SCIENCE AND THE STATE 



I WISH to discuss with you to-night some of the 

 relations between Science and the State. I want to 

 show how, in the particular question we are con- 

 sidering 1 , one is brought up instantly against the 

 democratic idea as it is applied, falsely, as I think, to 

 education, the idea of equal educational opportunities 

 to all, not in the narrow sense to which later I wish 

 to subscribe a hearty enough adherence, but in the 

 practical sense in which it finds application in the 

 schools and universities of this country. I have to 

 make what I know must appeal to many of you as a 

 very bold, not to say provocative, statement at the 

 outset, and it is simply this. Educate your millions, 

 and bring to every boy and girl in this country the 

 benefits of as sound and thorough an education as 

 you can afford. The fact remains that, for sheer 

 practical value to the community, and hard cash in 

 the pockets of each member of it, there are a few, 

 say one in every million, who are worth as much to 

 the community as the rest of the million put together, 

 and whom, if you miss or merge with the rest, the 

 education of the million will avail you little indeed. 

 I know, in these democratic days, it sounds like a 

 restatement of the doctrine of a privileged class, 

 living at the expense of the community. But be 

 assured the statement is democratic enough in this, 



1 Address to the Independent Labour Party, Aberdeen, ist 

 October 1916. 



49 



