220 LUTHER BURBANK 



and wealth that earth can ever bestow. Cheer- 

 fulness, good health, thrift, and ability to concen- 

 trate and persist is a precious heritage. Millions 

 of "half men" are ushered into life, who are in 

 themselves wholly incapable of self-respect, self- 

 control, and self-determination, and only by some 

 unusual drug or other stimulant can they be 

 brought up to "concert pitch," so to speak, for 

 a brief space; in other words, up to the normal 

 average condition of ability to become self-sup- 

 porting through life without infringing on the 

 normal rights of others, or to enjoy the ordinary 

 pursuits of life with relish and appreciation. The 

 man or woman who is endowed with a normal 

 nervous system rarely craves these various stimu- 

 lants, or, if so, is able to restrain the craving. 

 All this unusual stimulation, while giving a 

 present uplift, has the never-failing tendency 

 to pull downward toward the ever-increasing 

 desire for more and more. Will there ever be 

 any help for this? Only one; not through laws 

 based on punishment; not through religious 

 teaching; not through our ordinary educational 

 methods. It must and will come only through 

 methods similar to those that have produced and 

 are producing our best grains, fruits, and flowers. 

 Our present partial state of civilization has 

 been acquired by conscious and half-conscious 



