196 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL. EVOLUTION 



tion is opposed to individual independence, but it is 

 not opposed to the second phase of individualism, 

 that is, the individual's welfare. This becomes clear 

 when we compare the condition of the man of to-day 

 with that of earlier centuries. Greater nations exist 

 to-day than ever before. Society is more highly 

 organized, and more centralized at the beginning of 

 the twentieth century than at any previous era in 

 human history. But it is equally true that the indi- 

 vidual stands on a higher plane than ever before in 

 the history of the world. The man has greater rights, 

 greater comforts, greater luxuries, and his life has 

 a larger value than ever before in history. Greater 

 independence he does not have, but his independence 

 is replaced by greater worth. A high state of organ- 

 ization is absolutely necessary for the development 

 of the highest value of the man. Absolute freedom is 

 incompatible with the highest good of the individual. 

 The individual and society are benefited, each by 

 the development of the other. On the one hand, it is 

 impossible that there should be a highly organized 

 society composed of men who have not themselves 

 reached a high stage of mental development. Among 

 low races an organized society is impossible. Sav- 

 ages cannot hold together to form any sort of society, 

 nor can centralization alone make civilization. The 

 Aryan race has become the dominant race in civil- 

 ization, not because it had the strongest tendency 

 to centralization, for the contrary was the fact. The 

 fundamental reason for Aryan civilization is that 

 their communal system first developed the man, and 

 when, in recent centuries, centralization made its way 

 into this race, there could arise a society of highly 

 developed individuals. The height of civilization of 



