VII 

 "SOCIAL EVOLUTION"* 



MR. KIDD'S "Social Evolution" is a sugges- 

 tive, but a very crude, book; for the writer is 

 burdened by a certain mixture of dogmatism and 

 superficiality, which makes him content to accept 

 half truths and insist that they are whole truths. 

 Nevertheless, though the book appeals chiefly to 

 minds of the kind which are uncharitably described 

 as "half-baked," Mr. Kidd does suggest certain lines 

 of thought which are worth following though 

 rarely to his conclusions. 



He deserves, credit for appreciating what he calls 

 "the outlook." He sketches graphically, and with 

 power, the problems which now loom up for settle- 

 ment before all of us who dwell in Western lands; 

 and he portrays the varying attitudes of interest, 

 alarm, and hope with which the thinkers and work- 

 ers of the day regard these problems. He points 

 out that the problems which now face us are by no 

 means parallel to those that were solved by our fore- 

 fathers one, two, or three centuries ago. The great 

 political revolutions seem to be about complete and 

 the time of the great social revolutions has arrived. 

 We are all peering eagerly into the future to try to 



* North American Review, July, 1805. 



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