September 8, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



305 



worth while. From this point of view the 

 sight was pathetic as well as inspiriting. It is 

 too early to form an opinion as to what the 

 permanent result will be; at all events, many- 

 grievances have been laid bare, and those who 

 were not too engrossed with their particular 

 troubles or obsessed with their pet panacea 

 will realize that there are very many difficult 

 problems to face, the solution of which can 

 only be made by calm thinking and long, pa- 

 tient work. Sentiment and rhetoric may in- 

 itiate reforms, but their realization is mainly 

 due to what may be termed mechanical 

 methods. 



A permanent result of the congress is to be 

 found in the volume entitled " Inter-racial 

 Problems " (Boston, The World's Peace 

 Foundation, 29 A. Beacon St.), which con- 

 tains some sixty articles specially written 

 for the congress by more or less well-known 

 people of diverse nationality. The authors 

 had time to consider what they had to write 

 and thus were able to give data and reasoned 

 argument, as well as, in some cases, to formu- 

 late a constructive policy. The essays are 

 naturally of unequal merit, but collectively 

 they constitute an informing book on many 

 social problems. Some of the speeches were 

 also logical, sane and constructive, but their 

 eilect must necessarily be more transient, and 

 the sultry weather combined with the poor 

 acoustic properties of the hall further min- 

 imized their importance. No discussion was 

 possible under the circumstances, each speaker 

 was necessarily limited as to time, and many 

 attempted to obviate this restriction by rapid 

 utterance which really defeated their object. 

 Even those who might have been expected to 

 give data or argument may have felt that the 

 conditions were unfavorable and so adopted a 

 more rhetorical method. What has become of 

 all the ideas that were promulgated? Unless 

 there was an official stenographer the vast 

 majority of them must have perished. No 

 human being, even if he caught all that was 

 said or understood the various languages that 

 were spoken, could carry away more than a 

 fraction of what he heard. A considerable 

 number of patient souls seem to have sat 



through everything; if they appreciated all 

 that transpired their minds must have become 

 very confused and their feelings painfully 

 lacerated. 



Without the least intention of being un- 

 charitable, it appeared that a certain class 

 wished to believe more than facts warrant. 

 For example, because the anthropologists ad- 

 mitted that there was probably no race which 

 would be described as pure, therefore races 

 were chimerical; because skin-color is not of 

 primary value in classifying peoples, the offi- 

 cial program speaks of " so-called white and 

 so-called colored peoples " ; because the en- 

 vironment produces changes in certain phys- 

 ical characters (but to what extent, in what 

 time, or how permanent they may be in mod- 

 ern times, we have practically no information) 

 the classification of human varieties is a vain 

 task. One anthropologist " swam against the 

 current to the congress " by asserting that 

 " the brotherhood of man is a good thing, but 

 the struggle for life is a far better one." 

 Another said he did not agree that all races 

 were equal or that the differences were due 

 solely to environment. It was not for the 

 good of the world that all races should be 

 equal, nor would they ever be, but it was de- 

 sirable that all should have an equal chance 

 of development. A third hoped that the ideas 

 and ideals of various peoples would remain 

 distinct and not merged into a common type 

 of humanity. All agreed that there should be 

 a sympathy based on mutual knowledge and 

 forbearance among different nationalities. 

 Taken from one point of view, much that was 

 said by the anthropologists might be con- 

 strued as supporting the views of a large 

 number of the members of the congress, but 

 the latter seem to have overlooked the very 

 important element of time. Dr. C. S. Myres 

 in his printed paper says : " If we assume, as 

 I think we must assume, that the white and 

 negro races owe their respective characters 

 ultimately to their environment, there is no 

 a priori reason, it seems to me. for denying 

 the possibility of a reversal of their [mental 

 and physical] differences, if the environment 

 to which they are respectively exposed be 



