THE FUTURE EVOLUTION OF MAN 259 



possibilities of degradation as, fortunately, few of 

 us ever reach. Within an enormously wide range, 

 man is the architect of his own fortune. Only such 

 traits develop as find a stimulus in the environment. 

 Accordingly, a very large proportion of the develop- 

 ment a man may achieve depends upon the cir- 

 cumstances under which he is placed, or, what is 

 far more to the point, in which he may place him- 

 self. Man is not the blind sport of a relentless des- 

 tiny. It is his to choose his environment; it is his 

 to modify his environment when he cannot leave it. 

 To an extent which no other animal has ever ap- 

 proached, man is the arbiter of his own destiny. A 

 hypothetical ass may stand helpless between two 

 equidistant bales of hay, but no human being is ever 

 so helpless a sport of his environment. As it is, he 

 may drift or he may rove as he pleases. To one 

 man the current may be stronger than to another. 

 There may be now and then a child so feeble-minded 

 as to be unable to decide the course of its own life. 

 It will not be long before society will see to it that 

 such a life leaves behind it no strain cursed with its 

 fatal weakness. In this effort to advance, man has 

 all the advantage that comes from concentrated social 

 effort. No man may live to himself. To every man 

 in our community who desires it, a helping hand will 

 be stretched. Often a hand will be stretched to him 



