brought into existence the great men of all ages, will have a far higher average of material to work with, and we may reasonably expect that the most distinguished among the poets and philosophers of the future will decidedly surpass the Homers and Shakespeares, the Newtons, the Goethes, and the Humboldts of our era. Mr. Lester F. Ward has indeed urged, in his article on "The Transmission of Culture" (Forum, May, 1891), that, if Weismann's theory is true, then "education has no value for the future of mankind, and its benefits are confined exclusively to the generation receiving it." Another eminent scientist, Professor Joseph Le Conte, in his article on "The Factors of Evolution" (The Monist, Vol I., p. 334), is still more desponding. He says : "If it be true that reason must direct the course of human evolution, and if it be also true that selection of the fittest is the only method available for that purpose; then, if we are to have any raceimprovement at all, the dreadful law of destruction of the weak and helpless must with Spartan firmness be carried out voluntarily and deliberately. Against such a course all that is best in us revolts." These passages show that the supposed consequences of the theories of Weismann and Galton, have, very naturally, excited some antagonism, because they appear, if true, to limit or even to destroy all power of further evolution of mankind, except by methods which are revolting to our higher nature. But I have endeavoured to show, in the present article, that we are not limited to the depressing alternatives above set forth, that education has the greatest value for the improvement of mankind, and that selection of the fittest may be ensured by more powerful and more effective agencies than the destruction of the weak and helpless. From a consideration of historical facts bearing upon the origin and development of human faculty I have shown reason for believing that it is only by a true and perfect system of education and the public opinion which such a system will create, that the special mode of selection on which the future of humanity depends can be brought into general action. Education and environment, which have so often stunted and debased human nature instead of improving it, are powerless to transmit by heredity either their good or their evil effects; and for this limitation of their power we ought to be thankful. It follows, that when we are wise enough to reform our social economy and give to our youth a truer, a broader, and a more philosophical training, we shall find their minds free from any hereditary taint derived from the evil customs and mistaken teaching of the past, and ready to respond at once to that higher ideal of life and of the responsibilities of marriage which will, indirectly yet surely, become the greatest factor in human progress. CHAPTER XXVIII TRUE INDIVIDUALISM-THE ESSENTIAL PRELIMINARY OF A REAL SOCIAL ADVANCE Now that we have entered the last year of this our Nineteenth Century, in many respects the most eventful century for good and evil the world has witnessed, most thinking men are looking forward with anxious hope as to what of real good the Twentieth Century may have in store for humanity. Any words of hopeful guidance as to how we may help to bring about such good; any indication of the true path to such social regeneration as may not only enable the middle classes to reach a still higher pitch of refinement, but may raise up the masses from the deadly slough of want, misery, starvation and crime in which so many millions are now floundering, often from no fault of their own and in the midst of the most wealthy and most civilized countries in the world, will certainly be welcome to the humane and thoughtful in all modern societies. It is clear, that if we wish to do any real good, we must cease to deal in generalities, or to suggest mere palliatives. We must seek for the fundamental error in our social system which has led to the damning result, that, in the latter half of the nineteenth century there has been a far greater mass of human misery arising directly from want -and an equal, perhaps greater, amount in proportion to population-than in the preceding century. This is clearly indicated by the figures given by the statistician Mulhall in 1883, in a paper read at the British Association. In the period 1774 to 1800-which may be taken as representing the latter half of the eighteenth century-he gives the wealth per head of the population of Great Britain at £110, and for 1860 to 1882, representing a corresponding period of the nineteenth century, at £216. But the purchasing power of money is estimated to have been so much greater in the earlier period that Mr. Mulhall calculates the effective income per head to have then been £227, or actually higher than in our own time. This apparent paradox can only be explained by the proportion of the very poor to the whole population being now exceptionally large, so that, although there has been such an enormous increase of total wealth and a considerable increase of very rich men, yet the great army of workers who produce this wealth has increased so much more largely that the proportion coming to them is smaller than ever. And this is quite in accordance with the evidence of Mr. Charles Booth, who has shown that about 1,300,000 of the population of London live "below the margin of poverty; " and if we add to these the inmates of the workhouses, hospitals, &c., we shall find that close upon one-third of the whole population are in this miserable condition; and we may be sure that in all our great manufacturing towns and cities, the proportion of the very poor is not much less. Again, we must remember that in the last century the majority of the workers lived in the rural districts or in the smaller towns, and possessed many additions to their means of living which they have now lost :-such as gardens, common-rights, wood for fuel, gleaning after harvest, pig and poultry-keeping, and often skim-milk or butter milk from the farms where they worked. It thus appears that the conclusions arrived at by myself from the statistics of poverty, suicide, insanity, physical deterioration, and crime, during the last forty years,1 are supported by a quite different set of facts, extending over a much longer period, and set forth by a statistical authority of the first rank, who has no special views to support. Let us therefore now consider the main problem. What is the fundamental error in our social system that has allowed this state of things to persist, notwithstanding all our increase in wealth, and how we may most certainly and most safely bring about the desired change to a social state in which none who are willing to work shall ever suffer the extreme of want? 1 See my Wonderful Century, Chapter XX. The Society of the Future. I am myself convinced that the society of the future will be some form of socialism, which may be briefly defined as the organization of labour for the good of all. Just as the Post Office is organized labour in one department for the benefit of all alike; just as the railways might be organized as a whole for the equal benefit of the whole community; just as extensive industries over a whole country are now organized for the exclusive benefit of combinations of capitalists; so all necessary and useful labour might be organized for the equal benefit of all. When a combination or trust deals with the whole of one industry over an extensive area, there are two enormous economies ; advertising, which under the system of competition among thousands of manufacturers and dealers wastes millions annually, is all saved; and distribution, when only the exact number of stores and assistants needful for the work are employed, effects an almost unimaginable saving over the scores of shops and stores in every small town, competing with each other for a bare living. What then would be the economy when all the industries of a whole country were similarly organized for the common good; and when all absolutely useless and unnecessary employments were abolished-such as gold and diamond mining except to the extent needed for science and art; nine-tenths of the lawyers, and all the financiers and stock-gamblers ? It is clear that under such an organized system three or four hours work for five days a week by all persons between the ages of twenty and fifty would produce abundance of necessaries and comforts, as well as all the refinements and wholesome luxuries of life, for the whole population, |