132 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



not yet destroyed the old predominance of the stronger 

 and more intellectual sections of the nation. 



It seems as if the real meaning of the drama of 

 civilization, for which the world constitutes the stage, 

 is the slow development of increasing numbers of the 

 highest types of mankind. Not only in the pages of 

 history, but also in the study of existing tribes and 

 races, we can trace the process in the gradual evolution 

 of finer and finer physical, intellectual, and moral 

 qualities. In the familiar words, there comes " first 

 that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual." 

 For the full benefit of the action of mind upon mind, 

 as we have seen, density of population is an important 

 feature ; and density of population only becomes a 

 danger when its necessary safeguards are ignored by 

 the unintelligent, the inactive, the unwilling. In the 

 long unconscious ages of human development, natural 

 selection takes charge of the process. But now, having 

 eaten of the tree of knowledge, mankind, willingly or 

 unwillingly, must assume the tremendous responsibility 

 of moulding its own destiny. If we allow selection to 

 cease, or, still worse, to move us in the wrong direc- 

 tion, if the worst strains establish a preponderant fer- 

 tility and the race breeds to its lowest types, though 

 the previous accumulation of knowledge and material 

 wealth for a time may support the nation, degeneration 

 is inevitable. The population will cease to be able to 

 support its own numbers, de-civilization will set in, and 

 nothing but a new process of selection, stern and 

 unbending, can stop the decay or arrest the downfall. 



It is perhaps arguable that a demand for certain 

 forms of socialism, for the organization of all industry 



