October 16, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



507 



ethical ideals and institutions to a cor- 

 responding degree. In the absence of such 

 development the only alternatives are the 

 worship of materialism leading to the com- 

 munistic or socialistic order, or the destruc- 

 tion of democracy by the propertied 

 classes, who will not permit communism. 

 For the prevention of either disaster the 

 promotion of scholarship in every subject 

 of study will help. 



If any evidence were needed that de- 

 mocracy requires ideals and scholarly 

 leaders we shall find it in the evils that we 

 are suffering from in our present condi- 

 tions. We are concerned with the neces- 

 sity of solving certain great problems. The 

 problem of poverty which is ever with us 

 is crying constantly for a scientific and 

 ethical solution. The problem of city gov- 

 ernment is one the treatment of which 

 has made our democratic people the laugh- 

 ing stock of the world and has done more 

 to discredit democracy and raise doubts 

 about its future success and permanence 

 than almost any other of its failures. The 

 great problem of immigration with its ne- 

 cessity of assimilation of our foreign popu- 

 lation and the consequent problems of the 

 modification of our forms of government 

 to adapt them to the spirit and race condi- 

 tions of a new people, is looming large in 

 the immediate future. The adjustment of 

 class relations, our relations to the people 

 across the sea whom we have recently tied 

 to ourselves, the negro problem, the cur- 

 rency problem, the problem of taxation, 

 whose present condition in almost every 

 state in the union is a disgrace to the in- 

 telligence of the people— all of these are 

 pressing on us for solution, and upon our 

 success in solving them will depend the 

 continuance of our republican institutions. 

 To whom shall the people look for guid- 

 ance? To the ward heeler and the boss? 

 To the man in the street, as we have been 

 doing, who wins a following by his glib 



eloquence? Or shall we turn to the men 

 who have studied deeply into the history 

 and the experience of other peoples in the 

 lines in which these problems run? It is 

 to the philosopher, the student of litera- 

 ture, the student of the social sciences, aye, 

 to the poet and the artist as well as to the 

 man with a sense of practical administra- 

 tion, to whom we must turn for proper 

 ideals and correct principles, on which to 

 solve these problems and handle these dif- 

 ficulties. 



There are, indeed, some signs of a change 

 from our practise of following ignorant 

 bosses. We have put our federal bureau 

 of corporations, our census bureau, many 

 of the divisions of our department of agri- 

 culture and some other branches of our 

 government service directly in charge of 

 those who are scholars in their respective 

 fields. One of the most prominent, if not 

 the principal figure, of the American dele- 

 gation at the recent Peace Conference was 

 one of our group, known and honored 

 for his scholarship in the subject of inter- 

 national law. It has been said recently 

 that "no governor of a commonwealth can 

 permanently command public confidence 

 except he add to political shrewdness the 

 gift of political idealism." And there is 

 other evidence that "our country still 

 aspires to be led by men who shall prove 

 their claim for leadership not by concrete 

 material achievements, but by their char- 

 acter and their ideals. ' ' 



Thus, then, is the future progress and 

 welfare and permanence of democracy 

 bound up with its promotion of scholarship 

 and research; the promotion of technical 

 research for its material welfare; the pro- 

 motion of research in the theoretical and 

 abstract sciences and in the humanities, to 

 furnish ideals and leaders, to satisfy its 

 intellectual and spiritual needs. Democ- 

 racy, if it thus supplies its own need for 

 leadership, will not die. The equalization 



