300 ANIMAL LIFE 
be traced in the relation of men and society. Thus, among 
men as among animals, self-dependence favors complexity 
of power. Dependence, parasitism, quiescence favor de- 
generation... Degeneration means loss of complexity, the 
narrowing of the range of powers and capabilities. It is 
not necessarily a phase of disease or the precursor of death. 
But as intellectual and moral excellence are matters associ- 
ated with high development in man, dependence is unfa- 
vorable to them. 
Degeneration has been called animal pauperism. Pau- 
perism in all its forms, whether due to idleness, pampering, 
or misery, is human degeneration. It has been shown that 
a large part of the criminality and pauperism among men 
is hereditary, due to the survival of the tendency toward 
living at the expense of others. The tendency to live with- 
out self-activity passes from generation to generation. 
Beggary is more profitable than unskilled and inefficient 
labor, and our ways of careless charity tend to propagate 
the beggar. That form of charity which does not render 
its recipient self-helpful is an incentive toward degenera- 
tion. Withdrawal from the competition of life, withdrawal 
from self-helpful activity, aided by the voluntary or invol- 
untary assistance of others—these factors bring about de- 
generation. The same results follow in al] ages and with 
all races, with the lower animals as with men. 
