56 National Life 



If they are true statesmen, they ought not 

 merely to advance in the direction they may 

 be pushed by the immediate needs of one 

 overburdened class, or by the overloud cry 

 of another group dominant for the time being ; 

 they ought to look upon the community as 

 an organized whole, and treat class needs 

 and group cries from the standpoint of the 

 efficiency of the herd at large. , TTheir duty 

 is to lessen, if not to suspend, the internal 

 struggle, that the nation may be strong ex- 

 ternally. One point only is fundamental in 

 that suspension of the internal struggle, and 

 this holds for man as it holds for every 

 gregarious animal : social sympathy and 

 State aid must not be carried so far within 

 the community that the intellectually and 

 physically weaker stocks multiply at the 

 same rate as the better stocks. 



The dearth of brains and the dearth of 

 physique are the worst misfortunes that can 

 befall a nation, and yet how many of our 

 rulers realize that brains and physique are not 

 things scattered at random among the popu- 

 lation, which they can lay their hands on when- 

 ever they need them ? Our legislators get 



