292 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



exposed to poison, as in the case of the color works 

 in Germany. And it is probable that nations could 

 pass from a militant condition into a condition of 

 greater and greater industrialism without any 

 material sacrifice of physical vigor. 



The bodily welfare of nations is of interest mainly 

 in its relation to their mental and moral growth. It 

 is certain that under more favorable social conditions 

 nations would be capable of extending a higher grade 

 of culture to a far larger proportion of the total 

 population than at present. Although the desira- 

 bility of doing this is questioned by some, there is 

 surely no excuse for withholding from people their 

 chance of self-development or any part of that 

 chance that may fall to their lot. Every human 

 being has the right to cultivate his powers to the 

 highest point he is capable of reaching, so long as he 

 does not interfere with the right of other people to do 

 the same a kind of interference about which the 

 world hears fierce complaints. And we may confi- 

 dently expect the leading nations of the world to 

 increase their commercial and political influence by 

 the general extension of educational opportunity to 

 the masses. That the minds of all classes but_ the 

 very lowest are susceptible of far greater training 

 than at present, both intellectually, emotionally, 

 and aesthetically, requires no argument. 



But the civilization of a nation does not acquire 

 its distinctive character from mediocre minds. 

 Saint-Simon, the socialistic philosopher, long ago 



