EDITOR'S TABLE. 



389 



gler besides, interpreted for me. I had my 

 blackboard and chalk, and did my best to 

 make the principles of natural selection 

 clear. As soon as I can write them out 

 they will be published in Japanese, with 

 illustrations, which I shall draw as far as 

 possible from Japanese animals. Prof. 

 PenoUosa, one of the new foreign profess- 

 ors at the university, follows with a course 

 of four lectures on the evolution of reli- 

 gions. 



It seems such a delight to these people 

 to find that there are some other views held 

 abroad besides those taught by the mission- 

 aries, and the hearty way in which they ap- 

 plaud shows how welcome rational views are. 



Prof. Mendenhall, of the university, 

 formerly of the Ohio State University, will 

 give a course of lectures on the magnet, 

 capillarity, gravitation, and other subjects. 



before the same audience — Mr. Agee, the 

 originator of the course, interpreting for 

 him. All the money raised in this way will 

 be devoted to buiJding a lecture-hall in 

 Tokio. 



At present the lectures are given in a 

 large tea-house on Sunday afternoons — the 

 large audience seated in the usual Japan- 

 ese fashion on the floor, with boxes of hot 

 coals here and there for the convenience of 

 pipe-smokers. The audience have pre- 

 sented to them from four to five lectures 

 succeeding each other, with but a few min- 

 utes' intermission between each lecturer. 

 Their endurance in this respect is remark- 

 able. I hope to lecture for them repeatedly 

 during the winter. 



Faithfully yours, 



Edward S. Morse. 

 Tokio, November 10, 18T8. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



PROTECTION AND SOCIALISM. 



THOSE who studv the influence of 

 legislation in a careful, dispas- 

 sionate way, and merely as a problem 

 of science, will soon be struck by two 

 things: first, that laws frequently fail 

 to produce their expected effects ; and, 

 second, that they give rise to many re- 

 sults which were not at all anticipated. 

 There are various reasons for this ; 

 among which are the intrinsic difficul- 

 ties of a complex subject, false notions 

 in regard to it, and the arrant incapaci- 

 ty of the men who deal with it. In 

 the first place, human society is regu- 

 lated by laws of its own, which can- 

 not be suspended in their operation by 

 civil interference, and which are, more- 

 over, highly complicated and often ob- 

 scure and unresolved. And wlien to 

 the complexities which belong to each 

 locality there are superadded the di- 

 versified conditions — climatic, indus- 

 trial, and racial — which pertain to a 

 vast region of country, the complica- 

 tion of social forces is vastly augment- 

 ed. Even the most powerful minds, 

 after long application to the subject, are 

 unable to grasp these multifarious con- 

 ditions so as to know liow laws will 



take effect. Hence the ablest thinkers 

 on social "matters are the most cautious, 

 and have least confidence in the pro- 

 duction of social good by legislative 

 projects. 



But even in those cases that are suffi- 

 ciently understood to make knowledge 

 valuable for the law-maker's guidance, 

 it is difficult to get the actual benefit 

 of it. Our " legislative wisdom " is too 

 apt to be swamped in legislative folly. 

 There are prevalent superstitions about 

 the dignity, and grand offices, and mys- 

 terious potencies of government, which 

 lead people enormously to exaggerate 

 what can really be got out of it. 

 Stripped of this glamour, what is popu- 

 lar government at any time but the 

 office-holding politicians that have been 

 got together to represent and embody 

 it ? Constitutions and laws derive their 

 value and virtue from the competency 

 and character of the men chosen to in- 

 terpret and apply them. If these are 

 low, legislation will be degraded. "What 

 government is and does is determined 

 by the quality of those who carry it 

 on. The American Congress is invest- 

 ed . with power to abolish past legis- 

 lation and substitute new legislation ; 



