Chapter VI: Part 6

Enough has been said in these articles to show that this defect of method is not peculiar to one State, but is to be found in all. The remedies proposed or adopted have proved ineffectual to produce a better result. It is asserted that the more careful selection of the assessors, a higher salary for service, and a more strict accountability for their acts would introduce a reform; but this could, even under the most favorable of conditions, be only a partial reform. A State assessor with power to remove the assessors has been recommended, but this officer could not become so conversant with conditions throughout the State as to be able to decide on the many questions of assessments coming before him. Certain descriptions of property could be dealt with by such an officer and with an approach to fair and equal treatment. The valuation of the "main stem" of the New Jersey roads was made by civil engineers, and it is believed to have met the constitutional provision as to "true value." In the valuation of a vast quantity of other property no such expert knowledge could be applied, and especially is this true as to "personal property." Real estate might be approximately valued and a _cadastre_ or record prepared, but after twelve months the most carefully compiled valuation would be out of date. Before personal property the assessor would still stand powerless. No multiplication of officers or no system of control over the many local assessors can solve this question in a manner satisfactory to justice to both State and taxpayer.

It would seem, then, as if an abandonment of what has been regarded as almost essential features of the State tax systems alone offers relief. No such abandonment can be effected unless an adequate revenue from other sources be provided. The "general property tax," with its futile and laughable incompetency to reach the most profitable sources of revenue, should be modified, and even eliminated as far as is possible. The general principle underlying it, of taxing every form of property, was suited only to a time when the bulk of a man's estate consisted in visible and tangible objects--lands, houses, live stock, and furniture. With every creation of a credit instrument, with the immense development of corporations, the principle has become weaker, until it now stands confessedly inapplicable to at least four fifths of the personal property in existence, and this proportion grows larger each year.

PHASES OF PRACTICAL PHILANTHROPY.

BY HARRIET A. TOWNSEND.

The annual reports of the "Conference of Charities and Corrections" indicate a growing interest in the study of scientific philanthropy. That there has been marvelous progress in methods of charitable work during the past decade no one will deny, but, gratifying as this is (or appears to be on the surface), we find a somewhat discouraging feature in the tendency of the present to multiply institutions, to inaugurate new and extravagant enterprises where theories may be proved, and which threaten to become burdensome to a generous public and to absorb energy in the financial struggle to maintain them which is sorely needed for the more vital issues of the work. The purpose of this article is to give information about simple and practical efforts which have met the test of usefulness and are worthy of imitation. They are being used in four different lines--namely, protection, education, domestic training, and employment.

PROTECTION.--The first protective agency was organized in New York city in 1864; it is truly an American idea, and before that date no organization of its kind had been known in England or on the European continent.

As a result of the civil war many women were thrown upon their own resources, with children to support, and much suffering was endured in the effort to obtain adequate compensation for labor performed. The objects of the parent protective association--"to secure justice for women and children, to give legal advice free of charge, and to extend moral support to the wronged and helpless"--appealed forcibly to practical philanthropists, and there now exist similar agencies in many other large cities in America, such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Buffalo, and San Francisco. The women's educational and industrial unions, which work "to increase fellowship among women in order to promote the best practical methods for securing their educational, industrial, and social advancement," have all adopted the protective work as an important branch of their endeavor. To give detailed statistics of all that has been accomplished in this line since 1864 would be impossible; indeed, so much of the work is of a private nature which can never be revealed that one must "read between the lines" of the annual reports; suffice it to say that by the protective department of one women's union during a period of fourteen years more than twelve thousand dollars unjustly withheld from working women (mostly in small sums) has been collected, police matrons appointed in three local stations, women given places on public boards, a law passed compelling the appointment of women physicians in all the State insane hospitals, and a law making the guardianship of the mother equal to that of the father (passed by the State Legislature without a single negative vote). All this has been done with little expenditure of money, but through the wise effort of courageous men and women whose service has been rendered not for charity alone, but in the cause of justice, "that each should have what he has justly earned is the first necessity of social life."

One province of the protective work is to endeavor to make more clear the obligation of the employer and employee, and especially in the domain of household service to place the relation on a commercial basis. The problem of unskilled labor in the home is the principal difficulty in the way of such reform, and until the household economic and kindred associations shall bear more fruit it may prove an insurmountable barrier to complete success. During the last ten years the attention of the humanitarian has been frequently called to the injustice of our laws regulating the "age of consent." In some States the age has been raised to sixteen or eighteen years and penalties increased, but through widespread ignorance of the law it is often a dead letter in both small towns and large cities. A law so constantly broken and with impunity provides little protection for the young of both sexes, in whose interest it is framed, and it is a _dead_ letter because of the indifference of the public. To spread abroad a knowledge of and help to enforce these laws, which so intimately affect the purity of the home, is worthy the consecrated effort of the noblest and most cultivated women in our land. For this and other like ends the number of protective agencies should be largely increased. In every town, or at least in every county, such an association might be formed. There are only required a few women with brave hearts and clear heads, willing to give one afternoon or evening a week, the free services of one or more able lawyers (which will never be found lacking), a small room for a meeting place, and the work can begin. Let notice be given through the press or in the churches that a protective agency is formed and stands ready to offer sympathy and advice to all women in need. Methods of work are very simple: printed blanks are important to properly record the cases, and letterheads which shall give names of committee and those of the attorneys; when a claim for wages is presented, a courteous letter stating the fact that the wage-earner has asked the assistance of the protective agency, and requesting the defendant to answer personally or by letter and to state his side of the case, will generally receive response; great care must be observed to be just to both parties, and not to make hasty nor unwarrantable decisions.

The laws affecting the rights and property of women of New York have been briefly compiled for the use of protective associations, and it is very easy to obtain in any State a copy of the laws regulating domestic service for reference in making decisions. The Legal Status of Women, compiled by Jessie J. Cassidy (a graduate of Cornell), will be found useful. If in the beginning the work of protection should be misunderstood and resented it matters not; in time it will win the respect and co-operation of the best elements in any community. What a moral force would an "endless chain" of such workers prove in the struggle for universal brotherhood! To give courage to the most humble beginning we have the word of our philosopher that "every reform was once a private opinion."

DOMESTIC TRAINING.--Scientific domestic training or household science is becoming a subject of great interest to all who believe that a truer development of home life lies at the foundation of all social and moral progress.

Three large institutions--Pratt, of Brooklyn; Drexel, of Philadelphia; and the College of Teachers, in New York city--present opportunities for the thorough training of teachers in this comparatively new branch of popular education.

Clubs for the study of household economics are multiplying year by year; the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ has given earnest thought to the domestic problem, and as a result, and in spite of much prejudice, courses of cookery have been made a part of the public-school curriculum in a few of our large cities. The Board of Regents of New York State has recently adopted a syllabus for a course in home science to be used in the high schools. While the movement, as yet, may be said to be in the experimental stage, it is safe to assert that sentiment in favor of the new idea is increasing. The difficulties in the way of a rapid growth are formidable and make the outlook somewhat discouraging.

To properly equip a school for scientific domestic training is in the beginning a considerable expense; the number of skilled teachers ready for the field is small, and their services too valuable to be given without adequate compensation. The cooking schools so far established have not proved self-sustaining, and until more sensible ideas as to the dignity of household labor shall prevail, limitations will continue.

In all reforms we must "dig at the roots" if we would insure a steady and healthful growth. The kitchen-garden idea, originated by Miss Emily Huntington in 1887 for "the purpose of giving the little daughters of the poor attractive instruction in housework," has proved one of the best means of practical philanthropy ever discovered. The New York Kitchen-Garden Association was formed in 1880, and from that, as its crowning work, we have the New York Training School for Teachers. The kitchen-garden lessons are very simple; they include how to make beds and take care of sleeping rooms, set and wait on table, wash and iron clothes, care of a baby and the nursery, how to build fires, clean lamps, sweep and dust, instruction in house-cleaning, marketing, and the care of the person--all taught by miniature utensils to the accompaniment of songs and exercises, which give enthusiasm and variety to the work. The training of the kitchen-garden teacher is not difficult, and young women in any community, by a few lessons as to the methods and a study of kitchen-garden literature, may soon become efficient.

Children of the ages of from five to eleven are eligible for the training, and both girls and boys enjoy the classes. After the various lessons have been mastered, the next step for girls is into the cooking class, and if on account of the expense or for any other reason the scientific teacher is _not_ available, the courses may be given by housekeepers. Very practical results were thus obtained by one organization of women. A class of fourteen young girls graduated from a kitchen garden were given instruction for twenty weeks on every Saturday morning; the lessons were divided into four short courses; five each were given in the preparation of breakfast, luncheon, dinner, and supper. Every fifth morning was devoted to a practice lesson, when the little cooks prepared and served a meal without assistance.

While the number of kitchen gardens is increasing there are yet many localities where the good seed has not taken root; no better work in village or town could enlist the faithful service of King's Daughters or of societies for Christian Endeavor. An inexpensive outfit of kitchen-garden utensils can easily be procured and the work begun. When a class is ready to graduate from the kitchen garden the voluntary service of half a dozen notable housekeepers, who will give the simple lessons in cooking once a week, will yield a most satisfactory harvest. The unconscious tuition of the cultivated house mother is often of greater value than all else. A little girl of eleven years given such opportunities enthusiastically exclaimed, "I've taught my mother how to make bread!" The mother, a peasant woman from across the sea, had passed her childhood and youth in the fields, and, like many of her class, had received no training for the responsibilities of motherhood. To the large number of foreigners, who are constantly seeking homes in our free land, the privileges of the kitchen garden and the free cooking school would prove an inestimable blessing. When housework shall take its proper place among the professions, the chaos which now abounds in a majority of American homes will be forever banished. In home making, regarded as one of the noblest objects of every woman's life--in fact, _the_ object whenever possible--lies the hope of the future. To this end God speed the kitchen garden and the cooking school!

EDUCATION.--The public school and kindergarten, free libraries, art galleries and museums, cheap literature, and compulsory education laws would seem, to the casual observer, to leave little need for the philanthropist in the field of education. A philosopher of to-day looks forward to the time when "the object of all free education shall be the emancipation of the individual," and to the time "when general education shall be supplemented by special schools for the special vocations of life."

The trend of the present system of education may be in that direction and the prospect more or less hopeful, but that the schools and other opportunities mentioned do not now reach all who need instruction is demonstrated by the success of the various clubs, classes, and lectures which form so important a part of the humanitarian associations of to-day. Everywhere are found men and women of middle age who can not read or write, who were denied even a common-school education in youth; to reach such as these and make them not ashamed to accept and make use of the privileges for which they have secretly longed is practical philanthropy. Among the foreign-born population many children are early forced to help earn the necessities of life, and are taken from school as soon as the law will allow.

The college settlements have already accomplished much for this class, but their work has been confined to thickly settled districts in large communities. The story of The Abandoned Farm in New England is familiar, and bears its own pertinent lesson. Because of the opportunities for education, entertainment, and varied employment which the large city offers, the young people desert the farm, home ties are broken, and many lives ruined. Of the low ideals which prevail in many country districts there are striking illustrations.

A bright woman sojourning for a winter in a small town found that there were two hotels or taverns where liquor was sold, two churches where only occasional services were held, a single school-house kept open during the winter months, no hall except the ballrooms of the hotels (used only for dancing), no library, and no entertainments of a literary order. This woman organized a club or debating society, and after a few months of careful guidance she allowed the members to select their own topic for the last meeting of the season; to her great surprise, a debate was announced on the subject, "Whether it is better for a young man upon coming of age to have one thousand dollars or a good education." The majority decided that it would be better to have the money, because he could then speculate and gain a fortune!

What better missionary work could be done in behalf of education than to establish a "thought center" in every farming region or small town? The system of traveling libraries, a recent and encouraging movement, makes it possible (in some States) to place the best books and current literature in the homes of the farmers and of the inhabitants of the smallest towns. The books can be obtained, made use of, and exchanged for others, so that the interest may be perpetuated; the conditions are not difficult, and the fact that a room or rooms must be provided for the safe keeping and the circulation of the library is important. A traveling library once secured, a "thought center" is established. Lectures, clubs, and classes will follow; they are a natural sequence. In addition to literary topics, talks on personal purity, physical culture (respect for the body as the temple of the soul), and on home ideals (plain living and high thinking) may be given. Good men and women, fitted to speak well on these subjects, will be ready to give their services. Where enthusiasm is once aroused, seed can be sown by such nonsectarian gatherings which fails to take root in the churches.

We are taught that the highest authority within man is the conscience. Rosenkranz, in his Philosophy of Education, gives this fine definition of conscience: "Conscience is the criticism which the ideal self makes on the realized self." To discover and quicken the ideal self wherever possible is one of the noblest aims of practical philanthropy.

EMPLOYMENT.--A recent report of the United States Labor Commissioner, Hon. Carroll D. Wright, states that the number of women laborers is increasing, but that women are more generally taking the places of children than of men; that the encroachment of women upon the occupations held by men is so far very slight, and only in conditions where women are better adapted for the particular work in which they are employed.

"Women," he says, "are considered by many employers to be more reliable, more easily controlled, neater, more rapid, industrious, polite and careful, and less liable to strike than men. Wyoming and Utah are cited as the only States which have laws according to men and women equal wages for equal work. There is still much economic injustice as to compensation for women's work, although some progress has been made within the last few years."

The agitation of the question of "equal pay for equal work," if it has not as yet accomplished much for the woman wage-earner, has at least revealed the fact that women as a class are not as well trained for the work they attempt as men. The number of unskilled women in all branches of trade presents a problem which may well engage the attention of the philanthropist. The necessity of earning to "keep the wolf from the door," the pleasure resulting from financial independence, and a desire to add to "pin money" have all tended to increase the number of girls and women who are seeking employment outside the home. The fever has extended to the smaller towns, and even to the farmers' wives and daughters, until the supply greatly exceeds the demand in many localities, and the women really in need are often crowded to the wall in this inadequate race. In the passing of old ideas as to the proper status of woman much good has been evolved; it is no longer considered degrading to earn one's living, and the woman worker in every field is winning her way to the respect and recognition which she deserves.

What can be done to raise the standard of woman's work, to give more thorough training in vocations for which women are best fitted, to dignify important occupations which suffer from the lack of skilled service and which are not overcrowded because of mistaken ideas, and, above all, to make women ashamed to receive compensation which they do not fully earn?

The employment bureaus connected with the various organizations of women are endeavoring to answer these questions. Their object, as outlined, is to advise and adopt such methods as shall best assist women in their chosen vocations; to also provide a bureau of registration where applications can be received and information given.

A committee of practical women supervises the work and endeavors not only to secure temporary positions, but to confer permanent benefits on those who seek their aid. The applicants usually include stenographers, typewriters, copyists, clerks, governesses, matrons, nurses, housekeepers, seamstresses, laundresses, cooks, and housemaids. It is the rule, and not the exception, to find a girl or woman _specially_ fitted for the position she seeks. The majority are not fitted even to do _one_ thing well, and the ignorance and assumption shown are appalling.

To discover latent ability, to stimulate the desire to excel, to explain the rights of the employer and employee, and the moral obligations of both, is a part of the privilege of the women who give time and thought to the employment problem.

The Boston Women's Educational and Industrial Union has been able to render excellent service by the distribution of circulars cautioning women against advertisements which offer large returns for work done at home. Its list of fraudulent firms, obtained by thorough investigation, has been sent to other associations, and has already proved of inestimable value to many women who would otherwise have been tempted to send money, allured by the attractive advertisements.

The list compiled gives the names of one hundred firms which are a "delusion and a snare," and which, on account of some trifling technicality, the law seems unable to touch.

To exalt the home and raise the standard of domestic service is another important object--perhaps the most important of all. From the ordinary intelligence office to the employment bureau under the guidance of educated women is a long step for progress.

In all humane effort, the more scientific the methods employed the better will be the results. According to Charles Kingsley, "scientific method needs no definition--it is simply the exercise of common sense."

HERBERT SPENCER AT SEVENTY-NINE.

The portrait of Herbert Spencer, which forms the frontispiece to this number of the Monthly, is from a photograph taken soon after he reached the age of seventy-eight. Though of late years his health has been unusually feeble, this is scarcely reflected in the face, which still retains in a marked degree the expression of intellectual strength that was so characteristic of his prime.

About the time Mr. Spencer completed the Synthetic Philosophy, or, as it is better known, the Philosophy of Evolution, with the publication of the third volume of the Principles of Sociology, we gave an account of The Man and his Work, from the pen of Prof. William H. Hudson, who had for a number of years acted as his secretary, and was so familiar with his thought that he afterward published an Introduction to the Philosophy, which Mr. Spencer himself has cordially commended. It was naturally supposed by his many friends that having practically carried out his original plan as laid down in his prospectus thirty-six years before, Mr. Spencer would throw off the cares and vexations of authorship, to enjoy the rest and relaxation that his arduous and long-continued labors had earned. But this, it seems, he was not inclined to do. Apparently as active intellectually as ever, he has kept at work to the full extent of his physical ability, devoting himself mainly to such additions and modifications of his published writings as new knowledge and the advance of thought have made necessary. This persistent industry, unusual, to say the least, in one so far advanced in life, the presentation of his latest portrait, and the interest which the world takes in the doings of a man who has so profoundly influenced the thought of his time, make this a fitting opportunity to refer to some of the later incidents in his career.

Though never inclined to plume himself on the importance or the grandeur of his great undertaking, wondering now that he ever had the "audacity" to begin it, and regarding its completion as more an "emancipation" than a triumph, Mr. Spencer is nevertheless entitled to the satisfaction which comes from the contemplation in the evening of a long life of the fulfillment of the purpose to which that life has been devoted. Although he speaks of the series of works comprising the Synthetic Philosophy as "complete yet incomplete," because more things might have been put into it, Mr. Spencer has the unquestionable right to look upon his "system" as finished in all the essentials of a symmetrical and self-sustaining structure; and more than this, he finds it generally accepted as a masterpiece, embodying, if not all the truth, yet a fundamental truth manifested in the growth and order of the universe of matter and mind.

When we regard the comprehensiveness of Mr. Spencer's system, embracing everything there is, and the multitude of the details that had to be considered in the course of its preparation, we wonder at the magnitude of the aggregation that may be formed by the repetition of small daily tasks. The portions of time he was able to give to work were at most very brief, and would be regarded by the majority of workers as insufficient for any great accomplishment; and when the frequent and sometimes long interruptions that occurred are considered, seem absolutely insignificant. Yet in these small fragments of two or three hours a day with many lost days in the year, and several lost years, one of the greatest works in the history of the human mind was carried to its end. The old figure of the dropping of the water on the stone and the fable of the tortoise and the hare are newly illustrated.

Outside of his work in the composition of the Philosophy, Mr. Spencer has always taken a vital interest in leading public questions, making them the subjects of frequent communications to the press, and seeking the co-operation of others when opportunity offered either in combating some needless innovation or aiding some important reform. True to the teaching of his philosophy, it will be observed that in any attempts of the kind his reliance has always been on the power of gradual development, rather than abrupt changes by acts of Parliament or otherwise, to bring about desired conditions. Before his visit to the United States, in 1882, he interested himself in forming an Anti-Aggression League, for the purpose of opposing schemes for extending the lines of British dominion in various parts of the world. Among his associates in this effort were Mr. John Morley, Mr. Frederic Harrison, and the Rev. Llewellyn Davis and Canon Fremantle, now Dean of Ripon, liberal-minded clergymen of the Church of England. The movement found little public sympathy, and no adequate support. Mr. Spencer, severely taxing his strength in promoting it, suffered another breakdown (from which he has never fully recovered), in consequence of which the next number of his Philosophy--Part VI of the Principles of Sociology: Ecclesiastical Institutions--did not appear till the close of 1855. It is worthy of remark in connection with this incident that it seems to have been left for non-Christians almost alone in a professedly Christian community to take the advance in inculcating and disseminating one of the central ideas of the Christian religion; as now, in the United States, with the orthodox church people almost unanimous in supporting war and the wildest schemes of aggression, it has been left for a few New England Unitarians first to dare to speak in protest against an iniquitous and perilous crusade for foreign dominion. Mr. Spencer has never neglected an opportunity to express in unmistakable terms his aversion to militancy, and has been at great pains to demonstrate, as in his Sociology, that the true road to all higher development of society is through encouraging the growth of its industrial factors.

A disposition manifested among English legislators to favor the passage of acts embodying some of the ideas of the socialists led to the publication of a series of magazine articles showing the demoralizing tendencies of measures of paternalism and foreshadowing the disastrous ultimate results that would ensue from the unnecessary interference of the state. These were afterward collected and published under the title of The Man _versus_ the State, and are now bound up with the revised Social Statics.

From the spring of 1886 till 1889, when conditions of health compelled entire suspension of the work on the Philosophy, and it was even doubtful whether it could ever be continued, Mr. Spencer dictated the larger part of his autobiography. This has since been completed and put in print, but will not be published during his lifetime. It will comprise two considerable volumes.

Not finding life in a boarding house in all respects suited to his wishes, Mr. Spencer for many years entertained the idea of establishing himself in a home of his own in the suburbs of London, but had been deterred from so doing by the prospective troubles of housekeeping. In the summer of 1889, however, after making such arrangements as promised to relieve him in great measure of these cares, he finally carried out the idea by taking a house in the neighborhood of Regent's Park. But though for some years the bachelor household was a success, we understand it eventually ceased to be so, though it was continued until Mr. Spencer changed his residence to Brighton two years ago. There was wanting in those who had immediate charge of details that feeling of identity of interests and that disposition to co-operate which belong to the ordinary family, and as a consequence differences grew up that could not be permanently composed, and that on the whole did not conduce to domestic tranquillity.

About the time his housekeeping experience was entered upon, Mr. Spencer found himself well enough to go on with the composition of his Philosophy. As he relates in the preface to the Data of Ethics and to Justice, he had already, ten years before, in the imminent doubt of ever being able to complete the work as it had been laid out, determined to devote his attention first to the end and ultimate object of the system--to that part of it to which all the rest was intended to lead up; the purpose, "lying behind all proximate purposes," of finding a scientific basis for the principles of right and wrong in conduct at large. When, now, the question arose again of what work to undertake first, completion of the Principles of Ethics was at once decided upon. As it was still doubtful whether he would be able to accomplish even this, he took up the part which seemed most important--Justice. This was published as Part IV of the Ethics in the summer of 1891. No further serious interruptions occurred in the execution of the work. Parts II and III, completing the first volume of the Ethics, were finished in the spring of 1892; and a year afterward Parts V and VI were added, forming, with Justice, the second volume.

The ethical part of the Philosophy as contemplated by Mr. Spencer having been completed, only two divisions remained to be worked out--Professional Institutions and Industrial Institutions, parts of the Principles of Sociology--to fill out the whole plan. A subsidiary discussion of considerable importance for the integrity of the theory of evolution now intervened to be disposed of before these parts of the work could be proceeded with. Prof. August Weismann had published a book in which he denied the transmission of acquired characters; or, as Mr. Spencer would word it, the transmission of functionally-wrought modifications--a very vital point in all Mr. Spencer's philosophy. Mr. Spencer took the matter up at once, and published several incisive essays refuting Professor Weismann's positions. He opened his argument against the neo-Darwinian position with essays on the Inadequacy of Natural Selection, and on Professor Weismann's Theories, and followed them, at intervals of a few months, with the additional articles, A Rejoinder to Professor Weismann, and Weismannism Once More. Anxious that the question should be brought to the notice of every biologist, Mr. Spencer had reprints of these essays distributed among the teachers of the science all over Europe and America.

The work on the final stage of Mr. Spencer's great undertaking was begun about the middle of 1894. The reading of an editorial in the Popular Science Monthly having suggested to him that it would be desirable to do so, he published the chapters on Professional Institutions--serially in this periodical and in the Contemporary Review. The chapters on Industrial Institutions did not appear till the third volume of the Sociology was issued in November, 1896--the volume which was the culmination of the work so persistently prosecuted in the face of the most formidable and even seemingly hopeless difficulties. In these departments of the system, the argument was pursued, consistent with that which prevails in all the other departments, that in the professions and the industries the principle of evolution operates just as surely and completely as in the derivation of an animal species from its ancestral form.

Appreciation of the value of Mr. Spencer's work had been growing for many years, and its influence was gradually making itself felt in movements of various kinds in the active world. Whatever he wrote or said received attention at once, was discussed, or influenced action. The completion of his Philosophy was deemed worthy of formal notice and a proper subject for felicitation wherever science was known, and in England was regarded as a suitable object for a national memorial. An address of congratulation was prepared for presentation to him, and with it went a request that he would have his portrait painted to be presented to the nation. It has always been his principle to decline offers of testimonials, on the ground that the custom had become an abuse, and persons invited to participate in presentations were often put under a kind of moral obligation to comply, to which he would not be, even incidentally, a party. Consistently with this attitude and not realizing the real nature of the movement in favor of a testimonial and how really spontaneous it was, he wrote to its promoters repeating his objections and asking that it be not pressed. But when the address was presented and he saw the list of illustrious names attached to it, including those of men who had been his antagonists, he yielded to what was evidently a spontaneous feeling of the representative men among his countrymen, and sat for his portrait as soon as circumstances permitted, or about a year afterward, to Mr. Hubert Herkomer. The following is the letter of congratulation and the request for his portrait, with the names of the distinguished signers, and Mr. Spencer's reply:

THE CAMP, SUNNINGDALE, _December 16, 1896_.

DEAR SIR: We, the undersigned, offer you our cordial
congratulations upon the completion of your System of Synthetic
Philosophy.

Not all of us agreeing in equal measure with its conclusions, we
are all at one in our estimate of the great intellectual powers it
exhibits and of the immense effect it has produced in the history of
thought; nor are we less impressed by the high moral qualities which
have enabled you to concentrate those powers for so many years upon
a purpose worthy of them, and, in spite of all obstacles, to carry
out so vast a design.

To the many who, like us, have learned to honor the man while
profiting by his writings, it would be a satisfaction to possess an
authentic personal likeness of the author. It has therefore occurred
to us that the occasion might be appropriately marked by requesting
you to permit us to employ some eminent artist to take your
portrait, with a view, to its being deposited in one of our national
collections for the benefit of ourselves and of those who come after
us.

We hope that your health may be benefited by the leisure which
you have earned so well, and that you may long continue to enjoy the
consciousness of having completed your work.

W. DE W. ABNEY, R. E., C. B., D. C. L., F. R. S., Pres. Physical
Society.

ROBERT ADAMSON, M. A., LL. D., Prof, of Logic, Glasgow
University.

GRANT ALLEN, B. A.

ALEXANDER BAIN, M. A., LL. D., Professor of Logic, Aberdeen
University.

SIR GEORGE S. BADEN-POWELL, K. C. M. G., M. A., M. P.

RIGHT HON. ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR, P. C., D. C. L., F. R. S., M. P.

SIR ROBERT STAWELL BALL, LL. D., F. R. S., Lowndean Prof. Ast.,
Camb.

H. CHARLTON BASTIAN, M. A., M. D., F. R. S., Prof. Medicine,
Univ. Coll., London.

FRANK E. BEDDARD, M. A., F. R. S., Prosector Zoölogical Society.

JOHN BEDDOE, M. D., F. R. S.

SIR WALTER BESANT, M. A.

E. W. BRABROOK, Pres. Anthropological Institute.

BERNARD BOSANQUET, M. A.

C. V. BOYS, F. R. S., Assistant Prof. Physics R. C. S.

T. LAUDER BRUNTON, M. D., D. Sc., F. R. S.

EDWARD CLODD.

F. HOWARD COLLINS.

SIR J. CRICHTON-BROWNE, M. D., LL. D., F. R. S.

W. H. DALLINGER, LL. D., D. Sc., F. R. S.

FRANCIS DARWIN, M. A., M. B., F. R. S.

GEORGE H. DARWIN, M. A., LL. D., F. R. S., Plumian Prof. Ast. and
Exp. Physics, Cambridge.

W. E. DARWIN, B. A.

JAMES DONALDSON, M. A., LL. D., Principal University St. Andrews.

RIGHT HON. SIR M. E. GRANT-DUFF, P. C., G. C. S. I., F. R. S.
Earl of Dysart.

SIR JOHN EVANS, K. C. B., D. C. L., LL. D., D. Sc., Treas. R. S.

SIR JOSHUA FITCH, LL. D.

MICHAEL FOSTER, M. A., M. D., LL. D., D. C. L., Sec. R. S., Prof.
Physio., Cambridge.

EDWARD FRANKLAND, M. D., D. C. L., LL. D., F. R. S.

RIGHT HON. SIR EDWARD FRY, P. C., LL. D., D. C. L., F. R. S.

SIR DOUGLAS GALTON, K. C. B., D. C. L., LL. D., F. R. S.

FRANCIS GALTON, M. A., D. C. L., D. Sc., F. R. S.

RICHARD GARNETT, LL. D.

SIR GEORGE GROVE, C. B., D. C. L., LL. D.

ALBERT C. L. G. GÜNTHER, M. A., M. D., F. R. S., Pres. Linnean
Society.

FREDERIC HARRISON, M. A.

JAMES EDMUND HARTING.

RIGHT HON. LORD HOBHOUSE, P. C.

HENRY HOBHOUSE, M. A., M. P.

SHADWORTH HODGSON, late Pres. Aristotelian Society.

SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER, K. C. S. I., C. B., M. D., D. C. L.,
LL. D., F. R. S.

WILLIAM HUGGINS, D. C. L., LL. D., F. R. S.

J. HUGHLINGS JACKSON, M. D., LL. D., F. R. S.

WILLIAM KNIGHT, LL. D., Prof. Moral Philosophy, St. Andrews.

ANDREW LANG.

E. RAY LANKESTER, M. A., LL. D., F. R. S., Linacre Prof. Anatomy,
Oxford.

SIR TREVOR LAWRENCE, Pres. Royal Horticultural Society.

W. E. H. LECKY, M. A., LL. D., D. C. L., M. P.

J. NORMAN LOCKYER, C. B., F. R. S., Prof. Astr. Physics, R. C. S.

RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, P. C., D. C. L., LL. D., F. R. S.,
M. P.

VERNON LUSHINGTON, Q. C.

P. A. MACMAHON, R. A., F. R. S., late Pres. Math. Society.

JAMES MARTINEAU, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L.

DAVID MASSON, M. A., LL. D., Emeritus Prof. Rhetoric, Edinburgh.

RAPHAEL MELDOLA, F. R. S., Pres. Entomological Society.

C. LLOYD MORGAN, Prin. University Coll., Bristol.

RIGHT HON. JOHN MORLEY, P. C., M. A., LL. D., F. R. S., M. P.

C. HUBERT H. PARRY, Prin. R. Coll. of Music.

GENERAL PITT-RIVERS, D. C. L., F. R. S.

EDWARD B. POULTON, M. A., F. R. S., Prof. Zoöl. Oxford
University.

SIR WILLIAM O. PRIESTLEY, M. D., LL. D., M. P.

LORD REAY, G. C. S. I., G. C. I. E.

LORD RAYLEIGH, M. A., D. C. L., LL. D., F. R. S., Prof. Nat.
Philos. Royal Institution.

DAVID G. RITCHIE, M. A., Professor of Logic St. Andrews
University.

SIR HENRY E. ROSCOE, LL. D., D. C. L., F. R. S.

J. S. BURDON SANDERSON, LL. D., D. C. L., F. R. S., Reg. Prof. of
Medicine Univ. Oxford.

GEORGE H. SAVAGE, M. D., F. R. C. P.

E. A. SCHÄFER, F. R. S., Prof. Physio. Univ. Coll. London.

D. H. SCOTT, M. A., Ph. D., F. R. S., Hon. Keeper Jodrell
Laboratory, Kew.

HENRY SIDGWICK, M. A., Litt. D., D. C. L., Prof. Moral Philos.
Univ. Camb.

W. R. SORLEY, Prof. Moral Philos. Univ. of Aberdeen.

LESLIE STEPHEN, M. A., Litt. D., LL. D.

G. F. STOUT.

JAMES SULLY, M. A., LL. D.

W. T. THISELTON-DYER, C. M. G., C. I. E., M. A., F. R. S.

JOHN VENN, Sc. D., F. R. S.

SYDNEY HOWARD VINES, M. A., D. Sc., F. R. S., Prof. Botany Univ.
Oxford.

SIR WILLOUGHBY WADE, M. D., F. R. C. P.

ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, D. C. L., F. R. S.

BEATRICE WEBB.

LADY VICTORIA WELBY.

SAMUEL WILKS, M. D., LL. D., F. R. S., Pres. R. College of
Physicians.

HAWARDEN, _November 30, 1896_.

MY DEAR SIR: It has long been my rule to decline joining in
groups of signatures, nor do I think myself entitled to bear a
prominent part in the present case. But I beg that you will, if you
think proper, set me down as an approver of the request to Mr.
Spencer, whose signal abilities and, rarer still, whose manful and
self-denying character, are so justly objects of admiration.

I remain your very faithful,
W. E. GLADSTONE.

F. HOWARD COLLINS, Esq.

2, LEWES-CRESCENT, BRIGHTON, _December 19, 1896_.

MY DEAR HOOKER: If, as may fitly be said, the value of
congratulations increases in a geometrical progression with the
eminence of those offering them, I may, indeed, be extremely
gratified by the accumulation coming from men standing so high in
various spheres. And an accompanying pleasure necessarily results
from the good wishes expressed for my health and happiness during my
remaining days.

The further honor offered has caused in me some mental conflict.
Eight years ago, to the inquiry whether I would sit for a
subscription portrait to be painted by Millais, I replied
negatively, assigning the reasons that the raising of funds to pay
the costs of conferring marks of approbation had grown into an
abuse; that the moral coercion under which contributions were in
many cases obtained was repugnant to me; and that I objected to have
my known and unknown friends asked to tax themselves to the required
extent. These reasons survived, and, swayed by them, I recently sent
a copy of the letter in which they had been stated to the gentleman
with whom the proposal now made originated, thinking thereby to
prevent further trouble. I was unaware to how large an extent the
proposal had been adopted and how distinguished were the numerous
gentlemen who had given it their support. I now find myself obliged
either inconsistently to waive my objection or else rudely to slight
the cordially-expressed feelings and wishes of so many whose
positions and achievements command my great respect. Between the
alternatives there seems to be practically no choice. I am compelled
to yield to the request made in so sympathetic a manner by
signatories so eminent, and at the same time must express to them
through you my full sense of the honor done me.

I am, my dear Hooker, sincerely yours,
HERBERT SPENCER.

Marks of honor offered to Mr. Spencer from time to time since 1871 have included doctor's degrees from the Universities of St. Andrews, Bologna, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Buda-Pesth; and elections as foreign member or correspondent of the Academies of Rome, Turin, Naples, Paris, Philadelphia, Copenhagen, Brussels, Vienna, Milan, and the Prussian order "_Pour le Mérite_." Mr. Spencer has been prompted year after year to decline these various honors by the conviction that instead of being, as commonly supposed, encouragements to literature and science, they are discouraging. He contends that they constitute a system of inverse handicapping. In physical competitions it is usual to give the younger a certain artificial advantage when they are set against the elder; but in these mental competitions between the rising men and the men who have risen the reverse practice is followed--the men who have risen have an artificial advantage, and the younger men, who of necessity have much to struggle against, have their difficulties artificially increased by the absence of titles which their competitors possess. Mr. Spencer is quite aware that the course he has persistently followed has cost him much, since a list of honors on the title-pages of his books would have greatly increased the attention paid to them by critics and others. Nevertheless, he has continued to make this practical protest.

Since completing his Philosophy, Mr. Spencer has occupied his working hours with the revision of the Principles of Biology, making the modifications and incorporating the new facts which the progress of the science demands. He recognizes that the advance has been more rapid in this branch than in any other; and that while it might be almost hopeless for him at his time of life to bring a work on biology at large up to date, the case is different in an exposition of the Principles of Biology. The additions to the work include a chapter on Metabolism supplementing the discussion of vital changes of matter; a chapter on the Dynamic Element in Life, to render less inadequate the conception of life previously expressed; some pages on Structure; an account, under the head of Cell Life and Cell Multiplication, of the astonishing actions in cell nuclei which the microscope has revealed; a further chapter on Genesis, Heredity, and Variation, in which certain views enunciated in the first edition of the book are qualified and developed; a review of various modern ideas under the title of Recent Criticisms and Hypotheses; a rewriting of most of the chapter on The Argument from Embryology; and a number of changes incorporated as sections in pre-existing chapters. The articles on Weissmannism are incorporated in an appendix. In performing this work assistance was needed, and the author sought and received criticism and help from different persons, each taking a division falling within the range of his special studies: Prof. W. H. Perkin in organic chemistry and its derived subjects; Prof. A. G. Tansley in plant morphology and physiology; Prof. E. W. MacBride and Mr. J. T. Cunningham in animal morphology; and Mr. W. B. Hardy in animal physiology. The first volume of this work, recently published, has been received with favor by persons of all shades of opinion respecting the questions it touches. The London Times, in not the friendliest of criticisms, says that even persons who do not accept the author's Philosophy will rejoice that he has been able to complete it, and adds that as it stands it "is a marvel of erudition: every page exhibits the wealth and variety of illustration for which Mr. Spencer is justly famous." The latest notice of it that we have observed, a French one in the _Revue Scientifique_, says that in consulting it biologists "will not lose their time, and many will find valuable ideas in it, suggestions by which their experimental work can not fail to be greatly benefited. And, like us, they will be filled with admiration for a work so condensed, and at the same time so admirably co-ordinated, so replete with facts and ideas, of the philosopher who has exercised so great an influence on the science of his times, and who is one of the finest intellectual glories of his country and of the present epoch." Perhaps one of the most significant of recent testimonials of appreciation of the Synthetic Philosophy is the announcement of the publication of a complete translation of First Principles into Japanese by Mr. Fujii, who has devoted several years to the work. "Mr. Spencer's works," it is added, "have long had a great attraction for Japanese translators." Mr. Spencer is now engaged upon the second volume of the Biology.

It was formerly Mr. Spencer's custom to spend about nine months of the year in London and the three summer months in the country, but for several years past he has found the fogs and other gloomy winter conditions of the metropolis too trying. The confinement enforced upon him by increasing feebleness has, moreover, precluded his enjoyment of the social privileges, particularly of the Athenæum Club, which were one of the attractions that made a town residence tolerable. He therefore, at the beginning of 1898, took up his residence in Brighton, where he has a house looking upon the sea, and giving him the benefit of the flood of light which that place enjoys.

At present Mr. Spencer is able to give very little time to work, and being confined to the house most of the time, the routine of his daily life admits of little variety. His first business in the day is to hear the morning paper read; then he attends to his correspondence, and if well enough does a little work. If any matter is going through the press he will generally be seen with a proof close by. His afternoon is spent in such relaxation as is afforded by scanning the illustrated papers and magazines, listening to music, which must always be classical, or, if sufficiently well, a drive; and he retires at ten o'clock.

* * * * *

It is often asked, Miss Mary H. Kingsley says in her West African
Studies, whether Christianity or Mohammedanism is to possess
Africa--"as if the choice of Fate lay between these two religions
alone. I do not think it is so, or at least it is not wise for a
mere student to ignore the other thing in the affair, fetich,
which is, as it were, a sea wherein all things suffer a sea
change. For, remember, it is not Christianity alone that becomes
tinged with fetich, or gets ingulfed and dominated by it. Islam,
when it strikes the true heart of Africa, the great forest belt
region, fares but little better, though it is more recent than
Christianity, and though it is preached by men who know the make
of the African mind."

PRESIDENT CHARLES W. DABNY, Jr., of the University of Tennessee,
once said in an address that when in school, where the work was
all done "at the point of the hickory, so to speak," the best
teacher he had "was the kindly old neighborhood loafer," who
roamed the woods with him, told him of the times of the wild
flowers and the habits of the birds, and taught him to shoot the
long rifle. He followed the "natural method, and showed a pupil
how to do a thing by doing it."

Editor's Table.

_SCIENCE AND THE STATE._

It is probably not too much to say that the true measure of the intelligence and efficiency of a government is the extent to which, in the various spheres of activity which it controls, it recognizes the authority and adopts the methods of science. There is one department of Government--the remark might be applied to nearly all civilized governments, and very pointedly to our own--in which science receives a large and serious recognition, and that is the Navy Department. We have lately had a striking exhibition, which the world at large has watched with great interest, of the high state of efficiency to which a navy can be brought in a comparatively short space of time. If the question is asked how it was done, there is but one answer: it was done by recognizing science and working on scientific lines. To work on scientific lines is simply to study carefully, in the light of the best available knowledge, the means for accomplishing a desired end, and having found the best means, to adopt them in practice. Our naval administration has fortunately been able to repel if not wholly, at least to a remarkable extent, the intrusion of "political" influence, and has consequently been able to apply itself without serious distraction to the accomplishment of its own special tasks. It has called science to its aid not only as regards purely physical questions, but as regards questions of organization; and the result is that it has succeeded in giving the nation not only ships and guns, but the men who are fitted by knowledge, by training, and by discipline to make the best possible use of the ships and guns.

Next to the navy in the recognition accorded to science, but yet a long way off, comes the army. We are speaking now, of course, of our own army; and what the "long way off" meant in waste of money and of human life, in the suffering and misery of brave men, is a too familiar tale. Had science governed the operations of the land forces and presided over their whole organization to the same extent that it did over the operations and organization of the navy, a certain recent page of history would have borne a very different record, and would not have been so burdened as it is with shame and heartache to patriotic citizens.