LAW IN POLITICS. 397 



degeneracy, be evils dangerous to social and poli- 

 tical prosperity, then these results cannot and 

 must not be trusted to the instincts of individual 

 men. And why ? Because the few motives 

 which bear upon them, and which consequently 

 determine their conduct, have become almost 

 as imperious as the motives which determine 

 the conduct of the lower animals. Observers 

 whose duties have called them to a close in- 

 vestigation of the facts, have never failed to be 

 impressed with those facts as the result of 

 Laws against which the individual Will is un- 

 able to contend. Overpowering motives arise 

 out of the conditions of society — out of the 

 force of habit — out of the helplessness of poverty 

 — out of the thoughtlessness of wealth — out of 

 the eagerness of competition — out of the very 

 virtues even of industrial skill. These con- 

 stitute an aggregate of power tending in one 

 direction, which make the resulting action of 

 Mind as certain as the action of Inanimate 

 Force. " Thus," says Mr Baker, one of the most 

 experienced of our Factory Inspectors, " most of 

 the workshops of this great commercial country 



