Spiritual Evolution of Society 167 



amelioration of society generally, and even inter- 

 national relations, and decisions as to peace and war. 

 It must be admitted that there remains much room in 

 human nature for the exercise of self-sacrifice and the 

 submersion of the old instinct of acquisitiveness, the 

 domination of the law of righteousness, and sweet 

 reasonableness, but we are consoled by the fact that 

 the spiritual evolution is in process, and can see no 

 reason why all the influences of the desire for happiness 

 for oneself and others, combined with the ideals of the 

 highest development for each and every unit of society, 

 should not augment the force of this ethical develop- 

 ment, so that before many generations have passed we 

 may behold the ideal man in the ideal world. 



Mr. H. G. Wells has been writing lately on " Labour 

 Unrest." He says some wise things conjoined with 

 some unwise ones ; we fear he lacks profound insight 

 into the lesson of history and into the fact that the 

 " unrest " and demands of labour are due entirely to an 

 advance in the process of ethical evolution, and repre- 

 sent a phase which was bound to take place if further 

 development were to be a possibility. " We are caught 

 short of scientific men," he writes, " just as in the event 

 of war with Germany we shall almost certainly be 

 caught short of scientific soldiers and sailors. You 

 cannot make that sort of thing to order in a crisis." 

 Before proceeding further with this extract one must 

 point out here the limitation of mental vision, evidenced 

 sometimes in the minds of men of even considerable 

 brain power. One is inclined to call this literary small 

 talk, but admitting that Mr. Wells believes what he 

 writes, does it not show that he has not yet really studied 

 the matter ? He wants scientific men, but he refrains 

 himself from dealing with this important subject from 

 the scientific standpoint. The lesson of history is that 

 our navy has always known its work, that it has never 



