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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1284 



they are really as mucii in the dark as he is. 

 One of these Americans, he tells us, assured 

 him, that "the little cloud overhanging the 

 sky will soon pass away." 



Terrible, I warn both America and Asia, 

 will prove the illusion if it goes uncorrected, 

 that the ill-will growing between these two 

 old-time friends is only a little cloud that will 

 soon pass away! 



But is the gigantic tornado which im- 

 pends, to be regarded as a fate — as a thing 

 in the hands of a purpose and a power wholly 

 imapproachable, unmodifiable by man ? Xo and 

 ten times no; is my answer. We can convert 

 the devastating tornado into a benign and 

 fructifying wind-and-rain if we so resolve and 

 act according to our resolution. 



To point a way, and I am quite sure the 

 only way, toward such resolution and such 

 action is the central aim of my part in this 

 symposium. 



My first move in this shall be to remind 

 ourselves that, as a few observers of anti- 

 Asiatic " agitation," often so-called, of the 

 Pacific states have remarked, this agitation 

 is at bottom an expression of the instinct of 

 self-preservation. This remark I wish to sup- 

 plement by affirming that not only is the in- 

 stinct of self-preservation on the part of the 

 American agitators involved, but likewise 

 there is involved not merely the same instinct 

 of the Asiatics, but also the instinct of self- 

 realization of both Asiatics and Americans. 

 And I remark that he errs grievously whose 

 observation on instincts has not recognized 

 the difference between the instinct of self- 

 preservation and that of self-realization. 



But the point which I wish particularly to 

 fix attention upon in the remarks just made is 

 that the problem as it is actually presenting 

 itself to us, lies chiefly in the domain of hu- 

 man instinct and passion; and that this is 

 only another way of saying that it does not 

 lie chiefly in the domain of human reason. 



The quintessence of the proposal I am go- 

 ing to make is that the problem shall be so 

 shifted in its locus that instead of lying pri- 

 marily in the domain of instinct and only 

 secondarily in that of reason, it shall lie pri- 



marily in the domain of reason, of intelligent 

 life and action, and only secondarily in the 

 domain of instinct, of instinctive life and 

 action. And may I not believe that at least 

 in the group of men and women here as- 

 sembled, scientific as we all are, this proposal 

 shall not be received with listless toleration, 

 as a mere academic pronouncement? 



In the interest of grounding my proposal a 

 little more securely on fundamental principle, 

 I remind you of the familiar characterization 

 of all instincts as " blind." And note the un- 

 erring truthfulness of our common modes of 

 expression : The " instinct of " self-preserva- 

 tion and of self-realization, we say: The in- 

 stinct of existence is in the very essence of 

 existence itself. Not so with reason. The 

 " reason for " we automatically say, self-pres- 

 ervation and self-realization. Existence must 

 justify itself, according to reason. Further- 

 more, reason must concern itself with the 

 modes and means of existence. 



My proposal that the problem of the peoples 

 of the Pacific area shall be carried up so that 

 its larger moiety may lie in the domain of 

 reason instead of in the domain of instinct, 

 means that the Chinese and Japanese and 

 Koreans and Siberians and British Colutm- 

 bians and United Statesans and Mexicans 

 shall take much thought about their self- 

 preservation and self-realization — about why 

 they should be preserved and why they should 

 realize their desires and ambitions; and about 

 the manner in which they should exist and 

 the means b,y which this may be and ought 

 to be accomplished. 



It means, in other words, that the problem 

 should be one of science at its fullest and 

 best; science as the great body of observa- 

 tional and reflective truth concerning external, 

 or material nature, and science as the great 

 body of observational and reflective truth con- 

 cerning the internal, or spiritual nature of 

 man. And this means economic and cultural 

 justice and morality, international as well as 

 national. 



A cardinal aim of all effort in accordance 

 with the principles here indicated, would be 

 to remove the one great inducement to Asiatic 



