THE LAST OF THE GREAT VICTORIANS. THAT excellent little monthly, The Millgate, contains an interesting interview with Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace by Mr. Frederick Rockell. For three hours the veteran scientist and reformer reviewed the many problems to the elucidation of which he has devoted so many long years of his useful life. On the subject of world evolution Dr. Wallace naturally had much to say, believing as he does that "an orderly and purposive variety is the keynote of the universe." This variety "provides for the development of man in endless diversity, not of body, but of mind. So far as bodily structure is concerned man's evolution is finished. Man's physical structure stopped evolving when he began to use outside aids. to express his individuality. When man discovered fire and its uses; when he made weapons and invented traps; when he began to use tools; when he developed speech; when he commenced to conquer Nature; then further evolution was shifted from the physical to the mental plane." are as "Physical dissemblances between men nothing compared with their wide mental differences. In the various gradations between the ordinary man and the genius, what wonderful variety! And between men of genius these differences are even more striking." As a scientist of the highest repute, Dr. Wallace's testimony to the truths of spiritualism possesses more than ordinary interest, and his interviewer records that whatever may be the grounds of his faith, it was impossible to hear Dr. Wallace talk on the subject for five minutes without perceiving that to him spiritualism was no mere working hypothesis, nor a question of speculation, but a conviction settled beyond cavil or dispute. I did not, therefore, question him as to the evidences of his belief. I was more interested to learn what that belief had taught him as to man's destiny-what was man's state after death? "We gather from people who have passed over,” said Dr. Wallace, "that man goes on developing in the spiritual world towards that infinite variety which is the object of life on earth." "But," I asked, "if this development can go on in the spiritual world, why was it necessary for an earth life at all?" "The earth life is necessary," said Dr. Wallace, “ in order, as it were, to get a point of departure for the individual spirit.” The inference I drew from his further remarks was that the purpose of material evolution was to establish conditions out of which man's individuality could come into being. Without such material conditions the individualisation of humanity out of the Godhead (this was not the exact word Dr. Wallace used) might not have been possible. But that individualisation once achieved, growth and development could go on in the spiritual world apart from, and independent of, material conditions. Dr. Wallace retains his faith in the future of Democracy, and is a convinced Socialist, having been converted by Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward." Mr. Rockell explored a wide field in his interview, and gives the outlines of an interesting educational suggestion, which shows that he is at least a generation in advance of his time. We are glad to see that Dr. Wallace repudiates the suggestion that he is a convert to the latest fad of Eugenics :-- "Wherever did I advocate any such preposterous theories?" he said in scorn. "No: a reference to any of my writings; not a word is quoted in justification of this scientific libel. Where can they put their finger on any statement of mine that as much as lends colour to such an assertion? Why, never by word or deed have I given the slightest countenance to eugenics. Segregation of the unfit, indeed! It is a mere excuse for establishing a medical tyranny. And we have enough of this kind of tyranny already." A REFORMED ALMANACK. IN the British Columbia Magazine for July Mr. M. B. Cotsworth advocates his scheme for "a rational almanack." He recalls Julius Cæsar's reform, by which the odd-numbered months were given thirty-one days each, and the even ones thirty days each, with the exception of February, which then ended the year. This was altered by Augustus, jealous of Julius' fame, into the present extraordinary and arbitrary calendar. Mr. Cotsworth's scheme is set forth in the table below. Thirteen months each with twenty-eight days, each beginning with a Sunday, is his simple proposal:-- THAT French culture is in danger, that young Frenchmen, presumably educated, are losing their ability to use their native tongue with the old-time clearness and correctness, not to say elegance and distinction; that the scientific method, in imitation of Germany, is ousting the old French style, are tendencies discussed in the North American Review by Mr. Allan Ball, who writes on "the rescue of French culture." He traces the tendency back to the anti-classical propaganda in France, and its alliance with the political Radicalism that is sociological and utilitarian. The situation is described as a crisis in French," and has led to the formation of a League for the Defence of French Culture. 66 Only those acquired characteristics are heritable which influence the quality of the germ : A state of the nervous system which affects the innervation of the germ-glands and their physical and chemical function, a dyscrasy of the organic liquids, through which the chemical composition of the glands, the nutriment drawn into them from the blood, and the germ-cells formed and secreted by them, is altered, do influence the germ-plasm to such an extent as to make it quite intelligible that it should form new individuals who resemble their parents, but are somewhat different, or very different, from their more distant ancestors. "A GENERAL LOOSENING OF MORALITY." These give thousands the courage to express and follow tendencies which they would otherwise have suppressed with shame. Not only so : We gradually observe a general loosening of morality, a disappearance of logic from thought and action, a morbid irritability and vacillation of public opinion, a relaxation of character. A mean, cowardly egoism, which is pleasantly dubbed "sovereignty of the personality," smothers public spirit, the sense of national solidarity, energetic patriotism; self-sacrifice for the common weal is becoming a rarity, while anti-militarism, anti-patriotism, and twaddle about the theory of anarchism abound. "INTOXICATION THE CAUSE OF DEGENERACY. Of remedy Dr. Nordau is chary. The degenerate himself is doomed: his heredity is his fate. The root of degeneracy is an intoxication of one or both progenitors. Intoxication from without is happily being combated, not without prospect of success, by the Gothenburg system, temperance legislation, by the new way of treating syphilis with Ehrlich's salvarsan, sanitation, protection of people from adulterated foodstuffs. Auto intoxication--organic wear and tear through fatigue consequent on over-exertion--is the more difficult and deadly :-- The dominant part played in production by the machine, to a mere attendant on which man in the factory has been degraded, and the ever-increasing division of labour, which condemns the worker to an eternal, automatic repetition of a small number of movements, and reduces the part taken in his work by the intellectual faculties to a minimum, wears him out one-sidedly, and therefore quicker and more completely than is the case when, with a varied, manifold activity, which calls in turn upon different groups of muscles and requires the continual inter SOCIALISM A REMEDY. Socialism would be a remedy : Extreme State intervention in the sense of the Socialistic programme, while it would deprive the individual of all economic autonomy, would probably ensure to him better hygienic conditions, short hours of labour, a better style of living, freedom from care, and leisure to occupy himself in things that bring diversion and entertainment, and would rescue him from the over-exertion and fatigue that make him a progenitor of degenerates. Since, however, it seems chimerical to look for a realisation of the integral Socialistic programme at any date to which we can now look forwardmodest tentative measures like Mr. Lloyd George's Old Age Insurance are of no efficiency-we must regard this theoretically conceivable remedy for degeneration as practically inapplicable. THE DECISIVE CONTEST BETWEEN NATIONS. Once, Dr. Nordau points out, degeneracy affected only the ruling class of the nations. Now, with a population more and more urban, it affects the people as a whole. Degeneration has its chief home in the large towns; the population of the large towns is condemned as a whole to degeneracy:--- One thing is certain in the great historic contest of the nations the advantage will rest with those that know how to maintain a strong and tolerably prosperous and contented peasantry, and the first to go under will be those that most thoroughly transform themselves into peoples of large towns. Kikeriki.} Crime in Paris. "This is what they are coming to in the Paris police!" SYNDICALISM. IN the North American Review Mr. Louis Levine describes the genesis and growth of Syndicalism. It is, he says, a synthesis of Socialism and Trade Unionism. The electoral success of Socialism in France, in Germany, and in other countries led to the invasion of the Socialist parties by members of the middle classes, representatives of the liberal professions, who swamped the Socialist working-men in all positions of authority and responsibility. The invading intellectuals introduced into the social movement the ideas of slow evolutionary changes, and of peaceful and diplomatic negotiations with capitalist parties. DISTRUST OF PARLIAMENTARY SOCIALISM. To the militant Socialist working-man, the success of political Socialism became in his opinion dangerous to the real success of the social revolution. He suspected the environment of Parliament, its methods and political trickery, and felt in his heart a growing antagonism to the form of action which led Socialists into the stifling embrace of capitalist Parliamentary institutions: Examining more closely the nature of the trade union in which he had always played some part, the militant Socialist working-man was struck by the idea that it offered the form of organisation he was so eagerly looking for and that it was capable of carrying on the social movement in which he placed his hopes. He therefore now changed his former attitude to the trade union; instead of merely suffering it, he now began actively to support it and to shape it in accordance with his views and aspirations. 66 DIRECT ACTION." So was developed the whole theory of Syndicalism:Direct action-which the Syndicalists so much insist upon-consists in exerting energetic pressure and coercion on the employers and the State in such a manner as to rally all the workers around one banner in direct opposition to existing institutions. Nation-wide strikes, vehement agitation, public demonstrations, and like procedures, which arouse passions and shake up the mass of the working-men, are in the view of the Syndicalists the only methods which can make the working-men clearly perceive the evils and contradictions of present-day society and which lead to material successes. Such methods alone drive home to the working-men the truth that the emancipation of the workers must and can be the work of the workers themselves, and free the latter from the illusion that anybody else even their representatives in Parliament-can do the job for them. THE GENERAL STRIKE. The direct struggles of the Syndicats-argue they-increasing in scope and importance, must finally lead to a decisive collision in which the two antagonistic classes-the working-class and the employers-will be brought face to face. How that decisive struggle will be begun cannot be foretold. But it most probably will have its origin in a strike which, spreading from industry to industry and from locality to locality, will involve the whole country and affect the entire nation. This will be the General Strike, in which the issue will not be an increase of wages or any other minor matter, but the paramount social issue: who shall henceforth control industry and direct the economic activities of the nation? THE AIM OF COMMON OWNERSHIP. The Syndicalists will not wait for Parliament to decide that question, but will take matters into their own hands. When the final hour of emancipation" strikes, the militant working. men organised in the Syndicats will step in and assume control of all means of production, transportation, and exchange. They will proclaim the common ownership of all means of production, and will start production under the direction of the Syndicats. Every Syndicat will have the use of the means of production necessary for carrying on its work. All Syndicats of a locality will be organised in local federations which will have charge of all local industrial matters. These local Federations of Labour will collect all statistics pertaining to local production and consumption, will provide the raw material, and will act as intermediaries between a locality and the rest of the country. All Syndicats of the country in any one industry will be organised in a National Industrial Federation having charge of the special interests of the industry, while local federations and industrial federations will be organised in one great National Federation of Labour, which will take care of matters national in scope and importance. The Socialist cries to the worker, "Vote as you strike!" or "Strike at the ballot-box!" The Syndicalist changes this phrase to read "Strike at the ballot-box, but strike with an axe!" The attention of the Syndicalist is centred entirely on economic action. He appears to believe that it is possible for the workers employed in every industry to walk into factory, workshop, mine, or warehouse some Sydney Bulletin.] Tom Mann assails the Temple. Australia's old friend, Tom Mann, is going to devote himself to a war against society; but it is a long job, and Mann isn't so young as he used to be before he became as old as he is now. fine morning, to send for the employer or manager, and to inform him that they propose to conduct the business for their own benefit. Syndicalism is the gospel of the bludgeon, and its anarchic appeal is its own sure condemnation and justification of the saner method of Socialism which seeks to "leaven the lump." An argument put forth against Syndicalism is that if all the workers in any industry secured the absolute control of that industry they would then proceed to exploit the remainder of society for their own gain so far as that industry was concerned." THE PARIAHS OF TO-DAY. RESULT OF CASTE IN INDIA. IN the mid-July number of the Revue de Paris Marguerite Glotz takes up the pitiable case of the pariahs in India. DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS. thing that is poor, egotistical, and unintelligent. The people of caste know nothing of charity; pity and benevolence are extinguished by the exclusive consciousness of the duties of caste. But it is among the untouchables that the most disastrous moral consequences of caste are to be seen. Rejected by society, they are not aware that they have any social duties; exciting nothing but horror and contempt, they have no sense of human dignity or any notion of individual virtues. WHAT IS ENGLAND DOING? The disunited condition of the country which caste brings in its train is for England a pledge of peaceful rule. It delays economic progress, and the English do not desire the economic emancipation of India; they desire to exploit the resources of the colony for themselves. They care little for the emancipation of the untouchables or for the moral welfare of India. Their We learn that the pariahs number over fifty millions -more than one-sixth of the population of India. Belonging to no caste, impure from birth, they are despised and hated and condemned to perform the lowest and most degrading labour. They are the untouchables; they live apart from other men, and are deprived of the solace of religion, for they may not enter the temples. They dwell in wretched hovels, and altogether their misery is terrible. Surely they have need of religion; yet it is a religious law which is the cause of all their suffering. But in their passive submission, their resignation to what has always been, and must continue to be, they bear no grudge against the gods. The same religious law which has brought about their moral misery is also the cause of their material destitution. The untouchables may not own land, which in India is the chief form of wealth. They may not earn a living by business of any kind. How, indeed, could they procure the money necessary? Moreover, no one would buy from them or touch the things soiled by contact with them. Their only resource is day-labour, such as agriculture. They are paid very little, and unemployment is frequent. Poverty, ignorance, bad feeding, insanitary surroundings, make the hygienic conditions of the untouchables deplorable. Cleanliness is impossible, and leprosy and ophthalmia «INDIA FOR THE INDIANS”: are among the diseases which attack them. INERTIA, MENTAL AND MORAL. Children who adopt the paternal profession as in India rarely desire anything else. The system of hereditary specialisation opposed to all spontaneous choice of a vocation makes routine beings. In such a society every innovation, every attempt at progress seems a crime. For the untouchables the yoke of custom is equally rigid. Their position seems quite irremediable. Who is impure remains impure, and the hostility of the men of caste seems ineradicable. In India the system of caste is an invincible obstacle against union. No political power has yet been able to unify the country. Each caste seeks to safeguard its own particular independence, privileges, and dignity, and there is nothing. in common between men pure and impure-neither interests, ideas, nor hopes. In consequence of the immobility imposed on individuals by the régime of caste, all emulation and personal desire to better one's position are lacking in Indian society. There seems absolutely nothing which can stimulate an untouchable; he is infinitely more degraded than any slave. PHARISAISM OF CASTE. Among other things, the régime of caste has developed vanity, envy, narrow judgment, and a taste for Eastern distinctions-Pharisaism, in short, with every administration is directed to practical results. They are not even making primary education compulsory. and it is doubtful whether it will reach the children of the untouchables. Hitherto education has been largely in the hands of missionaries, who have also done much for women. To bring Brahmins and untouchables together both would have to be Christianised. No. work could possibly require more patience and energy than that which proposes to combat hostile egoism and the enormous force of a religion of inertia caused by the common mode of feeling and acting of more than 200 millions of men. THE REAL PRINCIPLE OF BRITISH RULE. THE Round Table for September contains a paper on India and the Empire worthy of the highest traditions of the British review. It contains a rapid survey of the history of India before as well as after distinctive contention is given in this paragraph :it came under British control. Perhaps its most The position of the British in India, indeed, cannot be understood until it is realised that in internal policy they represent India and not England. To speak of British rule is strictly a misnomer. It is nearer the truth to say that the government is conducted chiefly by Englishmen, representing in fact, if not in democratic theory, the people of India. It is literally the Government of India. More than this, since the British assumed responsibility for the government of India, not only has their policy in India been an essentially Indian policy, but Indian interests have profoundly influenced British policy. England has become a first-class Asiatic Power because her government represents India. Her policy in the East is mainly directed to protect the safety of her Indian subjects. What is unique in India is the astounding moral ascendency of the English. The writer maintains that the ideal goal is clear, that India acquire the status of a self-governing dominion, independent, in control of her own internal affairs, a loyal and willing partner with the other units of the Empire. To this end, the most essential thing in the meantime is to retain the good-will and respect of the people of India, THE DOUKHOBORS AN IDEAL COMMUNITY. IN Chambers's Journal Mr. J. T. Bealby describes the Doukhobors in British Columbia. They refused to supply the census authorities with information because they feared that the Canadian Government wanted to enrol them for military service. They object to bear arms for any purpose whatever. They refuse to eat the flesh of any animal which has been killed for that purpose, or to wear its skin or hair or wool. They own all property in common; there is no private property. They now own about eleven thousand acres in British Columbia, where they number about two thousand people. There are four thousand still in Saskatchewan, where they have seven flourmills and six wheat warehouses. They engage principally in agriculture, and are said to be good farmers : In One who lived five weeks amongst them quite recently says: "I watched during my visit to see if I could find a frown or a discontented face, and I was unable to discover one. cleanliness they are superb. There is no liquor drunk among the Doukhobors, no tobacco used in any form, no profane language, while an exhibition of bad temper is impossible to And the morality of these good people is a world-beater The Doukhobors are an extremely honest people, good neighbours, and most law-abiding citizens. The progress they have made in Saskatchewan is marvellous." find. COUNTRY. Belgium Denmark PATHO-SOCIAL CONDITIONS. CRIMINALITY. NUMBER CONVICTED in Crime PER 100,000 IN HABITANTS. stitutions per inhabitants. Number of Insane in in 100,000 institutions per 100,000 inhabitants. Number of Paupers in Births per 1,000 popu- Number of Suicides per 100,000 population. Number of Illegitimate Separations per 100,000 population. Number of Divorces and or France (1905) 501 0 69'156 25 1,392 Germany ...... 1,240 0 13 152 19.12 22 153 22 3' 25 22 England and 21 Wales....... 356 221 4 22 187 3,07014 6. 2,36015 6 8:45 32 4217 Italy (1905)... 1,350 7.81 413 2,562 Russia (1903). 92 United States 10112 185 3 Larcenies known to police. 4 Known 6 Number sent to prison, gaol, or work8 1906. 11 1903. 1901. 1907. 17 1899. 12 13 The writer notices the following correspondences :Those countries which have the greatest illiteracy, as Italy, Belgium and France, show the highest percentage of murder. They also have a high percentage of still births, death rate, and death rate under one year of Two of these countries, where the illiteracy is more pronounced, as in Italy and Belgium, show a low rate of suicide and divorce. On the other hand, the least illiterate countries, as Germany, Switzerland and Denmark, have a high rate of suicides. DR. C. F. BURNEY, in the Church Quarterly Review, gives a translation of the Aramaic papyri found recently in the Island of Elephantine, in Egypt, which dates from B.C. 407, and shows that a Jewish garrison was established at Elephantine about B.C. 655, in the latter years of Manasseh's reign. It shows that there was a temple of Yahu, or Yahweh, at Elephantine, where sacrifices were regularly offered, in direct contravention of the later Deuteronomic law. |