TRADITION AND HEEEDITY 473 



desirable under present circumstances ; it may even be that we 

 might view a diminution in the average strength of some of the 

 qualities which mark the successful at least with equanimity. 

 The instincts of acquisition and self-assertion were of great value 

 in the past, highly indeed as mankind has paid for the careers 

 of men markedly endowed with these qualities. But, with -the 

 present stage of social evolution in Europe in mind, should it not 

 be said that the instinct of acquisition when developed above the 

 average is on the whole harmful, and may it not be that self- 

 assertion is likely to be a source of difficulty in any form of 

 co-operative commonwealth, and to some form of co-operation 

 as replacing or modifying competition we seem to be tending. 



We may see this whole problem of value in another light if we 

 ask what it is that we value in the men of our race. Latterly 

 we have had reason to dwell upon the qualities which we feel 

 to characterize the men of our race at their best. Are they not 

 self-respect together with modesty, tenacity together with tender- 

 ness ? Any one who has served in the ranks of the army is not 

 likely to allow that these qualities are on the whole less developed 

 in the classes from which the ranks of the army are usually filled 

 than in the rest of the nation. In this connexion we should 

 perhaps remember that a sense of comradeship in facing the 

 elemental facts of existence without material wealth may provide 

 an impetus to the expression of these qualities, whereas an 

 absorption in the less immediate necessities of life may militate 

 against their expression. To the degree to which this is so, we 

 should, when trying to estimate the innate capacities in the 

 different classes, make the necessary allowances in the case of 

 the so-called upper classes for the circumstances adverse to the 

 expression of these qualities and in the case of the so-called lower 

 classes for circumstances which on the whole perhaps favour 

 their expression. However this may be, we feel that these 

 qualities are the most valuable which our race has produced 

 and that upon their preservation and upon greater opportunities 

 for their expression depends our best hope for the future. He 

 would be a bold man, however, who suggested that the possession 

 of these qualities in more than average amount was a character- 

 istic of the successful. The same may be said of good taste, good 

 manners, and of other qualities which, to say the least of them, 

 contribute to the amenities of life. 



