in the #aeth century1 like ,puritanism in the #agth1 and like ,republicanism in the #ahth1 is an obsession1 the hypnotic power of which is out of all proportion to the amount of good it can possibly establish by its successful fulfilment4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #cc3 ,the ideas from which this essay has been developed were first embodied in a short article called ,happiness and ,social ,reform1 contributed by the present writer to the 8,oxford ,fortnightly10 in ,november1 #aiac4 ,footnote #cd3 ,it will not have escaped the careful reader's notice that the reason why social reform and new economic programmes generally have enjoyed so much favour1 particularly with the mass of superficial mankind1 is that in the midst of misery1 they seem to offer immediate 8practical0 remedies4 ,that word 8practical0 is the passport1 or rather the password1 of most of the stupidest beliefs and practices that succeed in becoming popular4 ,because deeper remedies1 and the deeper causes of unhappiness1 do not occur to the superficial minds of the masses in all countries1 social reform1 which is palpably obvious1 is called 8practical0 and thereby canonised by the crowd4 p#agi ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,physiology ,,of ,,social ,,unrest 8,he caused the grass to grow for the cattle1 and herb for the service of man2 that he may bring forth food out of the earth2 and wine that maketh glad the heart of man 44444 and bread which strengtheneth man's heart40 ,psalms1 #ajd1 #ad1 #ae4 ,one day1 perhaps1 an enlightened generation of historians will arise1 who will regard it as their mission to inform mankind concerning the repeated instances in the past when cherished romantic illusions alone--quite apart from economic conditions1 the vagaries of monarchs1 or the viciousness of laws--have led to disastrous upheavals1 both national and universal1 in the life of the race4 ,history has not been studied sufficiently from the standpoint of ideology4 ,the tyranny of the individual1 whether monarch1 statesman or rebel1 still remains the obsession of our writers of national annals4 ,we have yet to see a historical work in which the tyranny of an idea1 of a principle1 and particularly of an illusion1 is traced with meticulous care throughout its manifold ramifications2 and in which the national1 or universal hero1 be he soldier1 politician or insurrectionist1 is depicted realistically merely as the victim of that tyranny4 ,such history would fail in its principal object if it were not understood to teach1 among other things1 the useful lesson that words and the ideas they embody1 whether p#ahj false or true1 can become tyrants far more dangerous and heartless than any human despot has ever been1 and if it did not sufficiently emphasise the fact that1 a false idea that has been made a universal possession1 and the representative term of which has become a household word1 is frequently a scourge more terrible than any plague that has ever yet decimated the species4 ,a child will travel some distance and wear itself out in overcoming any number of obstacles1 if it be started off in pursuit of some alluring object by someone whose word its experience has not yet taught it to doubt4 ,the alluring object may be entirely mythical--no matter6 ,granted that the object has been made to appear sufficiently desirable1 the child will pursue its quest1 sometimes with heroic perseverance4 ,but is there anyone prepared to maintain that the full-grown adult would behave any differently under the influence of similar inducements8 ,allowing for the difference between the minds of children and of adults1 and postulating for the adult an object which1 though quite as chimerical as that chosen for the child1 is yet of a kind calculated to fire his imagination1 does anyone really question whether the adult's pursuit of it would be fully as eager and tenacious as that of the child8 ,consider1 for instance1 the time-honoured method of obtaining votaries and adherents for any anti-social scheme4 ,certain states of mind or body are first posited by the agitators1 or would-be reformers1 as highly desirable2 they are then shown to be unrealisable in the social scheme which it is p#aha proposed to destroy2 and finally humanity is told that by destroying the social scheme already existing1 those desirable states of mind or body will be procured and enjoyed4 ,these hypothetical states of mind or body which are unrealisable in the social scheme selected for destruction may be entirely fantastic and unrealisable anywhere or how1 but this objection the agitators do not trouble to discuss2 all they say is3 8,here we hold up before you certain desirable states of mind or body0 7call them1 if you will1 8etherealness0 and 8imponderability10--qualities that would enable those possessing them to overcome gravitation and all its concomittant inconveniences7 8these desirable states of mind or body can be obtained only by breaking up certain traditions4 ,break up these traditions1 and you will possess them40 ,it will be seen at once that the examples chosen1 8etherealness0 and 8imponderability10 are sufficiently extravagant to strike even the meanest intelligence as being absurd1 and an anti-social agitator depending upon such desiderata alone would stand but a poor chance of gaining followers4 ,substitute the words representing these vaporous qualities1 however1 by another word which1 though representing a quality equally illusory1 nevertheless does not strike the average man immediately as being unrealisable1 and the insidious operation of false desiderata straightway becomes evident4 ,most honest political thinkers have realised by now1 for instance1 how visionary and unreal is the accepted notion of the reign of 8,justice0--not the justice that is administered p#ahb in our ,courts of ,law1 or which we strive to exercise in daily life1 but the justice immanente of ,gambetta1 already discussed1 in which natural inequalities and their accompanying disabilities and inconveniences will be for ever removed or neutralised4 ,but the glaring impossibility of this desideratum1 and the consequent meaninglessness of the word used to designate it1 does not seem to hinder millions from declaring themselves ready to fight and to lose their blood and their lives in trying to effect its realisation4 ,and the same may be said of the ideas embodied in the words 8,liberty10 8,equality10 8,fraternity10 etc4 ,given sufficient ingenuity in the agitator1 therefore1 it may be taken for granted that the grand method of fomenting social upheavals is3 7#a7 to postulate a state of mind or body that is impossible in the society which it is intended to destroy--the fact that the particular mental or bodily state would be impossible in any society is either judiciously concealed1 or else not known to the agitator2 7#b7 to make the name for that particular state of mind or body a household word representing a universal desideratum2 and 7#c7 to exploit any existing disaffection1 from whatever cause1 in order to add momentum to the general desire to see this hypothetical state of mind or body realised by fair means or foul4 ,in this way it is possible to make millions destroy opposing millions1 and violence outrival violence1 without anyone becoming aware1 until too late1 of the futility of the conflict and of the criminality of the hoax4 ,aye1 in the exhaustion and confusion that p#ahc follow1 people are necessarily so busy overcoming the multifarious difficulties that the struggle has created1 that frequently they have not even the time1 much less the composure1 to ask themselves whether they have really obtained that for which they destroyed their fellows1 their own homes1 and their civilisation4 ,it is in this way that false ideas often escape condemnation and exposure4 ,the tyranny of words and the ideas they represent1 whether sound or unsound1 is therefore obvious enough2 and1 in the history of peoples it is the principal tyranny of all4 ,beside it the tyranny of individual monarchs is mere child's play1 and the deeds of a national hero only stage effect4 ,where the ideas have been false1 however1 where the desiderata striven and struggled for have been wholly chimerical1 this tyranny stands for the most prodigious romanticism of human life1--a romanticism which1 like all romanticism1 has to be paid for very heavily1 and the price of which is frequently the peace1 happiness and order of centuries4 ,now the extreme danger of the existing ideology of ,europe and ,america is that it is full to bursting with romanticism precisely of this kind1 and that in its catalogue of chimerical hopes1 objects1 and desiderata1 there is also many a belief upon which it is impossible to base a sound code of conduct4 ,the romanticism of the ideology of ,western ,civilisation can be seen in no feature of modern life more plainly than in the manner in which modern man approaches the problems of his ,age4 ,the simple1 the obvious1 p#ahd the elementary solution1 the solution nearest to hand1 is never the first to be tried2 frequently it is not even selected4 ,western ,society believes in machinery in every form1 it therefore approaches even its problems mechanically--that is to say1 with instruments which1 far from being primitive or human1 are frequently so thoroughly unfitted to deal with the social wants and ailments of the time 7all essentially primitive and human in their nature7 that they actually aggravate and complicate these ailments and wants4 ,much of this superficiality in statesmanship is due1 of course1 not so much to the prodigious romanticism of the ,age1 as to the mediocrity of those whom democratic representation and ,parliamentary methods bring to the fore4 ,a majority must consist of mediocre people1 and mediocre people cannot exercise judgment except in a mediocre way4 ,the person selected by mediocrities to represent them must therefore be a man capable of appealing to such people1 that is to say1 a creature entirely devoid of genius either for ruling or for any other function4 ,as a matter of fact1 all he need possess is a third-rate actor's gift for haranguing his electors about matters they can easily grasp1 in language calculated to stimulate their emotions1 and he must be guaranteed to hold or to express no original or exceptionally intelligent views4 ,as an instance of this mediocrity both of insight and initiative1 observe the attitude of ,western ,governments to the phenomenon known as ,social ,unrest4 ,it is either one of complete mystification1 or else economic p#ahe remedies alone are thought of and applied4#ce ,with the example of ,bolshevik ,russia before them1 ,western ,governments have doubtless learnt this easy lesson1 that a people who have enough to eat are immune against revolutionary doctrine1 and therefore that all questions of grave domestic disorder are primarily physical4 ,it might be imagined1 however1 that this first step in wisdom would have led them still further afield1 and even directed their attention to some of its less obvious consequences4 ,for1 if ,bolshevik ,russia teaches that a well-fed proletariat does not rise in revolt1 it also proves1 by implication1 that the condition of the human body is an all-important factor to be reckoned with in domestic troubles4 ,the unit in a population manifesting signs of acute unrest may therefore be examined to some purpose with a view to ascertaining his physical condition4 ,one of the most stubborn beliefs constituting the prodigious romanticism of modern times1 is1 however1 a fatal obstacle in the road leading to this simple discovery2 and this belief is that the physical condition of a man can be independent of his attitude of mind1 and vice vers4 ,apart from the one exception to this modern dogma1 which has recently been learnt from ,russia1 and which is to the effect that starvation foments revolt1 the modern mind is more or less convinced that the physical condition of a population is not a very important factor in determining their political opinions4 ,true enough1 when we hear anyone make a false claim1 or pronounce a harebrained statement1 we may ask in jest1 8,is he well802 but not one of us latter-day ,europeans1 or any creature like us1 is convinced that the question is relevant4 ,since we do not approach with suspicion any specimen of our literature1 our poetry1 our art1 or our philosophy which hails from dyspeptics1 cripples1 dypsomaniacs1 or drug-maniacs1 how could we regard such a question as relevant8 ,the absurd levity with which we deal with the physical side of our national life is only one proof of this4 ,it required a great war to prove to our emotional and opportunist ,prime ,minister1 ,mr4 ,lloyd ,george1 that the physical condition of the nation was indeed 8appalling10 and it was only the work of the tribunals that brought home to him the extent of our national ill-health4#cf ,it may be presumed1 therefore1 that had not the ,great ,war made the medical examination of our younger men necessary and imperative1 our popular ,premier would still be in ignorance concerning this all-important question4 ,apart from actual starvation1 therefore1 no physical condition is regarded by modern man as an important factor in the etiology of a people's mental attitude4 ,and yet we have in the acute social unrest of ,england alone1 a curious phenomenon1 sufficiently hard to explain merely on economic lines4 ,for it is not confined to people who are underfed or who do not know where to-morrow's loaf is coming from4 ,it is not even rooted in them4 ,we find it manifesting itself principally among well-paid and perfectly comfortable artisans and skilled workmen--nay1 it actually originates and draws its greatest strength from these elements in the population4 ,here1 then1 is a problem which no amount of material improvement in living conditions would appear to hold out any promise of solving4 ,and yet everyone believes--aye1 even the restless proletarians themselves are prepared to swear--that the trouble is chiefly economic2 while some of the capitalist class might suggest1 in addition to economic causes1 ,bolshevist1 ,german or ,socialistic propaganda or gold4 ,in a previous chapter the present writer has hinted at a number of causes1 not altogether obvious1 which may lie at the bottom of modern proletarian unrest2 he now wishes to discuss that which he regards as one of the principal and most fundamental causes2 and that he suggests straightway is ill-health and debility4 ,a jaundiced view of life1 a pessimistic outlook1 and a general mood of dissatisfaction with all things1 may possibly in one or two enlightened and profound thinkers1 have a purely intellectual basis4 ,in such men it may be the outcome of a dispassionate and laborious survey of modern conditions and modern aims1 and constitute a considered judgment based upon the available data4 ,when1 however1 it characterises a multitude1 particularly a multitude consisting largely of people who never in any circumstances form anything but an emotional opinion on any matter1 it is simply wanton prejudice p#ahh and romanticism not to suspect and not to presuppose a partly physiological cause for the condition4 ,the fact that this cause is nowhere suspected1 either by journalists1 statesmen1 ,members of ,parliament1 or the working men of ,england themselves1 does not make its operation any the less conspicuous2 but it does show with what stubborn tenacity a false belief--a romantic belief particularly--clings to the minds of a people when once it has been sedulously inculcated upon them4 ,for the fact that physiological causes are operating in the acute social unrest now prevailing in ,england alone1 can be ascertained in two minutes by any one who wishes to examine this unrest at close quarters in the person of any workman representing it4 ,any such investigator will discover very speedily that although the masses are probably adequately provided with food1 as regards bulk1 they are suffering from various forms of slight but sufficiently disturbing debility1 owing to the two following causes3-- 7a7 ,the inferiority of a good deal of the food and drink they consume2 7b7 ,their gross ignorance regarding the proper way of preparing it4 ,independent evidence pointing to the conclusion that food is at the bottom of the physiological causes of unrest1 apart from an examination of that food itself1 may be gathered from the appalling statistics of health recently published by the ,ministry of ,national ,service4 ,the temptation in reading this report is to conclude that p#ahi unhealthy urban and industrial conditions are the cause of the general debility1 of which only the acute cases are noticed in the report4 ,but the compilers of the document itself carefully warn the reader against this facile explanation of the trouble1 and call attention to the fact that ill-health is also very great in rural districts4 ,now1 short of a plague1 an epidemic1 or a condition of universal degeneration1 the only factor that can possibly account for ill-health and debility being general both in urban and rural centres1 is either food or climate1 either of which is common to both kinds of population4 ,dismissing climate as having been a more or less constant factor1 we are therefore left with food4 7a7 ,now it is the present writer's conviction that much of the present debility of the masses1 or at least enough of it to account for some discontent and disaffection1 is to be ascribed to the inferiority of the foodstuffs they consume from their earliest infancy to the very end of their days4 ,in all cases where mothers cannot nurse their children1 the trouble begins at the very dawn of life1 and starts by disordering a system which is doomed to continuous disturbances until it can find ultimate release only in death4 ,the ,baby ,welfare ,centres recently established are all doing their utmost1 it is true1 to combat this evil1 but they have to fight not merely against the ignorance of parents and of local doctors1 but above all against the criminal unscrupulousness of commercial food proprietors4 ,everywhere advertisements are to be read concerning foods of which it is claimed p#aij that they are an adequate substitute for mother's milk1 and there is no law1 no regulation1 and no official system of instruction1 to prevent ignorant mothers from being taken in by these means of publicity4 ,the organisations1 small and inadequate as they are1 which are attempting to fight this evil1 are entirely the result of private enterprise4 ,the ,government of the country does nothing to secure infants against the double and pernicious operation of these two first enemies of life1 ,ignorance and its ,commercial ,exploitation4 ,as growing children and adults1 these infants continue under the debilitating influences of their earliest days by being fed on every kind of adulterated food1 from impure bread to faked jam2 and even when they have had the good fortune to have been reared at the breast1 their regimen of inferior food in later life quickly undermines the solid basis of their constitutions4 ,it is impossible without some expert knowledge or advice to obtain for love or money a pure loaf of bread in many parts of ,england to-day4 ,the fat that is eaten with that bread1 and which together with the bread forms a most important part of the food of working-class children1 when it consists of vegetable margarine1 is almost useless to the body4 ,the various tinned fruits and meats 7except perhaps tomatoes7 which are also much favoured among working-class women1 owing to the ease with which they can be prepared for table1 also constitute inferior food1 owing to the method by which they are canned4 p#aia ,the jams1 far from containing pure fruit1 frequently contain no fruit at all4 ,add to this1 that the liquor--tea--which is chiefly drunk with these inferior foods1 is in every way deleterious1 being neither a food1 nor a tonic1 nor even an innocuous means of quenching thirst2 and debility1 far from being an exceptional occurrence1 would seem almost an inevitable static condition of our masses4 7b7 ,but what commercial adulteration of food1 and the commercial production of inferior food1 may sometimes fail to accomplish1 the ignorance of the working-class housewife usually manages to consummate in the secret privacy of her kitchen4 ,there every imaginable error is perpetrated1 even in dealing with first-class foods1 such as butcher's meat and fresh vegetables2 and the resulting deteriorated compounds only confirm1 in the individual child or adult1 a condition which by the adulteration of other foodstuffs we are doing our utmost to establish4 ,the ignorance among the female population of ,england1 both rich and poor1 regarding the time during which meat or vegetables1 or milk1 or fruit1 or fats1 can safely be allowed to boil1 or to stew1 or to simmer1 without losing every particle of goodness they ever possessed1 is frankly astonishing4 ,one wonders how an occupation such as cooking could possibly have remained by tradition in the hands of a particular sex for generations1 without more knowledge1 more wisdom--even more rule-of-thumb wisdom--having collected around it1 than has collected around the domestic p#aib culinary practices of the ,british housewife4#cg ,not only is she ignorant of the right thing2 she is deeply1 firmly1 self-righteously and aggressively convinced of the wrong4 ,it is a compliment1 an act of grace1 to give your husband1 your eldest daughter1 or your visitor 8a nice1 strong cup of tea40 ,mutton is nicest when it has been boiled to shreds in an effort to attain tenderness4 ,curries are stimulating even with twice or thrice cooked meat as their most substantial ingredient4 ,cabbages and1 in fact1 all greens1 should never be eaten raw 7even the foolish local practitioner adds his mite of wisdom to the housewife's in pronouncing this practice injurious to the digestion71 though this is really the only form in which they are useful and palatable to the human organism2 they must be boiled and boiled in water softened with soda1 until the obnoxious steam produced by the process infects the whole house1 and ultimately whole streets and neighbourhoods4 ,repletion being the principal object aimed at1 the means of effecting it are not considered too nicely1 and adequate quantities are provided1 which1 however1 can only gravely disorganise and disturb the alimentary canal of all those who cloy their appetites by means of them4 ,in adult life1 in addition to strong tea1 there also enters the further disturbing influence of impure beer or spirits2 so that it is only with the most extreme good luck that any man1 woman or youth in the working-classes1 can maintain sufficient health to remain at their daily occupations1 not to mention resist and throw off disease1 enjoy life and keep good spirits4 ,no amount of tinkering at working-class children's teeth1 or of careful scientific medical treatment1 can ultimately cope with the steady deterioration1 which year in and year out is being caused by the incessant consumption of inferior or badly prepared food in poor homes2 and yet it is in the highest degree romantic to suppose that by leaving this department of life alone1 it will necessarily right itself4#ch ,in fact1 no belief in the whole ideology of 8,democracy0 is more pernicious and more crassly stupid than the belief that errors and false practices must in the end right themselves4 ,the natural indolence of mankind in the mass very soon makes a supposed principle of this kind a popular and highly appreciated stand-by in the face of difficult problems1 but it does not make it true4 ,with the history of previous civilisations and races before us--civilisations and races which we are now convinced pursued error and false practices with the heartiest and most cheerful conviction to their ultimate doom--with the evidence of biology to hand1 which shows us myriads of creatures1 all the parasites in fact1 having steadily descended from superior and more highly organised creatures1 merely through having followed the line of least resistance1 it is difficult to account for the prevalence of this utterly stupid notion that evils and errors tend to right themselves4 ,for of this we can feel quite certain1 that all those peoples and races who do in fact believe1 and act on the belief1 that their errors will right themselves1 will suffer not only extinction in their culture and civilisation1 but also ultimate evanescence in themselves4 ,thus1 as we have seen1 quite apart from the inferiority of the raw material she has to deal with1 the working-class woman no longer knows the simplest rule of sound culinary science1 and whatever wisdom might still have survived by pure tradition in the kitchens of the poor1 has been satisfactorily suppressed by the innovations of commerce and industry4 ,to deny that the existing food conditions have any bearing upon the spirit and therefore the temper and the outlook of the nation1 is to support the doctrine that a man's physical condition can be independent of his attitude of mind4 ,nobody would claim that the peculiar virulence of modern ,social ,unrest is entirely to be accounted for by the debility of the masses1 or that this debility is entirely due to faulty nourishment2 but1 on the other hand1 it would be obviously absurd to attempt to put an end to ,social ,unrest without giving very serious attention to the people's debility1 or without examining one of its chief contributory causes1 which is bad food4 ,and any legislative measure1 or economic readjustment or reform which p#aie is brought about without some drastic provisions calculated to meet this important factor in the trouble1 is bound to end in failure4 ,the temperance movement is nothing more than a helpless and non-statesmanlike solution on ,puritan lines of the liquor side of the food question4 ,what is required is obviously not the abolition of fermented liquor1 for that would be tantamount to depriving the people of a necessary foodstuff1#ci but such reforms in the liquor trade as will secure pure drinks to the masses of the nation4 ,it is the present writer's conviction that if the ,governments of ,europe could secure absolutely pure bread and pure fermented drinks to their various peoples1 the gravity of social unrest would immediately be relieved4 ,granted that pure bread and pure fermented liquor would only constitute a beginning 7for there are numbers of other foodstuffs that are adulterated71 nevertheless1 it would be a good beginning2 for bread is the principal food of the working classes1 and a sound1 healthy beverage added to it would go a long way towards rehabilitating their constitutions4 ,the fermented liquor recommended by the present writer would be the old ,english ale of pre-,puritan days1 the ale which besides being free from the pernicious properties of hops1 was made from pure unboiled malt4 ,the vice of modern beer does not consist only in the fact that it contains properties that are injurious to the human body1 such as hops or the many harmful substitutes that are used instead of hops1 and other ingredients#dj2 but chiefly in the fact that it is prepared from boiled wort1 that is to say1 wort from which heat has removed all possible trace of the necessary vitamines so valuable to health4 ,the brewers' objection to a re-introduction of the old ale of pre-,puritan ,england will of course be this1 that it will not keep4 ,but what does that matter8 ,there are hundreds of foodstuffs that won't keep4 ,does that justify our removing all their most vital properties in order to make them keep8 ,milk will not keep4 ,does that prevent it from being purveyed retail to every householder in ,england every day8 ,the immense value of the old ale of ,england as a food and health-giving beverage ought alone to ensure its supersession over the utterly worthless 8beer0 that is universal at the present day#da2 and the fact that in combination with pure bread1 it would restore to modern people the staple articles of diet of our mighty peasants of the ,poictiers and ,agincourt period1 should be enough to recommend it4 ,very soon after the legal restoration of these two precious foods to the masses1 the legislation could be extended to include other foodstuffs1 and also to provide in the elementary schools for some kind of instruction concerning the value and sound preparation of the principal foods4 ,and then1 it is the present writer's firm belief1 ,governments would find themselves so appreciably relieved of 8social reform0 problems1 and of the incessant demand for measures required to redress some grievances among the labouring classes1 that they might find more time to attend to questions of development and reconstruction1 all of which remain adjourned and neglected from one generation to the next4 ,but1 for this 8physiology0 of ,social ,unrest to be understood1 and for its problems to be tackled1 the physique of our race will require to be regarded very much more seriously than it is at present1 and prejudices will have to be overcome which are as deep-rooted as they are old4 ,there are very few of us to-day who do not cling fanatically to that romantic ideology according to which the body of man1 together with its condition1 seems out of all proportion less important than his mind and his soul4 ,there are few of us to-day who are sufficiently primitive1 sufficiently instinctive1 to feel the same horror at the sight of sickness in a human being as we feel at the sight of sickness in an animal4 ,our bias1 therefore1 is all against tracing what appears to be only a matter of discontent1 like ,social ,unrest1 partly to a bodily cause4 ,but it is precisely for a false belief of this kind that mankind always has paid1 and always will pay1 most dearly2 for even in the uprooting of it1 apart from the harm it does1 much pain and frequently much sorrow is incurred4 ,it p#aih behoves us1 therefore1 to enquire whether we do not now know too much1 whether we are not now suffering too much1 any longer to refuse to explore any avenue of reform along which it can be shown with some plausibility that we may find some solution of our troubles2 and even if1 in order to take this step1 we have to question a very much cherished ideology1 we may1 after all1 find ourselves none the poorer for having made this daring venture1 if in the end we find that ideology to have been false4 ,at all events1 the effort partially to solve the problem of ,social ,unrest on the lines suggested in this chapter cannot in any circumstances prove wholly fruitless2 for while everybody may not agree that food conditions in ,england are alarmingly bad1 none it may be presumed will question the expediency of improving them1 even if this be attempted simply with the object of perfecting and developing the race4 ,all those1 however1 who realise the deep and constant relationship between bodily conditions and mental outlook1 and who are moreover aware of the immense disadvantages to which modern industrial conditions1 quite apart from the inherited debility of their past1 expose the masses of every ,western people1 must welcome any reform which promises to remove even one among the multitude of adverse circumstances conspiring to impoverish and to undermine the vitality of modern nations1 and hail with some satisfaction a solution1 which1 while being practical1 yet involves no drastic upheaval of our social organisation4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #ce3 ,the possible spiritual causes of ,social ,unrest will be found discussed in ,chapter ,,vii4 ,footnote #cf3 ,see his speech at ,manchester on ,sept4 #abth1 #aiah4 ,footnote #cg3 ,in trying to account for this state of affairs1 however1 it should not be forgotten that the entrance of women into industry1 among the proletariat1 and feminism in the wealthier classes1 have both accomplished a good deal in the matter of breaking valuable domestic traditions among women4 ,footnote #ch3 ,for a demonstration of the damage done to food by unskilful cooking1 see the present writer's 8,man's ,descent from the ,gods0 7,heinemann1 #aiba74 ,footnote #ci3 ,for proofs in support of this statement1 see the present writer's work already referred to on p4 #aic4 ,footnote #dj3 ,by the ,free ,mash ,tun ,act of #ahhj the regulations for charging the duty were so framed as to leave the brewer practically unrestricted as to the description of malt1 or corn1 or sugar1 or other description of saccharine substitutes which he might use in the manufacturing and colouring of beer4 ,footnote #da3 ,for a confirmation of this statement1 see p4 #fa of the ,medical ,research ,committee's ,report on ,accessory ,food ,factors4 ,for a more elaborate discussion upon the whole subject of old ,english ,ale1 see the present writer's ,defence of ,aristocracy1 ,chapter ,v4 p#aii ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,great ,,alternative ,,to ,,social ,,reform 8,ay1 if dynamite and revolver leave you courage to be wise3 ,when was age so crammed with menace8 ,madness8 ,written1 spoken lies80 ,tennyson--7,locksley ,hall1 ,sixty ,years ,after47 ,it has been man's besetting sin1 almost throughout history1 to trace whatever evils might befall him1 rather to his institutions1 his social systems and his conditions1 than to himself and his fellows4 ,many a precious scheme of life1 many a sound system1 has been broken up and abandoned1 not because of its inherent badness1 or of the incorrigible vices of its design1 but owing to the fact that those men who attempted to carry it on in its last days1 were neither as able nor as vigorously endowed as those who inaugurated it and laid its foundations4 ,institutions may thus outlive the quality of men1 although the reverse of this proposition1 that men outlive the quality of institutions1 is always taken for granted4 ,if we saw a man of our acquaintance forsake house after house1 however perfectly designed and beautifully appointed2 if we saw him wander from town to town1 from country to country1 and even from continent to continent1 always leaving the best for something else and yet never feeling at ease2 furthermore1 if we noticed that he dropped friend after friend1 relative after relative1 all p#bjj in bitter enmity and anger1 we might be excused if we felt tempted to suspect that his repeated changes and upheavals were not the fault either of his houses1 his various adopted towns or countries1 or his friends and relatives1 but were due to some obscure infirmity in the man himself1 some hidden though serious hepatic affection1 which rendered him radically unfit to be happy or contented anywhere4 ,and we should arrive at this conclusion1 not necessarily out of any feeling of bitterness or hostility towards him personally1 but rather because we should consider it irrational1 in the face of such chronic restlessness and irascibility1 to ascribe all the blame consistently and repeatedly to his conditions1 and not occasionally to the man himself4 ,now it is a most remarkable thing that in the contemplation of similar repeated changes in the life of a nation or a people1 the average observer is not nearly so prone to be guided by the highest standards of rational thinking4 ,on the contrary1 as often as changes take place1 he is prepared to ascribe the necessity for the change1 not to the inferiority of the men who ushered it in1 but always to the inferiority of the institutions or systems that were superseded4 ,the unsupported prejudice involved in the idea of 8,progress0 compels him1 as it were1 to assume that1 since all changes must be for the better1 any change that has occurred in our social system or our institutions in the past must of necessity imply a just condemnation of the systems or institutions that formerly existed4 ,never does the average observer dream of suspecting that the proposed change of a system or of an institution may be the surest p#bja possible proof of the inferiority of the men who are trying to carry it on4 ,inferiority to what8--,inferiority to the men who originally founded the system or institution4 ,now the prevalence of this curious bias ought to make everyone profoundly suspicious of all those who clamour for radical alterations in our established systems and institutions4 ,in any case it ought to make every thinking man demur before he acquiesces too readily in the conclusion that it is our institutions and systems that are wrong1 and not man himself4 ,for1 suppose that the men who declare things are wrong1 merely confess their own inferiority by this declaration1 how can their recommendation regarding a new order of society be accepted with confidence8 ,how can anyone hope that their schemes can possibly be better than those they have shown themselves incapable of continuing8 ,at all moments1 then1 when there is much loud talking about the transformation of society and the modification or overthrow of her institutions1 the wise reformer1 the cautious innovator1 will turn his scrutiny upon man himself1 and endeavour to find out first what reforms and improvements must take place in him1 before any scheme of society whatsoever1 no matter how perfect1 can hope to be a success4 ,and it is in this direction that the present writer hopes that research and inquiry will be prosecuted in the immediate future4 ,the examination of institutions and systems is not nearly as important at the present juncture as the examination of modern man himself1 and if this examination be conducted p#bjb on the principle that it is possible for institutions to outlive the quality of man1 certain valuable and extremely fruitful discoveries cannot fail to be made4 ,for instance1 in a previous chapter it was pointed out that a mood of stubborn dejection had fallen upon civilised man1 and it was suggested that this was due to the complete collapse of the ideals1 beliefs1 and principles1 by which he had allowed himself to be inspired and led for many generations4 ,now if this analysis be correct1 it might be profitable to inquire into the origin and nature of ideals1 beliefs and principles2 and if1 as the present writer does not doubt1 it were found that man's ideals1 beliefs1 and guiding principles are always created for him by the great examples of his species1 it might be asked why the human species has ceased from producing great examples4 ,what has come over man that he should have suffered a collapse of his leading ideals1 beliefs and principles1 and yet have no one to give him others in their place8 ,has the species suffered a general decline8 ,has it sent forth its highest shoots1 and is it now exhausted8 ,and1 if these questions seemed to be sufficiently solemn and important to be pursued with energy and resolution1 the causes of racial exhaustion might possibly become the subject of special investigation4 ,a provisional question mark might be set against every modern ideal and value1 in order to determine whether perhaps it might not be responsible for the social exhaustion of civilised man4 ,so far from assuming that all our institutional changes have necessarily been progressive1 p#bjc the value to the race of every more or less recent innovation might be tested and proved4 ,for instance1 the nature of 8democracy0 might be treated critically4 ,it might be questioned whether there is not in all democratic order a tendency to reduce and truncate the ultimate gamut of human capabilities4 ,while population has multiplied as never before1 under the democratic rgime1 it might be questioned1 perhaps with some profit1 whether any section of this increasing mass of humanity1 or any individual of that section1 has attained to that old magnitude1 in volition1 intellect and health1 which human nature once regarded as easily within the compass of its powers4 ,and if the investigation of this question seemed ultimately to point to a negative reply1 it might then become necessary to weigh the alleged advantages of democratic principles against the consequences to man of this ascertained loss of greatness and lofty capabilities4 ,again1 the whole of our accepted notions of charity1 humaneness and compassion1 might be subjected to a searching inquiry4 ,since it is a certain unknown but suspected infirmity of man that may be the cause of his complete dissatisfaction with his institutions and systems1 nothing1 however sacred1 should be left unscrutinised1 untested4 ,it might be asked whether we have not been wrong all the time to allow our second-rate1 third-rate1 fourth-rate1 and x-rate fellow-creatures to multiply and to live in our midst unbranded4 ,in view of the alarming reports on the nation's health recently published by the ,government2 in view of the fact that a p#bjd ,british ,prime ,minister1 and no society crank or faddist1 has found it necessary to warn us that an 8,a#a nation cannot be built up out of ,c#c men02 in view1 moreover1 of the immense burden that the nation shoulders annually for the maintenance of lunatics1 incurables1 cripples1 and other congenital degenerates1 it might be asked1 almost with trepidation1 whether the healthy sections of the nation are even now plentiful enough and vigorous enough to be saved and secured from further infection4 ,since we have been brought to this pass by the most sacred ideals and principles of the past1 these ideals and principles would require to be reverently taken up and examined4 ,again with regard to the idea of non-selective human multiplication1--apart from any suspicion it may have incurred of increasing disease or degeneration1--it might reasonably be questioned whether any species of animal could for long allow itself the liberties that we have allowed ourselves1 in fostering undesirable examples of our kind and in scientifically persuading even the half-reluctant to live1 without ultimately having to pay for it very severely indeed4 ,what breed of sheep1 what breed of horses1 what breed of common barn-fowl1 could have been abandoned to the promiscuous mating alone 7not to mention other errors7 to which modern man has long been abandoned1 without suffering ultimate degeneration8 ,a very fruitful method of inquiry would consist in investigating to what extent modern society may have failed as an organism through pursuing too ardently survival values alone1 uncontrolled by sthetic survival p#bje values4 ,in plain ,english1 has modern man pursued survival at all costs1 even at the cost of caring how he survived1 or what manner of man he was when he did survive8 ,the check of the sthetic survival values might have prevented many a step1 which though it insured the survival of abundant numbers1 yet removed some grace1 some desirable quality1 from the form or mind of man4#db ,biologists tell us that organisms frequently survive in the animal kingdom at the cost of qualities1 which1 from the human standpoint may seem eminently desirable4 ,thus the tape-worm is said to be the descendant of a race that once led a nobler and more independent existence4 ,survival is thus frequently purchased at too heavy a cost4 ,is it possible that by the observance of survival values alone1 unchecked by sthetic values1 man has lost1 or is rapidly losing1 valuable qualities that once made a higher and more lasting kind of civilisation possible8 ,the daily lives1 the food and the drink of the whole population1 particularly its rural elements1 might be advantageously criticised from the standpoint of their body-building and health-giving qualities2 also from the standpoint of their ultimate influence in moulding the mind and tempering the heart of the people4 ,after many centuries of overemphasis of the soul's importance1 attention might be bestowed with pre-,puritan fervour upon the body and its needs4 ,in these various ways might the scrutiny of earnest and profound reformers be profitably concentrated upon the most probable cause of the apparent decay and disease of modern institutions and systems1--that is to say1 upon man himself1 and upon the noble and stirring task of making him once more whole1 if it is indeed his infirmity from which civilisation is suffering4 ,in this direction alone is there any hope2 in this direction alone is there any practical chance of achieving lasting success4 ,the immense difficulties that the problem of man himself immediately presents1 need not deter even the most faint-hearted from embarking upon the enterprise2 for it is surely possibly even for the most craven to be induced to choose between two alternatives4 ,and what is the alternative to the measures here proposed8--,to continue tinkering at mankind's institutions and systems1 as we have been doing for the last three hundred years8 ,to continue tampering with society's laws and customs instead of with her units8 ,these methods may sound more simple and more commensurate with the powers of blundering and childish fingers1 but is the simpler1 the easier method1 always to be the more practical1 merely because it is simple and easy1 and quite irrespective of its ultimate effectiveness8 ,is 8practical0 synonymous with elementary or infantile8 ,is a procedure 8practical0 because it appeals immediately and vividly to a room full of babies8 ,precisely because the true causes of modern anarchy1 disaffection and disunion1 probably lie much deeper beneath the surface than established social and economic conditions1 there is a danger that the latter will p#bjg be seized upon and shattered1 in the endeavour to achieve reform4 ,the blindest can apprehend their existence1 and to the blind1 holding is seeing4 ,but1 if the infirmity is man's1 how can it be 8practical0 to reform his institutions and systems8 ,you might as well begin rebuilding your palaces because your monarchs have failed you4 ,nor can it be argued with any cogency1 at this time of day1 either that the materials are not to hand for pursuing the inquiries outlined above1 or that the prescriptions for a recovery of man's lost quality have not been foreshadowed if not definitely specified4 ,of modern and ancient thinkers there have been enough to show1 at least in broad outline1 the methods that should be adopted for almost any contingency4 ,nobody would deny that the undertaking bristles with immense difficulties1 but even if the science that will help us to accomplish it had to be created pari passu with our attempts at overcoming these difficulties it would still be worth while1 since it is quite possible that it is the only great alternative4 ,so much for man as the suspected primary cause of the malady of modern civilisation4 ,if now we turn to other details 7other than material and economic conditions of course7 in the fabric of modern life1 which would strike even the most myopic as requiring instant correction1 they spring in such profusion before our eyes1 that it would be impossible in the compass of this small and elementary treatise1 to refer to any except the most salient4 ,one of the most salient is the absurd p#bjh attempt that society has made during the last1 or commercial and industrial era1 in modern ,europe1 to build a harmonious and united community upon the principle of cleavage4 ,doomed to failure from the start1 as it was1 this vice of cleavage1 that is at the root of the failure of modern society1 has not yet1--no1 not even at this late hour1--been recognised and condemned by all4 ,let it be thoroughly understood what is here meant by the principle of cleavage4 ,cleavage is not to be confused with classification4 ,you may subject your children or your parents to classification1 while they are all hanging affectionately on each other's necks2 but if you group them by cleavage1 the idea 8asunder10 is bound to follow4 ,the classification of a population1 therefore1 does not necessarily leave any clefts or chasms between the classes4 ,if1 however1 you proceed by dividing up your population on the principle of cleavage1 definite clefts or chasms between the groups are inevitable2 and this is the principle upon which the commercial and industrial ,age has worked4 ,as the result either of the ridiculous pomposity of those who have acquired riches by commerce or industry1 or else of the questionable title to superiority that wealth alone confers1 a curious phenomenon began to be noticeable in ,england during the course of the latter half of the #agth century1--and that was a certain artificial and asinine haughtiness among the well-to-do1 which made them unable to unbend in the presence of those whose purses were less portentously swollen4 ,it is suggested that this became noticeable in the latter half of the #agth p#bji century2 but1 truth to tell1 all the causes of it were in existence in the middle of the previous century as the result of ,henry ,,viii4's vulgar and disastrous reign4 ,most authorities would1 however1 admit that the phenomenon1 as a marked innovation1 became noticeable only in the #agth century4 ,theretofore1 wealth and good breeding1 wealth and good family1 wealth and sound instinct1 wealth and good manners1 had1 with but few and notorious exceptions1 been the only kinds of wealth known4 ,suddenly1 however1 with the capitalistic exploitation of the land1 the nation's mineral resources1 and her people1 a new kind of wealth came into existence1 wealth utterly unconnected with anything except the most solemn and most self-complacent vulgarity in those who possessed it4 ,these people1 unable to rely upon those natural distinctions that everybody recognises at once1 which compel the inferior or the fool instinctively to refrain from importunacies1 and restrain the too familiar hand1 were forced to adopt a new method of holding their brethren1 so like themselves in all but brass1 satisfactorily aloof4 ,how did they accomplish this8 ,since they had no natural dignity no innate distinction1 which might have allowed them to befriend the poor with impunity1 without any fear that is to say1 of 8losing caste02 since they could not be classified apart from their poorer fellows except by means of the ticket 8wealth02 they invented barriers and gulfs which were designed to be as wide and insuperable as their fear of being taken for their poorer fellows was great4 ,being unable to rely p#baj upon classification1 they proceeded by means of cleavage4 ,this foolish and foolhardy expedient on the part of the vulgar rich1 which has survived to this day1 has led to the absurd anomaly of a society1--a community if you please1--in which a whole complicated series of stratified groups1 never meet1 never in any circumstances communicate with one another1 except with the most ludicrous grimaces1 compressed lips1 whispers1 frowns1 embarrassment1 fear1 contempt1 and hatred4 ,the wonder is1 not that society constituted on these lines is now falling to pieces2 the miracle is that it should have lasted so long4 ,think of it6 ,think of the advantage of friendly and free communication6 ,think of how much is gained1 even among equals1 by constant and unrestrained intercourse6 ,reckon the inestimable profit that a man of minor attainments can derive from free and easy association with his superior1 and vice vers4 ,and then ponder the thousands of unbreakable links that such relationships would have forged between the classes in every village1 town1 city1 country and province throughout the ,empire6 ,when is it that a man ceases to believe in natural distinctions between men8 ,when is it he begins to suspect that there is nothing above him8--,only when1 for a very long time1 he has been deprived of any intimate knowledge of superiority1 or of any association with superiority in his own form4 ,can we wonder at the absurd decoy cries of modern ,europe1--at the cry for ,equality above all8 ,can we marvel any longer at class hatred8 ,how does a man best learn p#baa the fundamental law of natural inequality8--,only by moving out of his circle and finding a sufficiently friendly welcome when he does so1 to be able to learn from what he sees4 ,the principle of cleavage instead of classification1--this is one of the vices for which we have to thank the vulgar rich of the past1 and their kith and kin of the present day4 ,but it is one of the first brutal stupidities that must be abolished if anything approaching an orderly and harmonious society is to be established4 ,another salient error of modern society1 at least in ,england1 has been the consistent indifference shown by successive ,governments towards the steady encroachment of the huge cities of the nation upon their rural environs4 ,like monster cankers these vast urban complexes of ,england are allowed to spread north1 south1 east and west1 year in1 year out1 as if for all the world1 it were an advantage1 a boon1 in fact the most unspeakable blessing1 that every inch of green pasture land1 of golden cornfield1 should be converted as quickly as possible into muddy1 smoky1 stuffy and hideous thoroughfares4 ,if town life were so eminently desirable1 if the kind of man and woman who live and breed amid city and suburban shoddy1 were without question the proudest examples of the nation's blood2 if town occupations1 town temptations1 and town pastimes were the healthiest1 the most ennobling1 the most productive of useful virtues1 we might suspect the various ,governments1 that have tolerated the spread of this urban miasma1 to have winked their eye knowingly at what was1 p#bab after all1 only a sentimental grievance1 a sort of poet's plaint1 an artist's loss of picturesque compositions4 ,but seeing that nowadays one is reduced almost to wandering about hat in hand begging for one1--just one1--redeeming point in favour not only of town life1 town conditions and town charms1 but also of one's own fellow townsmen themselves2 it must strike people as a little odd that the accredited authorities for generations should have been so completely lacking in any definite policy concerning this all-important question4 ,is ,england to become one long ugly street1 full of ugly1 toothless people1 pretending that their clammy urban passions are something more exalted than the rut of rats8 ,you would have thought that a consideration of the food situation alone1 apart from any other aspect of the matter1 would have induced the rulers of the nation1 long ago1 to adopt some means to encourage rural1 and to discourage urban life2 and yet1 as if with malice prepense1 all the efforts of past ,governments have secretly been made in the very opposite direction4 ,one is almost inclined to cavil less at the growth of urban centres and their unwieldy proportions1 than at the absurd lack of policy towards this question which continues to be shown by the legislature4 ,if it be a desirable movement1 then by all means promote it openly2 if1 on the other hand1 it can only fill every patriot's breast with alarm1 then1 be sure to frame a definite policy about it1 and do so quickly4 ,the present writer can only see disaster p#bac ahead1 if these large urban centres are allowed to spread any further1 and he would feel inclined to inaugurate immediately1 a movement for strictly circumscribing their area4 ,concurrently with this drastic move1 he would encourage by all means in his power1 the adoption of rural occupations and homes by the proletariat4 8,but what about the increasing population80 cry a hundred voices1--as if an increasing population were a sort of elemental phenomenon like the rising tide1 or the waxing and waning of the moon1 that no man can help4 ,the reply to this question brings the author to the last of the matters of detail with which he proposes to deal1 and therefore to his concluding remarks4 ,the question of population1 like that of the relative desirability of urban or rural life1 is one to which it is madness to maintain an attitude of indifference or unconcern4 ,the rulers of this country can as little afford to ignore the consideration of the multiplication of its inhabitants1 as they can afford to ignore the consideration of the nation's finances4 ,and the more the ,state arrogates to itself the rle of a beneficent and divine ,providence1--that is to say1 the more it interferes with the natural consequences of improvidence in the matter of bringing forth children1 either by helping indigent parents1 or by mitigating the hardships of the unmarried mother1 the more it is entitled to impose and to inflict penalties upon irresponsible and wanton procreators of children4 ,if this is true of the healthy and the sound1 however1 how much more true ought it to be p#bad of the unhealthy and the degenerate6 ,again1 in regard to them1 if the ,state takes upon itself to shoulder the burden of indigent degenerates of all kinds1 it is entitled to impose limits upon their multiplication4 ,he who pays may lay down his conditions4 ,and this would remain true1 whether the present system were to be maintained1 or whether it were superseded within the next quarter of a century by ,bolshevism or ,communism4 ,since it is the iron law of population that multiplication follows any easing of the conditions of the indigent1 either by making earlier marriages a possibility1 or by making the consequences of early marriages tolerable1 it follows that all ,governments1 whether ,capitalistic1 ,bolshevist1 or ,communistic1 if they undertake to succour the indigent1 whose families exceed their resources1 must in the end impose certain limits upon multiplication4 ,and where they take over the whole burden as they do in this country1 of indigent lunatics and other degenerates1 they have the right to exercise all the means at their command for preventing degenerates from being born4 ,communists and ,bolshevists may scout this question1 just as dishonest vote-catching past ,governments have done2 but let a ,labour ,government come permanently into power1 let a ,bolshevist minority attempt to rule this country1 and it would soon discover1 what all creditable thinkers know already1 that the question of population is one about which even the most benign government must frame some definite policy4 ,indeed it would soon discover the fact1 which will p#bae perhaps only become apparent to all in many years to come3 that a truly benign policy in this matter is one which at present would strike all sentimentalists1 and other ,utopians as hopelessly ruthless and inhuman4 ,it is in the procreation of children that a man and woman's sense of responsibility first encounters its crucial test4 ,for generations in this country1 men and women's sense of responsibility in this matter has been systematically undermined2 and1 as regards the procreation of degenerates1 of the unhealthy1 and of the insane1 it might be said that there is literally no conscience left in modern man concerning this crime4 ,it will behove all serious and patriotic governments in the future1 therefore1 whether they are capitalistic or ,bolshevist1 to face this pressing problem of modern times1 and the vandalistic work of centuries1--the destruction of the ,english working man and woman's sense of responsibility in regard to procreation1--will by hook or by crook have to be repaired1 and a new conscience regarding this matter created in the breasts of all4 ,thus the tasks hinted at in this short chapter are seen to be stupendous enough1 and yet which of them can possibly be accomplished simply by the wand of the ,communist1 ,bolshevist1 or economic social reformer8 ,let no one imagine1 however1 that because they are beset with the most serious difficulties1 that they are therefore to be discarded as 8unpractical40 ,we know the extremes of stupidity to which so-called 8practical politics0 has led us4 ,nothing is practical1 that in practice does not achieve p#baf the end desired4 ,and since the mere change of our institutions and systems cannot even graze the surface of these deeper causes of unhappiness1 it is simply conjuring and buffoonery to call 8practical0 only those measures of reform or reconstruction1 which every gallery of schoolboys1 every crowd of holiday-makers1 can recognise at a glance as at least 8something done40 ,the ,end4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #db3 ,for an exhaustive discussion of survival values as compared with sthetic survival values see ,man's ,descent from the ,gods 7,heinemann7 ,chapter ,,ix4 p#bag ,,index ,abstract terms1 importance of1 #ab2 have no uniform meaning to-day1 #ac1 #ad1 #ai2 to teach meaning of1 leads to instruction in true ideas1 #adi4 ,advertisement1 unscrupulous1 of commercial foods1 #ahh1 #ahi4 sthetic values disregarded to-day1 #bje4 ,agitators1 their unscrupulous use of words1 #aha1 #ahb4 ,ale1 old ,english1 the value of1 #aie1 #aif2 the brewers' objection to1 #aif4 ,amputation1 resorted to in desperation by the weary1 #cj4 ,aristotle1 on the desirability of a liberal education1 #abg n4 ,beer1 impure1 #aic2 harmful properties of1 #aie2 utterly worthless1 #aif4 ,beliefs1 see ,ideals4 ,bishop of ,london1 his misuse of words1 #af4 ,bolshevism1 a conspiracy against life1 #ce2 insists on compulsory labour1 #ic2 offers only material ideals1 #afb4 ,bolshevist1 the1 an invalid1 #ca2 a determined opponent of life1 #cf4 ,brahmin1 the1 highly respected though poor1 #dj4 ,bread1 pure loaf of1 unobtainable in many parts of ,england1 #aij4 ,cabbage1 should be eaten raw1 #aib4 ,catachresis1 the rule in journalism1 #af2 much false doctrine is1 #acd4 ,charles ,i41 an ideal monarch1 #abb4 ,charwomen1 charitable1 do not go out on missions of comfort to the rich1 #afh4 ,church1 the1 its failure to teach sound views about life and humanity1 #abi2 of the ,middle ,ages protected the poor and ignorant1 #ace2 had a sense of responsibility1 #ace4 ,cities1 large1 breed misanthropy1 #agd1 #age2 mistake of allowing1 to spread indefinitely1 #baa-bac4 ,citizen1 the desirable1 must be well conducted1 #abf4 ,cleavage1 the industrial ,age has worked upon the principle of1 #bjh2 the expedient of the vulgar rich1 #baj1 #baa2 must be abolished if harmony is to be restored1 #baa4 ,communism1 a conspiracy against ,life1 #ce2 its unscrupulous appeal to malcontents1 #aab2 offers only material ideals1 #afb4 ,condorcet1 not a thinker but a mathematician1 #fg4 ,cro-,magnons1 doubtful whether modern man is better or better off than the1 #aeh4 ,culture1 a common1 produces a common tongue1 #aa2 might be saved by a re-definition of words1 #bf4 ,david1 his moral insistence on justice1 #dg1 #dh4 ,decline1 means retrograde development1 #cd4 ,definition1 of words desirable1 #ba2 and might avert revolution1 #be1 #bf4 ,degenerates1 hate ,life as she is1 #ei4 ,democratic institutions1 put a damper on superiority1 #agd1 #bjc4 ,de ,quincey1 on poetry1 #hc4 p#bah ,despondency1 prevalent to-day1 #aec2 national1 leads to social unrest1 #aef2 not due to a material cause alone1 #aeg2 but to a lack of satisfying ideals1 #aeh1 #aei1 #afa2 the only cure for1 new values and a new faith1 #afa2 economic changes cannot cure1 #afc2 due to false values1 #agc2 cannot be cured by social reform1 #agg4 ,development1 the law of higher life1 #cc1 #cd4 ,disease1 ,european attitude of toleration towards1 totally wrong1 #agc4 ,disraeli1 his speech on the ,compensation for ,disturbance ,bill1 #ie4 ,education1 failure of modern1 #abc2 the object of ,state1 the rearing of worthy citizens1 #abf2 should be a training in manners rather than in the acquisition of facts1 #abg1 #abh2 elementary1 does not teach sound views about ,life and ,humanity1 #abi-aca2 does not even succeed in teaching means of intercourse1 #aca2 importance of knowledge of native tongue in1 #acb2 elementary1 an expensive farce1 #adc4 ,education ,act of #ahgj1 introduced cheap literature1 #ae4 ,emigration1 the violence of1 #ajg4 ,english1 importance of teaching1 #ade2 better teachers wanted for1 #adf4 ,equality1 quite meaningless to-day1 #bd2 the cry of1 can provoke real emotion1 #fa2 originally borrowed from mathematics1 #fb2 and has no meaning except in mathematics1 #fe1 #gf2 of opportunity1 the fallacy of1 #fg-ga2 not desired by the beautiful1 able or desirable1 #gb2 a powerful weapon in the hands of the discontented1 #gc2 due to indolence and a belief in ,justice1 #gd2 had a definite meaning at the end of the #ahth century1 #ge2 a decoy cry when superiority is extinct1 #baj4 ,errors1 do not right themselves1 #aid4 ,eugenists1 their moral interpretation of phenomena1 #dg1 #dh4 ,fatalism1 the1 of modern ,europe1 #ie4 ,feminism1 has broken valuable domestic traditions1 #aib n4 ,food1 inferior1 purveyed to the masses1 #abc2 ill-prepared1 at bottom of physiological causes of ill-health and social unrest1 #ahh1 #ahi1 #aij1 #aid1 #aig2 unscrupulous advertisements of commercial1 #ahh1 #ahi2 suggested reforms in1 #aie2 question of1 should lead to discouragement of urban development1 #bab4 ,freedom1 ,rousseau's misunderstanding of1 #ag2 now meaningless1 #ba1 #bc2 but provokes wild enthusiasm1 #bb2 ,rousseau's idea of1 #bb2 a wildly fantastic idea1 #gg2 babies have no1 to choose their destiny1 #gh2 a will o' the wisp in manhood1 #hj2 nonexistent even in childhood1 #ha2 strength has no1 #hc-he2 the cry of the weak1 #hd1 #he2 the only circumstances when it can have any meaning1 #hf-hi1 #ib1 #id2 the frequency of these circumstances1 #hh2 real1 greater under the ,tudors than new1 #ij2 political1 a deception1 #ij-ib4 ,gambetta1 his 8justice immanente10 #dd1 #de1 #ahb2 a sentimentalist1 #eg4 ,gissing1 ,george1 on the comparative happiness of the poor1 #afi4 ,happiness1 is relative1 #afi2 has little to do with material conditions1 #agj1 #agb4 ,humanitarianism1 an inverted form of cruelty1 #agd4 p#bai ,ideals1 lack of satisfying1 leads to social unrest1 #aeh1 #aei1 #afa2 loss of1 makes words connected with them meaningless1 #afj2 tyranny of1 the most powerful1 #agi1 #ahj1 #ahc4 ,ill-health1 ,lloyd ,george on national1 #ahf1 #bjd2 a fundamental cause of social unrest1 #ahg1 #ahh1 #aid2 great in rural districts owing to bad food1 #ahi2 an inevitable static condition of the masses1 #aia4 ,indolence1 may avert disaster in ,england but not on the ,continent1 #bd2 demands equality1 #gd4 ,industrialism1 creates besotting occupations1 #hi4 ,institutions1 often outlive the quality of men1 #aii-bjb4 ,japan1 suicide in1 #age4 ,jefferson1 imbibed much nonsense from ,france1 #fa n2 a disciple of ,condorcet1 #fg4 ,journalism1 a cause of present day muddle1 #ae2 makes catachresis the rule1 #af4 ,justice1 quite meaningless to-day1 #bd2 necessary for belief in equality1 #dd1 #gd2 the abstraction of a moralist1 #de2 ,gambetta's justice immanente1 #dd1 #de1 #ahb2 modern idea of1 #df2 and its moral basis1 #df-ej2 meaningless when applied to the universe1 #eb2 unknown outside human society1 #ec1 #ed2 a myth1 #eg1 #eh2 reign of1 a visionary ideal1 #aha4 ,labour1 dissatisfaction of1 #aee4 ,language1 confusion of1 leads to revolution1 #ad1 #ae1 #ag2 and to impossibility to lead or be led1 #ae2 disease of1 everywhere rampant1 #be2 importance of understanding one's own1 #acc1 #acd2 a knowledge of1 the only means of curbing the press1 #acf2 the ,english1 should be chief subject in ,state schools1 #acg1 #adj4 ,liberty1 quite meaningless to-day1 #bd4 ,life1 has a descending tendency1 #cc2 development the law of higher1 #cc2 hopelessly unjust and unmoral1 #ea-ec2 as she is1 hated by degenerates1 #ei2 the enjoyment of1 largely sthetic1 #aag2 inequality necessary to the charm of1 #aah2 itself attacked by the ,socialist1 #aai4 ,lloyd ,george1 on national ill-health1 #ahf4 ,locke1 ,john1 put learning last in education1 #abg n4 ,love1 cannot be produced by word of command1 #age1 #agf4 ,luther1 a slave to his own strength1 #hc4 ,man1 ,rousseau's misunderstanding of1 #ag1 #ah1 #bc2 modern1 tired in body and spirit1 #bg-bi2 his sickness and degeneracy responsible for decline of our institutions1 #ca2 made responsible by moralists for the injustices of ,life1 #ej2 his moral interpretation of the world1 #ea2 modern1 essentially democratic1 #if2 and suffering from exhaustion1 #aef2 man1 not his institutions wrong to-day1 #bja-bjb2 all reform should begin with1 himself1 #bjf1 #bjg4 ,manners1 education in1 most essential1 #abg2 no attention given to1 in elementary education1 #abh1 #abi1 #aca2 lack of1 falls with greater severity on poor than on rich1 #abi4 ,margarine1 vegetable1 almost useless to the body1 #aij4 ,mathematician1 the1 a hopeless psychologist1 #fb2 dangerous as soon as he deals with humanity1 #fg4 p#bbj ,mediocrities1 alone 8free0 to choose a calling1 #hj4 ,mediocrity1 can only rule in a mediocre way1 #ahd4 ,middle ,ages1 had a common culture1 #ab2 protected the poor and ignorant1 #acd4 ,mill1 ,john ,stuart1 proved that ,parliament is not representative1 #ia1 #ib n4 ,misanthropy1 bred by overcrowding of large cities1 #agd-age4 ,monks1 the mendicant1 lost power when they became rich1 #da4 ,napoleon1 on the cause of the ,revolution1 #gb2 and the lawyers1 #hb2 a slave to his own strength1 #hc2 what freedom meant to1 #hf4 ,nature1 misunderstood by ,rousseau and the ,victorian poets1 #ag1 #ah2 utterly immoral1 #ea-ec2 innately unjust1 #ee1 #ei2 violence supreme in1 #ii4 ,negro slaves1 committed suicide on ,british ships1 #age4 ,parliament1 quite unrepresentative1 #ia1 #ib4 ,pessimism1 takes form of economic struggle among the masses and madness and religious fervour among the rich1 #afb4 ,see also ,despondency4 ,pessimist1 the1 can alone logically assail ,private ,property1 #cf4 ,physical conditions1 disregarded by modernity1 #ahf4 ,poor1 the1 know certain truths owing to their contact with reality1 #acj2 social reform directed towards1 alone1 #afe2 not more unhappy than the rich1 #aff-afi4 ,population1 problem of growth of1 #bac2 definite policy necessary regarding1 #bad2 a ruthless policy regarding1 probably necessary1 #bae4 ,poverty1 to-day entails besotting and heartrending work1 foul surroundings and ignorance1 #ci4 ,power1 the proper equipment of1 #db4 8,practical10 the password of the stupidest beliefs1 #agh n2 the foolishness of1 reforms1 #baf4 ,press1 the1 its enormous power to-day1 #acd2 does not protect the poor and ignorant1 #ace2 has no sense of responsibility1 #acf2 a knowledge of language the only means of curbing the1 #acf2 modern education leads to omnipotence of1 #acg4 ,private property1 assailed by present ,muddle ,age1 #ca2 a principle of ,life1 #cb1 #ce2 the principle of1 still believed in by the masses1 #cb1 #ce2 can be logically assailed only by the pessimist1 #cf2 among animals1 #cf2 abuse of1 to-day1 #cg2 the oldest of human principles1 #ch2 evil results of1 to-day1 #ch-ci2 but these not inherent in the principle of1 #dj4 ,procreation1 injustice rooted in the very act of1 #ef1 #eg2 means violence1 #ajb-aac1 #abe2 society cannot regulate1 #aji2 inadvisable to meddle with1 #aab2 limitation of1 or deliberate sacrifice can alone eliminate suffering1 #aad2 8,down with10 should be the cry of the ,socialist1 #abj2 modern lack of responsibility concerning1 #bae4 ,profiteering1 an act of violence1 #abb4 ,progress1 stupidity a form of1 #ad2 the last #aith century ideal to perish1 #aeh2 belief in1 natural to those who believe in a beneficent deity1 #aei4 ,psycho-analysis1 revelations of1 in cases where procreative instinct has been checked1 #aji n4 p#bba ,reading1 should involve discernment1 #aci2 real1 not taught in ,state schools1 #aci2 teaching of ,english necessary for1 #ade4 ,religion1 comforts people for the sufferings of others1 #ej4 ,renaissance1 a period of social unrest1 #aee4 ,revolution1 due to confusion of language1 #ad1 #ae1 #ag1 #ai4 ,rich1 the1 their truth-proof environment1 #acj2 show their misery in neurasthenia1 hedonism1 etc41 #afe2 as unhappy as the poor1 #aff-afi4 ,right1 quite meaningless to-day1 #bd4 ,romanticism1 destroys happiness and order1 #ahc2 romantic not to suspect physiological causes for unrest1 #ahh4 ,rousseau1 his misunderstanding of words led to ,french ,revolution1 #ag2 falsifies evidence1 #bc2 a sentimentalist1 #eb2 his meaningless phrase about freedom1 #gg1 #hb4 ,rulers1 their duty to assuage violence1 #abb4 ,russia1 revolution in1 fomented by starvation1 #ahe4 ,schools1 elementary1 curriculum in1 #ada-add2 suggested reform of curriculum1 #ade-aea2 probable good results of this1 #aea1 #aeb4 ,socialism1 a conspiracy against ,life1 #ce2 must if honest insist on compulsory labour1 #ic2 offers only material ideals1 #afb4 ,socialist1 the1 an invalid1 #ca2 a determined opponent of ,life1 #cf2 compassionate for the sufferings of mankind1 #ig2 his desire to eliminate violence1 #ih2 does not reckon with the basic natural element of procreation1 #aaj2 cannot accept the means by which alone violence can be eliminated from society1 #aae2 wars against ,life itself1 #aai2 exploits stigma attaching to modern success1 #abd4 ,social ,reform1 the only question on which modernity is unanimous1 #afd2 but directed only towards the poor1 #afd2 aims only at elevation of standard of living of the poor1 #afe2 directed towards one class only1 #agb2 cannot cure despondency1 #agg2 falsely thought to be 8practical10 #agh n4 ,social unrest1 due to despondency1 #aee1 #aef2 caused by ill-health1 #ahg1 #ahh1 #aid1 #aig4 ,starvation1 foments revolt1 #ahe4 ,strength1 has no choice1 #hb2 or freedom1 #hc-he2 except in certain cases1 #he4 ,stupidity1 increasing1 #ad4 ,suffering1 necessary so long as society is based on violence1 #aac1 #aad2 can only be eliminated by restricting procreation1 #aad2 in modern society not borne by the unworthiest1 #abd4 ,success1 is not to-day connected with superiority1 #dc n2 stigma attaching to modern1 #abd4 ,sweating1 an act of violence1 #abb4 ,tea1 in every way deleterious1 #aia4 ,temperance movement1 a helpless and ,puritanical solution of the liquor question1 #aie4 ,tyranny1 of ideas1 the most powerful1 #agi1 #ahj1 #ahc4 ,ugliness1 increasing1 of modern ,europe kills love1 #agg4 ,values1 transvaluation of1 still possible1 #db1 #dc2 the vulgar1 of modern society1 #abd1 #abe2 survival1 alone too ardently followed to-day1 #bjd1 #bje4 p#bbb ,vanity1 responsible for revolution1 #gc4 ,victorian ,poets1 their misunderstanding of ,nature1 #aga4 ,violence1 the1 of modern wealth1 #db2 the desire of ,socialists to do away with1 #ih1 #ajj2 supreme in ,nature and essential to life1 #ii2 cannot be eliminated even from ,socialist ,state1 #ajb1 #ajd2 inherent in procreation1 #ajb-ajh1 #abe2 the1 of emigration1 #ajg2 necessarily entails suffering1 #aac2 necessary for the charm of life1 #aaf2 man-made deeds of1 #abb1 #abc4 ,voluntary actions1 generally associated with weak and useless people1 #hb4 ,vote1 the1 does not secure freedom1 #ia4 ,wealth1 to-day tends to get into the hands of the unworthy1 #ch2 and those who use it unscrupulously1 #ci2 was not always respected per se1 #dj1 #da2 to-day a curse owing to false values1 #db2 connected generally with vulgarity since the #agth century1 #bji4 ,women1 the supposed injustice of their lot1 #df2 less social than men1 #dh2 the ignorance of ,english1 about cooking1 #aia4 ,words1 may be used as missiles1 #ac2 may inspire uniform action1 #bj4 ,working-classes1 their inarticulateness1 #acb1 #acc2 their women's ignorance of cooking1 #aia4