568 APPENDIX. 



of social evolution is not an induction from observed facts, but is, rather, 

 inferred, deductively, from the general course of history, and from the con- 

 viction that one plan runs through all the operations of the universe. 



And yet there is no doctrine more firmly implanted in human conviction 

 than that which teaches that all human progress is the result of irresistible 

 natural forces, operating by immutable natural laws, to produce inevitable 

 results. While perhaps incapable of demonstration in any scientific sense, 

 this seems to accord with all human experience. The doctrine has passed into 

 the current thought of the people. 



There is great danger in that doctrine. However true it may be, it is still 

 dangerous. It tends to fatalism, and to the belief that man is controlled by 

 liis environment and is irresponsible. The social force is the result of the 

 social wilL The social will is the aggregate of the individual wills. The 

 individual'will is what the individual makes it. Each individual is therefore 

 responsible for a fixable quantity of the social will and social force, and to the 

 extent that his will is good or evil he changes the course of human progress. 

 If he is a mighty man his influence is mighty. Caesar, Napoleon, Wilberforce, 

 Lincoln, Moody were tremendous influences of social force. If the man is 

 trifling his influence is trifling. But whether weak or mighty the responsibility 

 of the man is the same. Man is influenced by his environment, but not con- 

 trolled by it. And he largely creates his environment. It is unhealthy for 

 men to come to think otherwise than this, and I am unwilling to advise general 

 readers to study social evolution without warning them against inferences 

 not justified by facts, and which educated evolutionists do not make. 



As I write this upon a railroad train I overhear two brutes, sitting in front 

 of me, talking disgustingly. They are in human form, well dressed, with 

 delicate hands, evidently with money to spend. Hardly a word that they say 

 could be printed. When they turn their faces to me I see that they are 

 degenerates. I recognize that the extinction to which they are hastening is 

 desirable for mankind, and merciful to themselves. They are corrupting each 

 other as they talk, and doubtless corrupt many whom they meet. Their own 

 bad wills have made them what they are, and they change the aggregate of 

 existing social force in ways for which they are responsible. Evolution does 

 not teach fatalism. 



If the general reader who has become familiar with Darwin's groat work 

 will then obtain a copy of Dr. Jordan's "Foot-notes on Evolution,'" he will 

 be as well equipped as is necessary for appreciating current forms of reasoning 

 upon social topics. If he wishes to go further, and is prepared to do some 

 rather hard thinking, he can perhaps do no better than to get two books which 

 have had a wide circulation in America, namely, " Kidd's Social Evolution," 

 with which he may or may not fully agree, and "Drummond's Ascent of 

 Man." Those who have well read all the foregoing books, will find them- 

 selves thereby introduced into a great sea of literature upon social topics, over 

 which they need no further guidance from me. 



The titles, publishers, and prices of these books are as follows: — 

 Thk Origin of Species.— By Charies Darwin. D. Appleton & Co., New 

 York. Price, $2.00. 



