Makch 10, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



351 



instance, what is the first characteristic of the 

 true scientific spirit? Surely, the desire to 

 ascertain the whole of the facts, and then to 

 pass an unbiased judgment upon them. The 

 true scientist, secure of his data, will follow 

 his intellect whithersoever it leads him. But 

 these principles are reversed under the House 

 of Commons. In what should be the assem- 

 blage of the best national intellect there is no 

 place for intellect at all. No private member 

 of the House of Commons is allowed to pass 

 an independent judgment on facts, scientific 

 or otherwise. Before the data are submitted 

 to him he is told what his opinion must be. If 

 he can not quite make up his mind, he taps 

 humbly at the door of the whip's office and is 

 there told what he thinks. The greatest of all 

 scientific achievements is possibly the New- 

 tonian principle that every portion of matter 

 attracts every other portion of matter in the 

 universe with a force proportionate to the 

 respective masses, and inversely as the square 

 of the distance. If, in normal times, the 

 House of Commons were ordered by the whips 

 of the predominant party to pass a resolution 

 that ISTewton was wrong, and that " every atom 

 of matter in the universe repels every other 

 atom, conversely as the circle of the distance " 

 (whatever that may mean), the members 

 would file into the division lobby with their 

 customary subservience. In normal political 

 circumstances the House of Commons will 

 pass anything, no matter how mischievous or 

 ludicrous if it is ordered so to do. When the 

 national sovereignty is in the hands of such 

 an assemblage of unintellectual automatons 

 as that, he who anticipates legislative sym- 

 pathy with scientific achievement might with 

 €qual prospect of satisfaction hope to taste 

 green cheese from the moon. 



Very much the same may be said of the 

 civil servants. All the highest posts are filled 

 by private " influence." They go to the ex- 

 private secretaries of ministers and to the 

 sons, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law, nephews, 

 cousins and other relatives of the men who are 

 already " bosses " in the various departments. 

 Talent and distinction are boycotted. Sup- 

 pose the greatest of scientific discoverers — a 



Darwin or a Wallace — to be in rivalry as can- 

 didate for a high position in the civil service 

 with some young ass who happened to be the 

 intended son-in-law of a minister or " com- 

 missioner." The scientist might as well retire 

 from the contest. The young ass would get 

 the position and a few thousands a year with 

 it. If he were hopelessly unable to discharge 

 the duties, a competent deputy would be en- 

 gaged at the expense of the taxpayers. That 

 system fills the civil service with the off- 

 scourings of incapacity. Tears ago Sir 

 Charles Trevelyan said: 



There is a general tendency to look to the public 

 establishments as a means of securing a mainte- 

 nance for young men who have no chance of suc- 

 cess in the open competition of the legal, medical 

 and mercantile professions . . . the dregs of all 

 other professions are attracted towards the public 

 service as to a secure asylum. 



Thanks to this wicked system, it was re- 

 cently announced that no less than five master- 

 ships of the High Court had been bestowed by 

 " influence " on the sons of judges, to the ex- 

 clusion of hundreds of better-qualified men, 

 who, unfortunately, had not been fathered 

 from the bench. When the administration of 

 justice is itself tainted with nepotism, and 

 when the dregs of every profession are ap- 

 pointed to the highest positions in the public 

 service as a result of private " influence," we 

 have a long way to go before scientific achieve- 

 ment, no matter how distinguished and bene- 

 ficial, will count for much in this country. 



There are, however, some encouraging signs. 

 The political truce is opening the eyes of the 

 public to the stupidity of allowing the British 

 Empire to be run in the interests of political 

 schemers and lazy bureaucrats. Three or four 

 years ago it was a common belief that our in- 

 sane party system was an essential of effective 

 government. That delusion is gone forever. 

 We are now beginning to understand that an 

 Empire is run on precisely the same lines as 

 a great business. The partners of a great 

 commercial undertaking would not tolerate the 

 presence among them of a man who, like a 

 politician, announced his opposition to pro- 

 posals before he knew what they were or who. 



