SCIENCE AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 287 



away. Nations and social groups within nations which now 

 find themselves physically impotent may come into new 

 powers. 



Individual organisms, contending for the opportunity 

 to live, is the scheme of things throughout the world of 

 living nature. Individuality, with the minimum of restraint, 

 appears to be the working basis of the animal and plant 

 world. The democratic ideal is in line with the individua- 

 tion that pervades organic nature and that finds its highest 

 expression in the extension and expansion of the individual 

 which appears to be the goal of civilization. Individualism 

 is restrained among animals and plants by the presence of 

 many individuals together. Where new territory is being 

 occupied, by men or animals, individualism may go mad, 

 as it has done in America during the era of exploitation now 

 drawing to a close. The outcome of such an orgy must be 

 either a new-formed aristocracy or the bringing to heel 

 of individualism in order that the many may again have 

 opportunity. 



In view of the historical movement toward democracy 

 and the present status of democratic government, we be- 

 lieve that the ideals of science are parallel with the ideals of 

 democracy; that the growth of science has fostered the 

 growth of democracy; and that democracy offers the type 

 of governmental organization which is, of necessity, com- 

 mitted to the development of science in the future. In the 

 recent past the influence of science and of the scientist in 

 government has been indirect. Law and the legal profes- 

 sion have been dominant, because government has con- 

 sisted largely of the administration of established procedures. 

 The dominance of the lawyer in government is natural and 

 almost inevitable. But when, as in our own country, the 

 situation becomes, what has been jocosely termed, "a gov- 

 ernment of the lawyers, by the lawyers, and for the lawyers," 

 such government is not conducive to an intelligent handling 

 of many important questions. The precedent-following mind 



