PROBLEMS OF RURAL SOCIAL LIFE 335 



which have the capacity for taking trouble, or to whom taking 

 trouble is not painful, are capable of becoming civilized. Civili- 

 zation consists largely in taking pains. To some people it is too 

 much trouble. They prefer to remain barbarians, even though 

 they live in civilized surroundings. Other people have so much 

 mental energy that they do not mind taking pains ; in fact they 

 rather enjoy it. They are the builders of our civilization. Indi- 

 vidual genius was once denned as the capacity for taking infi- 

 nite pains. The genius of a race or of a nation, and its capacity 

 for civilization, may be defined in precisely the same terms. 



Efficient agriculture requires forethought, planning for next 

 year, and the year after, and the year after that; putting in a 

 great deal of careful, painstaking work to-day, with no prospect 

 of seeing a tangible result for years to come ; looking after an 

 interminable number of details day by day, week by week, month 

 by month, and year by year, in expectation of returns so distant 

 in the future as to lie beyond the vision of lesser minds. Only 

 the men or the races which possess this kind of capacity are capa- 

 ble of efficient agriculture or of efficient industry of any kind. 

 Whatever other admirable qualities the savage may possess, 

 and he may possibly boast superiority over the civilized man in 

 many respects, lacking these qualities, he will remain a beaten 

 race. Similarly, whatever admirable and amiable qualities an in- 

 dividual of our own race may possess, lacking these he will be 

 a bciaten man. It is idle for either a race or an individual to 

 com plain, or to say that in some other kind of a world it would 

 not have been beaten. This happens to be this kind of a world, 

 and in this kind of a world it happens that success comes to those 

 races which possess in the highest degree the economic virtues 

 of industry, sobriety, thrift, forethought, reliability, knowledge 

 of natural laws, and mutual helpfulness. These are the qualities 

 which bring success to a race or a nation, and the possession of 

 these qualities constitutes, therefore, what we call capacity and 



