EDITOR'S TABLE. 



121 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE BEAEING OF THE DOCTRINE OF 

 EVOLUTION ON SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 



THE following very pertinent ques- 

 tions were proposed for discussion 

 at the World's Congress of Evolution- 

 ists, held during the last days of Sep- 

 tember in connection with the Colum- 

 bian Exposition : 



" Does the doctrine of evolution in 

 its sociological aspects offer wise sugges- 

 tion for the solution of the grave social 

 and economic problems of our time? 



" What in accordance with such sug- 

 gestion should be the next step taken in 

 our own country looking toward the 

 solution of these problems?" 



At the moment of writing we are 

 not in possession of the result of the 

 discussion thus provoked ; but, as the 

 questions must be of interest to very 

 many of our readers, we propose to at- 

 tempt such an answer to them as our 

 brief limits permit. 



The doctrine of evolution in its 

 broadest aspect is simply that doctrine 

 which teaches us that everywhere 

 throughout Nature there are action and 

 reaction between organisms and their 

 environments; that where the result of 

 this action and reaction is increasing 

 heterogeneity and complexity of the or- 

 ganism, with more complete and vari- 

 ous adjustment or adaptation to the 

 environment, a process which may be 

 called evolution is in progress ; and that 

 when, on tlie other hand, the result is 

 the obliteration of special adaptations 

 and combinations and a return toward 

 simpler modes of organization, a process 

 of dissolution is in progress. It is a 

 doctrine which proclaims the supremacy 

 of natural law, and which keeps promi- 

 nently before the mind the necessity of 

 an efficient cause for every change that 

 takes place. It thus introduces into the 

 realm of organic Nature and into the 



moral and social spheres the Newtonian 

 principle that the direction of motion 

 can not be changed without the appli- 

 cation of force. The mind that has ac- 

 cepted the evolutionary view of things 

 has done with vain superstitions and 

 idle credulity. It feels no less than be- 

 fore the vastness and mystery that sur- 

 round human life and limit human 

 thought, but it has lost all appetite for 

 what may be called the vulgar marvel- 

 ous that toward which childish minds 

 of every age go so eagerly forth. 



When, therefore, we try to bring 

 the doctrine of evolution to bear on the 

 social and economic problems of our 

 time, the first thought that occurs to us 

 is that the so-called problems are aspects 

 of the change that society is undergoing 

 in its progress toward higher organiza- 

 tion. That the process in the midst of 

 which we live is one of evolution and 

 not of dissolution is evident by many 

 signs. What we see is the effort of the 

 different classes and elements of society 

 to achieve the establishment of satisfac- 

 tory mutual relations, or, as we may 

 otherwise express it, to discover and 

 give effect to a modus vivendi. That 

 this involves occasional conflict is just 

 wliat might, on general grounds, have 

 been anticipated. The market price is 

 not fixed without a good deal of " hig- 

 ghng," and precisely the same process 

 applies to the adjustment of social rela- 

 tions. " Higgling " may not be a beauti- 

 ful thing to witness, but it does its work 

 in the fixing of prices much better than 

 would a competition in altruism, which 

 could only lead to utter confusion. The 

 evolution philosophy would therefore 

 suggest to us extreme caution in inter- 

 fering at all with the process which we 

 see at work. What is manifestly neces- 

 sary, however, is that no one individual 

 or group of individuals should be al- 



