740 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 749 



natural ability remaining practically useless for 

 a lack of the implements which a full development 

 of intellectual power would place in its hands. 

 But improving the environment does not from 

 generation to generation give better material for 

 our schools to work on. 



I Lave only one criticism of Dr. Woods's 

 reasoning. In studying heredity in royalty 

 he purposely chose this class because it could 

 be assumed that their characters were formed 

 under the most uniform environment, which 

 purpose was of course entirely legitimate. 

 But it must be remembered that this environ- 

 ment is the best possible for the development 

 of character and ability. It would be grati- 

 fying to me to see Dr. Woods make a similar 

 study of some class of human beings sub- 

 jected to an unfavorable environment. I be- 

 lieve he would find, as I have stated above, 

 that even in that class native ability and 

 natural impulses would prove to be purely a 

 matter of heredity; but that character and 

 actual ability would be found to be profoundly 

 modified by environment. In fact, the whole 

 experience of the human race speaks for this 

 assumption. If the opposite were true, then 

 why should the state go to the expense of main- 

 taining schools, for a man's efEectiveness 

 would not depend on his environment, but 

 upon his inheritance. 



I have a further criticism to ojBfer of Dr. 

 Woods's article in Science. In the first place, 

 the men listed in " Who's Who in America " 

 do not represent leaders, although they in- 

 clude leaders. Dr. Woods's own figures prove 

 the effect of environment as against heredity. 

 For instance: under the initial A he finds 

 29.6 per cent, of city born individuals instead 

 of the 16.1 per cent, expected on the basis of 

 population. This merely shows that of the 

 men in " Who's Who in America," those who 

 have had the best opportunities have done 

 best. " Who's Who in America " lists those 

 men who have done something of note. I am 

 inclined to believe that fully half of these 

 men owe their success to their opportunities. 

 They are not leaders, though they are com- 

 I)etent workers, and they are not the type of 

 men I had in mind in my previous article. 



Census statistics do not easily lend them- 



selves to the determination of the proportion 

 of our population who actually live on farms. 

 In rural population they include cities of con- 

 siderable size. It has been said that " God 

 made man, man made the cities, and the Devil 

 made the country village." I have no way of 

 ascertaining how many of the men who are 

 distinctly leaders in this country were actually 

 brought up on the farm. I am inclined to 

 believe that the conditions in country vil- 

 lages and small towns are less favorable for 

 the development of character than those on the 

 farm or those in great cities. 



I have not had time to secure extensive 

 statistics on the birth-place of men who have 

 been and are leaders in the various lines of 

 activity in this country. In my previous 

 article I merely repeated a statement I have 

 heard frequently, and which I had never heard 

 challenged. From the best statistics I can 

 secure, about 36 per cent, of our population 

 actually live on the farm at the present time. 

 Of the 25 presidents of the United States, 23 

 of them were country bred, or were brought 

 up under what the census terms rural condi- 

 tions, only our present president and his im- 

 mediate predecessor having been brought up 

 in the city, so far as a hasty glance at history 

 and biography reveals. This is 92 per cent, of 

 the total, and there is no question that these 

 men have been leaders. Of the present mem- 

 bership of the United States senate, in so far 

 as the congressional directory reveals the 

 facts, 70.5 per cent, are country bred. The 

 statistics for the house of representatives are 

 not so conclusive. The fact that many con- 

 gressional districts are wholly city districts 

 while others are wholly country districts 

 vitiate the statistics for that branch of con- 

 gress, so far as our purpose is concerned. 



I hope to be able, in the not distant future, 

 to present other statistics bearing on this 

 question. I believe, however, that when we 

 consider the fact that our country schools 

 have always been vastly inferior to our city 

 schools, the few data given above show that 

 there is something in farm life, during the 

 first few years of the boy's training, that tends 

 more nearly to give normal expression to his 

 hereditary talents and impulses than do con- 



