204 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



in every known successful civilization, the labour of 

 brains in one section of the people has guided and 

 been exchanged for the labour of hands in another 

 section, to the great advantage of both sides. 



We have therefore the novel attempt to confuse, or 

 to decline to recognize, the two departments of human 

 activity. In view of the teachings of heredity, it is 

 difficult to see how the attempt can fail to result in a 

 marked restriction in the output of brains on the part 

 of the more talented members of the community. A 

 process of de-civilization apparently must ensue, con- 

 sequent upon the failure to understand that different 

 conditions are necessary for the development of different 

 types of ability, and the refusal to recognize that both 

 brain power and manual labour are essential to the 

 stability of a State. 



When a country adopts a course of social legisla- 

 tion which aims at destroying the domestic amenities 

 hitherto associated with the creation and development 

 of intellectual eminence, it must maintain a strict watch 

 over the effects of its action, or it may find itself ere 

 long with an insufficient supply of those talents which 

 constitute intellectual power and bring in their train 

 material welfare and national greatness. 



The idea that a community should be self-contained 

 and self-supporting is one of which we have heard 

 much in recent years. The truth of this proposition 

 is, to say the least, extremely doubtful ; interchange and 

 interdependence bring many benefits to all concerned. 

 But the desire for economic independence has clearly 

 to be reckoned with, not least in those communities 

 whose legislative peculiarities we are now considering. 



