president's address — SECTION G (l.). 221 



without in so doing tempting him to cease from self-help ? It is a 

 matter of indifference whether we describe the social goal as the pro- 

 duction of the perfect man or the perfect society. From the point of 

 view of ethics — that is, of the ends or ideals which it seems incumbent 

 on humanity to realise — these two phrases are but different forms of 

 expression for the same fact. But from the point of view of practical 

 politics, the problem cannot be solved by appeal to phrases or by 

 verbal definitions of socialism which satisfy no one but the framer. 

 Nor can social science, so far as it exists at present, do more than analyse — 

 and that very imperfectly — the general conditions of the problem. 

 It cannot adequately diagnose the situation, much less provide an 

 infallible remedy. Social evolution represents the last and most 

 complex phase of the process of cosmic evolution ; and the laws and 

 conditions of the final stage of an evolutionary process are dependent 

 on the laws and conditions of the previous stages. In every higher 

 formation the properties of the previous lower formations persist — 

 even when other properties appear as further manifestations of the 

 fundamental cosmic energy, disclosing new and higher ends to be 

 achieved — vital, social, and moral. And, further, every higher forma- 

 tion consisting of a greater number of elements and properties is subject 

 to a greater number of changes and combinations, resulting in specialised 

 forms of action which cannot be determined merely by direct deductive 

 application of the laws of the lower stages of evolution, but only by an 

 examination of the new facts and the new needs. Social science is a 

 new science which has still to master the complexity of the social fact, 

 and social problems can be solved only by that wise adaptation of means 

 to ends which partly follows and partly anticipates the actual course 

 of social evolution. It is, however, the special office of social science 

 to emphasize the fact that the path of social evolution is in great measure 

 determined by events over which the legislature has no control. "What 

 was decided among the historic protozoa cannot be annulled by Act of 

 Parliament." 



This position, however, must not be misunderstood. An Australian 

 statesman said some time ago that " Every country must have a political 

 economy to suit its circumstances." It is probable that what the 

 speaker meant was not quite the same as what he said. This sometimes 

 happens in the case of public speakers — even in the case of Australian 

 statesmen ! It would be very convenient and very pleasant if every 

 country could produce by legislation a meteorology to suit its circum- 

 stances. But since that is impossible, man invents umbrellas and 

 constructs irrigation works. And we may admit, what the economist 

 of abstract theory too often forgets, that every country has, and must 

 have, a politics of its own — a politics to suit its circumstances. A 

 political policy — even a protectionist policy, whether it be for protec- 

 tion of local manufactures or protection of local labor — may be in some 

 ways expensive ; but it is not on that account alone, foolish and damn- 

 able. Social science is not purely and simply an application of the 

 laws of the abstract science of economics, any more than it is a direct 

 deduction from the laws of biology. At the same time, protection, 



