

LESTER F. 1YARD AS SOCIOLOGIST 99 



of government he calls " sociocracy " in which the control of the social 

 future rather than the adjustment of private property interests will be 

 the chief function. 



Ten years later "Ward gave out " Pure Sociology/' in which he traced 

 the origin of society, the course of social development and the means by 

 which civilization had been built up. This was followed soon by " Ap- 

 plied Sociology," crown of his system and his last word on the problem 

 of accelerating social progress. While insisting equally with the social- 

 ists on the lop-sidedness of modern progress and the non-participation of 

 the masses in the fruits of the machine era, he utterly refused to pin his 

 hope for the future to single tax, collectivism or any economic reform 

 whatsoever. In his view no purely economic reform can put an end to 

 exploitation, because it leaves untouched the great inequality of intelli- 

 gence which alone makes exploitation possible. Education, therefore, is 

 the antidote not only to contemporary exploitation, but to such exploita- 

 tions as may be called into being by unforeseen future developments. 



"Ward believed that native talent or genius appears about as fre- 

 quently in one social class as another, in working-class children as in the 

 children of the well-to-do. The fact that through the centuries most of 

 the great men have sprung from the comfortable classes simply proves 

 the might of opportunity. The bringing of full educational opportuni- 

 ties within reach of all children will enable society for the first time to 

 realize on all its latent assets of human capacity. 



"Ward lived to see his ideas generally accepted by thoughtful men. 

 Xo longer is progress identified with the method of natural selection. 

 To-day no one advocates surrender to the blind forces of social develop- 

 ment. The laissez faire theory has been abandoned. The functions of 

 government have greatly multiplied, especially on the side of research, 

 education and stimulation. With this about-face Lester F. Ward had 

 something to do. He never reached the people, but he reached the 

 people who reached the people. His program remains yet to be realized, 

 but the leaders are moving in the direction he pointed. 



