466 TRADITION AND HEREDITY 



same race are compared, there is still less to be discounted ; they 

 have both European and racial tradition in common ; the differ- 

 ences come in at a higher level. Finally, when we compare 

 individuals in the same class, we have only to discount family 

 and individual differences in tradition. It is therefore clear that 

 we have to gain some idea as to the nature of the differences in 

 tradition to which the classes in England at the present day are 

 subject. 



16. We have already remarked upon the curious fact that, 

 although the organization of society on organic lines greatly 

 favoured the transmission of tradition, there have come to 

 be large differences in tradition as between the different com- 

 ponent elements of society. This we attribute to the fact that 

 in the first place the different component elements specialize in 

 different kinds of skill ; the vastness of the mass of tradition makes 

 it impossible for every man to absorb all of it ; so far as skill is 

 concerned, each man absorbs that development of it, the speciali- 

 zation in which characterizes his function in society. This may 

 account for differences as between classes with regard to skill, but 

 why, it may be said, should it account for differences in manners, 

 customs, and mode of life ? Whatever functions may be performed 

 by the different elements of society, do not the members of all 

 alike now, in any case, enjoy the same privileges, have they not 

 all homes, have they not access to the same interests apart from 

 their professions ? Manners and customs differ, and differ so much 

 that a public-school boy finds himself out of his element as a private 

 in a line regiment, and a university man finds it difficult to establish 

 ordinary human relations with the men he meets in a working 

 men's club such as he establishes without effort when in company 

 of men of his class. 



These differences are attributable to the fact that ownership of 

 property has become a function in society. Further, there has 

 come about the reservation to the property-owning class of 

 certain professions notably the military and the clerical 

 which, though they do not afford a high rate of remuneration, 

 do afford, as property-owning affords, ample opportunities for 

 leisure. Property-owners as a class have had thus both the time 

 and the means to cultivate the art of living. Some of the results 

 are, as all will admit, of value. Some of the results are harmful ; 

 but for the most part cultivation of the art of living results in 



