256 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



ciently to make war a possibility. Clearly, selfish- 

 ness and greed have dominated civilization. 



Altruism. — But in spite of all these facts they 

 indeed are blind who fail to see that the permanent 

 victor in this long contest is not the law of greed and 

 selfishness, but the law of altruism. This has become 

 clearer with each century. All civilization is per- 

 vaded with this truth, for the keynote of the advance 

 in civilization is the increased value set upon the 

 individual, the increased significance of the prin- 

 ciple of sympathy, of justice, of righteousness ; and 

 all these principles are part of altruism. It is this 

 slowly developing law that has produced every 

 advance in the progress of mankind. It is this which 

 has curbed the power of the despot, and ameliorated 

 the condition of the poor, leading those in better 

 conditions to extend a wider sympathy to those less 

 favorably endowed by nature and conditions. It is 

 this which has produced the abolishment of slavery, 

 for slavery was a normal condition of early man; 

 and only as the law of love found its way into the 

 hearts of the races has slavery been rendered, first, 

 less harsh, and then abolished. Natural selection 

 would crush out the weak and unfortunate with its 

 inexorable tread, but altruism has gradually brought 

 about a condition where the strong contribute of their 

 strength to the welfare of the weak. It is this law 

 that has elevated the condition of women, for the 

 position of women in society is dependent directly 

 upon the extent of the development of the laws of 

 altruism and sympathy. This same principle to-day 

 is wresting every right that the people possess from 

 those in power. Whether it be political rights 

 wrested from a monarch and an aristocracy, or 



