New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-16

shut out from any unequal claim on the pr9dueiih
am, therefore, going to ask you TO conSioeI t,le
kind of reasoning to which the New Soclaists' 4or
this purpose, hetahe lhesslytS; IN for if
spects il forms very interesting SUI, ny. f,rn5
consists mainly Of arguments which ihey IoG AZ
already prepared for them by q variety OF %. 47
tinguished thinkers who had nothing 10 90 WIN
TnGse arguments divide themselves into four
classes They all turn on the nature ana tIe en- ~
OF those superior etciencies when S IN
one ,ss Of arguments consists IN the contention
+7,t tIoEs1 ali lie advances made in mans pro-
Guctive powers may have originated discoveries
made originally by exceptional men YET eacn aus
c0verv when made really beco1es common prop
erty, and. the increment due 10 II "olu' 49, ~ 90
artificial restrictions, pass over 10 te Hu'ii'H i"'0
A second class Of arguments insists that the su-
periorities in question are realIy nucl sii! tS nan
their effects would seem TO indicate lItaC o'ioy
tunity eQualizsd the supply OF them "ouu "e
fir Sl' cass o. Arguments while admitting that
e me j rat men of The highest efficiency are not
Tie fact that they are effective only through thelr
environment which itself is what it is only through
the ages that have preceded 1t, {. % variant
of this last deals with the nature Of the e it
superiorites themselves, and insists on me daSI
that they are due TO the deysioRen 81 b fe the
disposit6n Of the whole community in the present
-FOUR CLASSES OF ARGUMENT
VIII now take these four classes Of argument
IN order and we shall see thS' , t are ali
alike Initiated by imperfections and curious coniu-
IN
lion render them practically Yalueless-I VIII
venture 10 say nonseusical A..
urged by socialists that inventions and discoveries
once made become common propGialSf s1h a as.
is Tie discovery of fire. Even ii we suppose that
inconJaIaby cieverer than his fellows; but as soon
as the method of lighting a fire was maze SHOWN
to them the fool could Ight a LIS JuSt aS " ca
tie genius But the inventions, the alscoEeIIts,
and the knoWI7dse M&-t nus gTist and Of a
very limited kind IN proportion as knowledge al
more yaTious. complies ana eicacious, industrial
inventions and discoveries 10 more become common
eqs1 ty'G " yerboZ Who BUYS an encyclopedia
uicaJes itself every urChiu who can 90 an ad-
diton sum It is perfectly true that the ac9us
other men to acquire who might never have ae-
details of knowledge increases the number OF sc
creased difficulty in acquiring and asslnllatng an;
fact that so many Of those pre-ennnent as mere
SPECULATIVE inventors and discoveries are notor0us-
coveries eject IN Tho world Of actual industry
or to turn TO The case Of men Of ordinary INTEL
seucc any mechanic could, after nalI an noun ;
attention to the subject, comprehend the general
principles involved in cantileyer bridge; pui 10
span which now throw their arms tCtOSi + G
Of nuItitudinOus knowledge which taxes the genius
Of the greatest englneeTs OF me gay or me in
ilnowIedge lives only in the Individual mind, and
mind combines a multiplicity Of facts into an or
ganc and operative whole IN o{her, %oT9Hs ',S S
+ III nv forc. and it is only the vioIent-or the
men Of excenti6nal capacity-who are able IN any
comprehensive way, 10 take possession or IL AT an.
apart from the individual minds which ma master,
mean by knowledge and discoveries once made or
acquired IS comparable 10 river which flows by
the side Of every member Of the community alike
IN proportion as the IniHas oP le i9d ana the
exceptional is not made legs by the fact that they
9sL-- ,ti1,eqiass Is Iessane6 nv the fact that
both Of them are filled from the same stream
ORDINARY AND EXCEPTIONAL MIND.
And now let us come to the second class Of argu-
neuts which seeks 10 eliminate the difference be
tween the exceptional mind and the ordinary not
T,iis 9r he former as soon ~ these have been
accomplished but by representing the difference
as due to the accidents OF opportunity rather than
70 natural differences And here ! am glad that
] 5.o, n the ef j1sfa6ce bae6 b o,rl
IoW,d by them from philosophers who either
hi cortenlplaion For il win thus be evident that
an, not FOR controversial purposes trying to mis-
IelIe=tAl those whose position am more parlcu-
larry cHGcising. In dealing. then, with the con
average many ana tho exceptionally gifted few are
IN Tealily slight and Of no very great sign!hcance
sophicsl form by TWO eminent thinkers outside the
min Nidd whose work social Evolution" has
times Mr.. Kidd says that the smalluess of the
by the fact that Whenever any great discovery or
Invention ms been made It has nearly always been
iie honor of he 3isoong or me man VINO gets
from the invention owing his fortunate position to
!uck At inc last moment Thus. says Mr.. Kidd
ste ri''igi calcuiIS; ne invention Of the
Tie telegraph, the telephone well as many other
The meme Of one man is popularity associated vim
each ol them, bun in each case there have been so
many Others whose achievement has been the
The c, class Of fact to which aIr. Kidd auudcs is
lnG proposition which he aims at provlng-that the
~ their contemporaries is slight? The fact or his
lulHknS mat u does so is a most curious and in
aiinv ~ me osI aonest ana serious thinkers viii
twenty or thirty men should arrive nj the same
more goes To show that an men are no
t4oai ID l4t"llgenc" than the fact that half a
dozen Iaeehorses pass he winning post within
horse or donkey that moves upon four legs mas an
Pri1. Ihat more men than one should reach at tile
same time the same discovery independently is pre-
consider what hat discovery is. The facts Of
nature which form the subject matter Of the dis
GgNe' 6 is III IoIlseINes - independent Of those
@ o discover mem as AN alpine peak is Of those
no more to suggest that the mass Of mn con-
that hair dozen Of The most intrepid cragsmen in
the world reach during the same year some hitherto
unascendcd summit proves that the same feat
could have been accomplished by any man or bow
in The street who would be made sick and giddy
by "a precipice Of twenty yards.
DOCTRINE or LORD MACAULAY.
We viii BOW take another exposition of the same
doctrine. and this shall be from "a writer whose 9d-
tDrIrt Of il is far surprising than Mr. I<fi's
! refer 70 Lord Macauiay. In Macaulay's criticisms
OF The English poet Dryd - there occurs the fol-
lowing p;as7"". III is the age that makes the man
NOT ta' M f hat makes the age The iueglIaIitie
Of the int n FL like the inequalities OF the surface
OF the 81 boar 50 SINAI! "a proportion To the
ms ula v calculating It's great revolutions tacy
LE-I-nt.l - Il u. .