EDUCATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF NATURE 275 



criminal parents when placed in good surroundings. Many are con- 

 vinced that the elimination of those in whom the anti-moral tendencies 

 are strong is essential for moral evolution, and this is certainly nature's 

 method, as she deals summarily with animals whose actions are at 

 variance with the immediate good of the species. But human progress 

 is not so simple, its problems are not so easy of solution. Discrimina- 

 tion is necessary in order to know what are the anti-moral proclivities. 

 Seemingly reversionary tendencies in early life, for example, are not 

 always bad, since many times they are the source of our best social 

 strength and virtues. The so-called criminal instincts of children are 

 survivals of acts that among primitive races fitted their possessors to 

 survive. Deception and the strength and willingness to fight well, 

 and to kill, were essential to racial existence, and these were the highest 

 virtues of which primitive man could conceive. To-day these acts 

 are wrong in adults because they are not only unnecessary, but hinder 

 progress. They do not fit man's reconstructed nature. They are 

 anti-social. Yet the elimination of boys with these anti-moral char- 

 acteristics would be fatal. Altruism arose as a kind of enlarged 

 egoism. At first man must have been chiefly, if not wholly, indi- 

 vidualistic, but very soon a time came when individual selfishness no 

 longer served its egoistic ends, and self preservation required the ex- 

 tension of each self to embrace all members of the tribe. Self interest 

 thus became absorbed in tribal interest, not at first because of any 

 moral ideas about the rights of others, but solely because in this way 

 each one's self-interests were better served. But these primitive in- 

 stincts are not without meaning for modern life. The readiness of 

 civilized boys to fight shows an independent, active, aggressive char- 

 acter which, rightly guided, leads to manly courage. The determined 

 opponent of civic corruption, the man whose onslaughts no threats can 

 stay, was a boy who fought for boy's rights. The prevailing social 

 ideas are important in giving these tendencies the direction that makes 

 for progress, and their very persistence and vigor is a necessary element 

 in evolution. 



The power of ideas and actions when intelligently applied to con- 

 duct has been shown in the complete change of life of the New York 

 City toughs who were given the ideals and ambitions of the George 

 Junior Bepublic. In the slums of the city their racial tendencies 

 followed the drift of excitement and adventure natural to a criminal 

 environment, but with the social suggestions and inspirations of the 

 republic these instincts found new outlets which led to manhood under 

 civilization, while still satisfying the organic yearnings of the race. 

 The evolutional impulse in all this is an atmosphere of moral thoughts 

 and actions, but we must take care not to confuse mere custom or 

 tradition with morality. 



Animals are dependent upon conditions in the selection of which 



