Septembee 2, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



be drawn from the experience of our gov- 

 ernment and people during the past five 

 months is anthropological — it is the per- 

 manence of the martial virtues and their 

 commonness. In any vigorous race these 

 virtues may fairly be called inextinguish- 

 able. Civilized society is always main- 

 taining a perilous conflict against natural 

 forces, which ordinarily serve man's pur- 

 poses, but sometimes try to overwhelm him. 

 Fire, the greatest of man's inventions and 

 his humblest servant, suddenly breaks out 

 into destructive fury ; wind ordinarily fills 

 his sails, turns his mills and refreshes the 

 atmosphere of his cities ; but now and then 

 in spots sweeps from the surface of the 

 earth and sea all man's works — crops, build- 

 ings, vehicles and vessels. The mineral oil 

 which every night lights so brilliantly the 

 humblest homes in every clime occasionally 

 kills the ignorant or careless user or sets 

 a huge city in flames. Any single-minded 

 worm or insect will be too much for 

 man, unless man knows how to set some 

 other creature of one idea at destroying the 

 first invader. How small is the range of 

 the thermometer within which men can 

 live with comfort or even safety ! A change 

 of a few degrees below or above the normal 

 range sets him fighting for his life. This 

 conflict with external nature is the great 

 school of mankind in courage, persistence, 

 patience and forethought, and mankind 

 never needs any other. It is, then, the 

 regular pursuits and habits of a nation in 

 times of peace which prepare it for success in 

 war, and not the virtues bred in war which 

 enable it to endure peace. 



The second lesson to be drawn from the 

 recent experience of the nation in war is 

 the immense value of long prepared, highly- 

 trained public service. The instant effi- 

 ciency of our navy is a striking demonstra- 

 tion of this principle, which, of course, needs 

 no enforcement before men devoted to sci- 

 ence, but does need to be brought home to 



the great body of our people. The pre- 

 paredness of our regular army for imme- 

 diate service, and the comparative unreadi- 

 ness of the militia, even in those States 

 which have paid most attention to volunteer 

 military organization, enforce the same les- 

 son. Would that the plain teaching of this 

 short war in this regard might sink into 

 the minds of our people, and convince them 

 of the immense advantages they would de- 

 rive from a highly- trained, permanent, civil 

 service in every branch of the public ad- 

 ministration. 



Another lesson of these pregnant months 

 relates to a principle which underlies our 

 form of government, but is often seen but 

 dimly by portions of our people. I refer 

 to the principle that the government of 

 the United States should do nothing which 

 any other visible agency — State, city, town, 

 corporation or private individual — can do 

 as well. This seems a strange principle to 

 be enforced by the action of our govern- 

 ment in time of war, since the government 

 has a monopoly of this hideous activity ; 

 but this war has brought out in a very 

 striking way the fact that, when it comes 

 to the pinch, the source of victory is in the 

 personal initiative of each individual com- 

 mander and private soldier or sailor. In 

 warfare, as in industries, the automaton 

 counts for less and less, and the thinking, 

 resourceful individual for more and more. 

 The automaton is the natural result of 

 despotic institutions, civil and religious; 

 the resourceful, initiating individual is the 

 natural product of free institutions, under 

 which the citizens are as little restricted as 

 possible in the development and training 

 each of his own will-power and capacities. 

 To secure this fundamental advantage of 

 free institutions, as many fields of activity 

 as possible must be left open to the indi- 

 vidual and to voluntary associations of 

 of individuals. The maxim ' in time of 

 peace prepare for war ' means, therefore, 



