388 The Ejftcts of Evolution 



ABSTRACT OF THE DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Thaddeus B. Wakeman: — 



My first duty is to thank the speaker of the evening for his 

 scholarly and eloquent address. Evolutionists area unit as to the 

 ideals toward which they would strive. The only difference is as 

 to the methods by which we can take advantage of the possibili- 

 ties of evolution. Of the many admirable points in the lecture, 

 that emphasizing the importance of the human will in solving the 

 sociological problem seems to me the most significant. Spencer 

 and his school have given us the idea that evolution is a mechani- 

 cal process, independent of the moulding power of human effort. 

 I agree with the speaker in the main, but was he not a little pre- 

 mature in putting up "No Thoroughfare" on the various roads 

 by which people are striving to remedy the ills of society ? Is not 

 his own panacea of the eight-hotu" law and the education of the 

 laborer also inadequate, equally with Georgeism ? I believe the 

 true remedy is to be found to some extent in Nationalism, and 

 also in a modified form of Co-operation. I think the way is to be 

 found in the public administration of business, or State Socialism 

 adapted to this country. Evokition indicates that the co-operative 

 attempts of the people in the way of governmental business, the 

 post-ofifice, the conduct of war, etc., are to be followed by a great 

 Co-operative Commonwealth. Professor Gunton's plan would be 

 at best an application of the feudal system to industry. It leaves 

 the worker in his condition as a hireling, and does not open up 

 for him a career of his own. The accumulation of wealth is a 

 social necessity. ' Tlie only question is, who shall be the monopo- 

 list ? Shall we have one monopoly, controlled by Uncle Sam, for 

 the benefit of all his people, or many monopolies, controlled by 

 Jay Gould, the Standard Oil Company, etc., "in their own interest? 

 The road indicated by Mr. Bellamy, in "Looking Backward," 

 seems to me to be the right one — the one we might travel. 



Mr. John A. Taylor: — 



I think we have never heard a clearer or more comprehensive 

 discussion of the various theories of social reform than has been 

 given by the lecturer. Evolution has accomplished everything in 



