New-York tribune., 1907-12-22
Professor of Sociology Brown University
w A R D

yy7HFRF do great men come from and how do they
w arise, Isit matter Of inheritance. opportunity.
u training. OF lust sheer luck, Why DO more great
i. f ,-cre,e5 i rivation Do the Wei led grow
into geuuse more than the starved, These are
-, - sLed ~, ,,,e-v generation since Socrates
The answers now given based on long study by
the foremost authority on sociology IN America
environment or the material Of subsistence;
Cd the social environment. or the social class TO
which the pOssessOr Of native genius belongs, ana
"a the educational environment, OF the KIND ana
amount Of education that the born genus has
received especially n youth. These are the great.
all powerful factors determining the expression
o latent genius and unless or more oi them are
favorable there IS no possibility OF sueh expression
however great that latent genius may be
Statistical demonstration OF this truth has been
e,,r,r,1ied for literary genius throughout modern
1irnt especially for France but also less fully for
Italv Spain Germany. and England A te" OF
the general results are striking that they cannot
fail to command attention.
found to be the cities compared with the rural
districts Thus the number Of eminent French1nen
of letters born IN cll.o as Seyenty-seEen 10 the
hundred thousand inhabitants whine those born
II the country only the nund1e ed thousand
showing that the literary productivity OF cltle was
nearly thirteen times that OF the country nat
Of Paris was between eight and nine times that OF
the whole Of France, and more than thTty-ilVe
times that Of the rural districts Lex Wb1S tt3
oybIS T he law Of the CITY the law OF the world
II IS the material conditions which cities supply
that stimulate ana bring out the potential genius
OF mankind
The influence Of the economic environment IS
even more powerful. 1t has been shown that only
nine per cent of the eminent literary men OF france
were Of limited means, while nrnety-one per cent
were rich or well to do But as the poor formed
r7inety-seven per cent OF the populat1on 1t follows
that three per cent OF the population furnlsled
r7--e1y0ne per cent OF the talent his means tilt
the chances Of success Of rich person are more thn
three hundred times as great as those OF poor
T,e-son endowed with the same measure OF native
genius. Al,
The social environment IS closely connected with
the economic and the results are pTactcaIiy the
same In France during the modern l'trl9d IIie
,1r,r,er classes-noblity Government ofhciaIS, nd
eral professions bOurgeOISle-tur ninety ana
1-o-tentfs per cent OF the eminent men OF letters
" ,e only nine and cight-tenths per cent were low
norm But these latter constituted at ledat elSHty
Der cent OF the population. 1t follows thAt lhe
chances Of success Of person belonging to the upper
classes are nearly thirty-seVen tunes as great as
tbos, Of one Of the same native ability belonging
~ the lower But the nobility alone who constituted
only about one per cent OF the popuaton 1ur1llsled
twenty-five and fIVc-tenths per cent OF modern
F-e1,ci-nen of letters. The chances therefore are
nearly two hundred times as great Tor person
helonqinq TO the nobility for one belonging 70
the working class all other things beng equal