38o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



many well-meaning critics (and a few who are not well-meaning at 

 all, but of the Honeythunder order, teaching the law of love by re- 

 viling and worse). 



The duty which each man owes to himself in regard to the mainte- 

 nance of his health, the development of his powers, and so forth, which 

 becomes a duty to others when regarded with reference to those more 

 immediately around him or dependent upon him, and is still manifest- 

 ly a duty in relation to others where the advancement of the general 

 well-being, so far as he can influence it, is considered, has another 

 aspect when considered in reference to those classes (D and E) * whose 

 encouragement or increase would be injurious to the body social. It is 

 not only essential to the evolution of conduct in the right direction 

 that those who may be classed as " men of good will " f should increase 

 relatively in number and influence, but also that those who are either 

 absolutely men of ill-will, or are so far not of good-will that they dis- 

 regard the well-being of others, should be checked and discouraged. 



This requirement for the evolution of the more altruistic kind of 

 conduct involves in many cases — as a duty — conduct of a kind which 

 the few real members of Class A and the many members of Class C 

 who speak of themselves as belonging to Class A — ^regard as self-as- 

 sertive. It becomes a duty, when the matter is viewed in this light, 

 to assert just rights and resist wrongful claims. For, every act of 

 carelessness or self-neglect in such matters tends to the encourage- 

 ment of the less valuable or noxious classes which profit by it. It 

 may be that to uphold just claims or resist wrong-doing may be less 

 comfortable than to give way. In such a case the duty becomes an 

 altruistic one, however egoistic the action based on the consideration 

 of such duty may appear. But in a number of cases the claim upheld 

 may be well worth upholding in itself, the wrong resisted may involve 

 gross injury. In such a case the care of a personal right or the resist- 

 ance of a wrong is, in itself, egoistic. Yet may it well be that the 

 person concerned may esteem it better to give up the claim or to yield 

 to the wrong, until he recognizes that the idea of self-sacrifice, how- 

 ever beautiful in itself, may involve a far-reaching wrong to the better 

 members of the body social. 



We touch here on considerations which are in question every day, 

 almost every hour, of our lives. 



Consider home-life, for example. In nearly every home there are 

 those who are disposed to take unfair advantage of the rest; and they 

 are far better restrained by the quiet resistance of their attempts than 

 in any other way — certainly far better than by yielding, continued till 



* See " Popular Science Monthly " for May, p. 109. 



f It may not be generally known outside the Roman Catholic community that the 

 message rendered in the authorized version of the New Testament " Peace and good-w ill 

 toward men," is otherwise rendered " Peace to men of good-will." The revised version 

 reads " Peace among men in whom He is well pleased," which would in effect be nearer 

 the Roman version. 



