advances of the past; protozoa will still remain protozoa and man will still be man. There is no evidence and little probability that a higher animal than man will ever appear on this planet. To a larger extent than in the case of any other creature man controls his destiny, and even if the human race should become extinct, from what other existing group of organisms is it conceivable that a higher type could arise? There are other animals which in certain respects are more highly developed physically, there are social insects which in some regards are more highly developed socially, but no other animal approaches man in intellect and probably none will ever surpass him in the combination of physical, intellectual, and social capacity. Furthermore, there is no present reason for supposing that in the future man will be more highly organized physically or will be endowed with greater intellectual capacity than have been many individual men of the past or present, though in both body and mind he will probably become better adjusted to conditions of life. It is conceivable that further evolution of the brain of man may occur, just as it is possible to conceive of a further evolution of the neck of the giraffe or of the trunk of the elephant, but there is a limit to increasing specialization beyond which it is not practicable to go. It is doubtful whether the brain of man could undergo much further differentiation without introducing disharmonies within the organism or with the environment, and the facts that since the beginnings of human records there does not appear to have been any appreciable growth of the brain in size or complexity, and that since the ancient Greeks there has been no appreciable increase in the intellectual capacity of man, plainly indicate that the possible limits of evolution in this direction have been reached. The most that can be hoped for by the scientist is that the standards of races as a whole may more nearly approach the best individual standards which now exist, and under a wise system of eugenics and education. this improvement can be effected. Paths of Future Progress On the other hand, there is good evidence that in social organization and in coöperative efforts the limits of human evolution have not been reached. The future may produce no super-men but it is likely to produce a super-state and a super-civilization. Progressive evolution, then, has proceeded along several lines and not along a single one; it may be represented, not by a ladder, but by a branching tree in which growth has ceased in certain branches but is still going on in others. In man there have been three main lines or branches of evolution,-physical, intellectual, and social,-but in all lines progress has meant increasing differentiation and integration. Furthermore, the directing and regulating principles may be the same in all of these lines; it may be, for example, the survival of the fittest, but there are many kinds of fitness. Physically, the fittest is the most viable; intellectually, it is the most rational; socially, it is the most ethical. These three lines are not necessarily antagonistic, as Huxley supposed, but all three may and do coöperate in such a way that each strengthens the other. Least of all is there any justification for the views of Bernhardi and other biological militarists that the most powerful, combative, and dominating are the fittest socially. Darwin himself long ago protested against this mistaken conception of natural selection and showed that in social evolution the most ethical is the most fit. But while these different lines of evolution are not necessarily antagonistic, it is important to remember that all life processes, including evolution, HAS PROGRESSIVE EVOLUTION COME TO AN END? are balanced as it were between contending forces. Life itself as well as evolution, is a continual adjustment of internal conditions to external conditions, a balance between constructive and destructive processes, a combination of differentiation and integration, of variation and inheritance, of the needs of the individual and of those of the species. And in addition to these conflicting relations we find in man the opposition of instinct and intelligence, of emotion and reason, of selfishness and altruism, of individual freedom and social coöperation. The past evolution of man has occurred almost entirely without conscious human guidance; but with the appearance of intellect and the capacity of profiting by experience, a new and great opportunity and responsibility have been given man of directing rationally and ethically his own evolution. More than anything else, that which distinguishes human society from that of other animals is just this ability to control instincts and emotions by intelligence and reason. Those who maintain that racial, national, and class antagonisms are inevitable because they are instinctive, and that wars can never cease because man is a fighting animal, really deny that mankind can ever learn by experience; they look backward to the instinctive origins and not forward to the rational organization of society. We shall never cease to have instincts, but unless these are balanced and controlled by reason, human society will revert to the level of the pack, or herd, or hive. The foundations of human society are laid in gregarious instincts, but upon these foundations human intelligence has erected that enormous structure which we call civilization. Can there be any doubt that, if the evolution of human society continues in the future, it will bring into one organization larger and ever larger numbers of men until perhaps it may 39 finally include the whole human species, and that it will at the same time lead to greater specialization and more intimate coöperation of all its members? As the union of many cells into one body, the union of many persons into one colony, the union of many colonies into one nation have marked great advances in evolution, so, let us hope, the union of many nations into one league may mark the next great step in human progress. Finally, with the development of intelligence and of rational society we reach in human evolution the highest stage of organization which has ever been attained and, so far as we can now see, the highest attainable, for we have here not merely the differentiations of the human body and the countless differentiations of human society but much more we have the control over environment and the forces of nature which makes man the most powerful and speedy of all living things whether on land, in water, or in the air; which gives him a keenness and range of sensation that are unparalleled elsewhere, and which practically extends his nerve connections to all parts of the earth. Man has indeed by means of intelligence added to his own personal powers the powers of nature. His evolution is no longer limited to his body but takes. in the whole of his environment. This new path of progressive evolution is in all respects the most important which has ever yet been discovered by organisms. The course of progress has led from smaller and simpler units to larger and more complex ones until now, by means of rational coöperation, we have governmental units which include as much as one fourth of the entire human species, we are on the eve of bringing together into some form of league or federation all the nations of the world, and we are in process of annexing to our own personal powers the illimitable forces of the universe. THEIR INTERESTS ARE SAFEGUARDED BY UNCLE SAM Now and then a cry is heard that birds are injurious to man's interests and should be killed. For example, this last summer great pressure was brought to bear on the United States Food Administration to destroy all the pelicans in the Gulf Coast region, especially those on the coasts of Florida and Texas, because of the claim that they "existed by millions" and were daily eating "hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of food fish." The Food Administration asked the writer to investigate this. With the kind cooperation of State Fish Commissioner Woods, of Texas, Conservation Commissioner Alexander, of Louisiana, and Shellfish Commissioner Williams, of Florida, I was able to cruise the coasts of these states and visit all the breeding colonies of pelicans. We counted and estimated their numbers, and gathered quantities of the food which the adult and young alike disgorged in the writer's presence. At the conclusion of the investigation it was found that only about 65.000 adult pelicans were inhabiting the Gulf Coast of the United States in the summer of 1918, and that more than 95 per cent of their food during the month of June consisted of menhaden-fish never used for human consumption Photograph by Alfred M. Bailey Brown pelican flying above its home colony on the United States Bird Reservation locally known as "Mud Lumps," at the mouth of the Mississippi River Wild Life Conservation Along the Gulf Coast FLORIDA, ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, LOUISIANA, AND TEXAS IN BIRD PROTECTION, THE FIRST WITH MISSISSIPPI A NATIONAL N SHAME, LOUISIANA A NATIONAL PRIDE By T. GILBERT PEARSON O area of like extent in the United States is so memorable from the standpoint of wild life conservation as that region which we may designate as the Gulf Coast. Beginning with the mouth of the Rio Grande, this area sweeps northward, eastward, and then southward for fourteen hundred miles until we reach the far-famed bird islands of the Dry Tortugas off the south end of Florida. This region, with its shallow seas, islands, sand beaches, and extensive marshes, has for ages been the abode of innumerable water birds that have long attracted the avarice of mankind. Thirty years ago, when bird killing for the feather trade was at its height, one could have found a dozen vessels at once cruising the Florida coast in quest of the vast assemblages of gulls, terns, egrets, and shore birds which at that time inhabited the mangrove islands and coral reefs. Similar killing went on elsewhere along the Gulf Coast at that time. The egging business also flourished in those and even later days. In 1904, Mr. Frank M. Miller, of New Orleans, reported that five thousand eggs had just been broken on one of the Louisiana islands inhabited by sea birds, in order that all the eggs gathered the next morning might be fresh ones. For years cargoes of eggs taken in this manner were supplied to the markets of New Orleans. He stated further that at least fifty thousand eggs were that year taken and used in the manufacture of glue. Along the Louisiana coast from the Mississippi River westward to Texas, there extend vast salt marshes varying in width from five to thirty miles. This extensive domain, which the land has as yet only partly reclaimed from the sea, is the winter home of myriads of ducks and geese. To this region were attracted thousands of hunters, who, until recent years, shot unrestricted the wild fowl that gathered here in winter to feed and rest. The markets of the Louisiana cities were open to the sale of the bodies of these birds, and enormous numbers were shipped to northern markets. The first serious attempts to protect the wild life of the Gulf Coast were made by the National Association of Audubon Societies. As far back as 1902 these societies were conducting campaigns of education and seeking to arouse among the people of that region an interest in conserving their Iwild bird life. These efforts have continued through the years, but have produced little effect in much of the territory, and pronounced hostility has been encountered in many regions. Thus on July 14, 1905, Guy Bradley, the Association's warden near Cape Sable, Florida, was shot by plume hunters and the birds in the colony he guarded were destroyed. Later, up Later, up in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, on November 30, 1908, Columbus G. McLeod, another Audubon warden, was killed and the boat in which his body fell was sunk with sandbags. The Association has worked systematically for the establishment of state game warden systems in the various states bordering on the Gulf, but with only moderate success. In 1913 the legislature of Florida finally enacted. a law providing for a state game warden and deputies. Two years later the law was repealed. Florida stands today as the Rip Van Winkle state in the matter of wild life conservation. The state's efforts to protect its wild life have been practically nil. To the westward lies Alabama with a short coastline, and inhabited by comparatively few shore birds. The subject of bird and game protection was taken up by the Honorable John H. Wallace, in February, 1907, and since that date this active officer has done much to conserve the bird life for his state. Passing on to Mississippi, we find the only state in the Union, aside from Florida, that makes no declared effort through state officers to enforce its laws for the protection of wild life. Two years ago the legislature passed a bill to establish a game commission, but the courts declared it unconstitutional, and Mississippi hunters kept merrily on as heretofore, killing very much when and where they pleased. In regard to Louisiana the story is a long one, if one should undertake to tell it all. Mr. Frank Miller, backed by the National Association of Audubon Societies, secured the establishment of a number of Federal bird reservations off the coast, and in July, 1908, induced the legislature to create a "Board of Commissioners for the Protection of Birds, Game and Fish." He was appointed chairman of the board, and undertook the great work of conserving the wild life of his state. In due time his political life came to an end. Under the leadership of the present game commissioner, the Honorable L. M. Alexander, Louisiana has made notable strides in the protection of its wild life, and considering the conditions which he found when entering office, about six years ago, no state in the Union can equal his record. During the winter Louisiana contains more wild waterfowl than any other two states in the Union, and here also there are surely as many gunners to the square foot as can be found anywhere on this continent. Yet Mr. Alexander has secured the enactment of reasonable and necessary conservation laws and he enforces them with a tact and wisdom that are most stimulating. Aside from the Government bird reservations, the Audubon Societies' islands, and the work of the Louisiana Game Commission, mention should be made of the three large tracts of marshland set aside as bird refuges. One of |