V IN HUMAN SOCIETY. 219 



may succeed for a while in industrial competition, 

 by reason of the cheapness of its produce, it must 

 in the end fall, through hideous misery and degra- 

 dation, 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 the stable society made up of 

 healthy, vigorous, instructed, and self-ruling peo- 

 ple would ever incur serious risk of that fate. 

 They are not likely to be troubled with many com- 

 petitors 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 con- 

 sideration the means of attaining that knowledge 

 and skill without which, 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 sys- 



