164 



The Journal of Heredity 



all the merits of any s^^stem of govern- 

 ment should be measured by its actual 

 results on society as a whole, over long 



periods of time, and measured in this 

 way democracy has no cause as yet to 

 be fearful of the results. 



DISCUSSION OF ARTICLE ON 



DEMOCRACY AND HEREDITY 



Madison Grant 



THE Journal of Heredity for 

 December, 1918, published a 

 short article entitled "Democ- 

 racy and the Accepted Facts of 

 Heredity," by Alleyne Ireland. 



The subject is of peculiar interest at 

 the present crisis, and amid the popular 

 clamor about socialistic democracy as a 

 panacea for all social and political ills, 

 it is refreshing to find an author who has 

 the courage to stand firmly on historic 

 facts and the lessons to be derived there- 

 from and to challenge the verdict of the 

 masses. 



In 1910 Emile Faguet wrote the 

 "Le Culte de 1' Incompetence" and 

 showed how banal, inefficient and taw- 

 dry the government of France had 

 become in the opening decade of the 

 twentieth century, but since then few 

 voices have been raised to protest 

 against the theory of government which 

 entrusts the conduct of public affairs 

 to the most incompetent members of 

 the community. 



The world war has had the effect of a 

 rigid readjustment and of bringing the 

 strong men to the front, especially in 

 France, and in America also where the 

 great heart of the people more than 

 compensated for the mediocrity of the 

 government. In military affairs this 

 process of sifting proceeded rapidly, and 

 it is probable that in Europe the admin- 

 istration of the armies was finally vested 

 in those entirely efficient. The war did 

 not last long enough, however, for 

 America to replace the politicians by 

 men of demonstrated ability at home. 



In every branch of human activity, 

 except government, we demand a cer- 



tain amount of expert or technical 

 knowledge, but apparently anybody is 

 good enough to represent the public in a 

 board of aldermen, a state assembly 

 or even in the Federal Congress. There 

 is no attempt made to require experience, 

 knowledge or even a very high degree 

 of personal character — and, least of all, 

 does it seem to be of great importance, 

 even for those who fill the highest posi- 

 tions in the nation, to possess long tra- 

 ditions of Americanism, without which 

 no man can adequately represent the 

 Republic. 



Almost the only exception to the fore- 

 going was the circumstance noted last 

 autumn in Chicago that those candi- 

 dates for various municipal offices who 

 bore nondescript foreign names were 

 one and all anxious to state that they 

 were "bom in America." 



It is pathetic to note that in our 

 American democracy the electorate hav- 

 ing once accepted the theory that any 

 man is qualified for any office without 

 "distinction of race, creed or color," we 

 proceed to limit and check the power of 

 our chosen representatives by all manner 

 of regulations, statutes and constitu- 

 tions. This is in sharp contrast to 

 England, which, being without a written 

 constitution, has from time out of mind 

 entrusted political power only to those 

 classes which were deeply imbued with 

 the unwritten traditions of the nation. 

 If England ever falls into the hands of 

 the Socialist Labor party it will suffer 

 greatly from the lack of a written con- 

 stitution because their new rulers will be 

 devoid of respect for those great prece- 

 dents of human justice and freedom 



