146 HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



on remunerative employment, and that we can no longer 

 command their unpaid services. There is a further 

 difficulty that is not often alluded to in public, but one 

 which is undoubtedly a deterrent to many people who 

 might be willing to undertake public work. In nothing 

 are the various sections of the community more greatly 

 differentiated than in their standards of honesty, good 

 behaviour and fair dealing. A man from one class would 

 feel it degrading to take advantage of an opportunity 

 which another type of man thinks it criminal folly to 

 let slip. Accusations of bad faith and ill-conduct are 

 made almost with impunity amongst some people and 

 are forgotten in a week, whereas in other circles they 

 form a barrier to any future mutual co-operation. In- 

 herent differences like these probably constitute the 

 greatest obstacles to any successful government by a 

 group of associated persons coming from widely con- 

 trasted social spheres. The most sensitive and the 

 most honourable are the first to retire from associations 

 which are distasteful to them, and we have yet another 

 reason for expecting to find that as time goes on the 

 standard especially of the smaller local elected bodies 

 will suffer a slight but progressive lowering of quality 

 and singleness of aim. 



Some of the signs of the times in this respect are 

 not altogether reassuring. One may note constantly 

 the differences of opinion that arise between the elected 

 local administrative bodies and the Government offices 

 in London. It is constantly necessary, in the interests 

 of educational efficiency, decent sanitation, or even of 

 straightforward finance, for the decisions of the local 

 " representatives of the people " to be overruled by 



