V IN HUMAN SOCIETY 219 



cheapness of its produce, it must in the end fall, 

 through hideous misery and degradation, to utter 

 ruin. 



Well, if these are the only possible alternatives, 

 let us for ourselves and our children choose the 

 former, and, if need be, starve like men. But I do 

 not believe that a stable society made up of 

 healthy, vigorous, instructed, and self-ruling people 

 would ever incur serious risk of that fate. They 

 are not likely to be troubled with many competi- 

 tors of the same character, just yet; and they may 

 be safely trusted to find ways of holding their 

 own. 



Assuming that the physical and moral well- 

 being and the stable social order, which are the 

 indispensable conditions of permanent industrial 

 development, are secured, there remains for 

 consideration the means of attaining that know- 

 ledge and skill without Avliich, even then, the 

 battle of competition cannot be successfully 

 fought. Let us consider how we stand. A vast 

 system of elementary education has now been in 

 operation among us for sixteen years, and has 

 reached all but a very small fraction of the 

 population. I do not think that there is any 

 room for doubt that, on the whole, it has worked 

 well, and that its indirect no less than its direct 

 benefits have been immense. But, as might be 

 expected, it exhibits the defects of all our 

 educational systems — fashioned as they were to 



