CORRESPONDENCE 307 



gradually dropped their peculiar quasi-rational social customs and that 

 thenceforward their ability in business seems to have been less marked. 



Principal Graham asserts that the lack of business ability in the Mennonites 

 is unexplained. It is unexplained on his theory for, as stated in my article, 

 their religious creed was almost identical with that of the Quakers. Like 

 the Quakers they had abstemious habits. They were honest. They appar- 

 ently lacked the advantages of university education, and they were subjected 

 to persecution. Their lack of business achievement, on the contrary, is 

 explained on my theory as they appear to have been nearly free from the 

 quasi-rational social customs that characterised the Quakers. 



The sudden development of business abUity in the Quaker community 

 is a remarkable fact. That their mental habits should be followed by such 

 a result is in accordance with the thesis developed in my book. But there 

 can be little doubt that there is room for further research as to the exact 

 manner in which their peculiar mental habits were operative in producing 

 such an advantageous result. 



E. H. Hankin. 

 The Manor House, Ingham, Norfolk. 

 July 1922, 



