124 DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



We see, then, that the chances of finding capable 

 men and women innate capacity is, of course, re- 

 ferred to among families inheriting wealth and 

 position, are less than the chances of finding these 

 qualities among those who have themselves acquired 

 wealth, and also that it is indeed probable that the 

 average capacity of wealth-holders is only slightly 

 above that of the average of the whole community. 

 That there is a slight difference we must allow, for 

 capacity has its own value, and the ranks of the rich 

 are continually being recruited by capables, while at 

 the same time the ranks of the poor are being re- 

 cruited by incapables. 



While this is the case the sifting referred to is 

 very incomplete, and we find in every class every 

 range of intellectual capacity, from that of the idiot to 

 the man capable of giving a permanent impulse to 

 thought and action. 



The Poor Child is scratched against the Rich Child. 



The riches of the well-to-do give their children 

 who, as we have seen, are not necessarily the most 

 capable an immense pull in life's competition with 

 the sons of the poor, with the result that, certainly in 

 the great majority of cases, the poor man's child is 

 beaten. Putting on one side the question of the 

 father's personal influence in the way of obtaining 

 advantageous positions for his children, who gener- 



