THE FUTURE OF SOCIETY 215 



community at Oneida Creek. Children after being 

 weaned were affiliated to the community, and Nordhoff 

 says they looked healthy enough, but that they lacked 

 buoyancy and gladness, as though they missed the 

 exclusive love of a father and mother. In the state 

 of society conceived by Herbert Spencer the con- 

 venience of individuals would be consulted at the 

 expense of the race, whereas in evolution the contrary 

 principle prevails ; it is the individual who is sacrificed 

 to the community. 



Of the latter truth we have an example in the 

 matter of large families and over-population. Lord 

 Karnes, a very shrewd thinker in his day, said he was 

 tempted to blame Providence for developing appetite 

 in the youth of both sexes long before they were able 

 to maintain a family. We can now perceive, however, 

 that Providence knows its own business best, and 

 that the efforts of Malthus and other philanthropists 

 to keep down population are really directed against 

 the most powerful of the civilising agencies. Under 

 stress of over-population, the predatory race develops 

 into the agricultural, and the agricultural into the 

 manufacturing ; the same spur of necessity impels us 

 to go on improving the arts and appliances of civilised 

 life. That the number of mouths to be fed in England 



