Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-04
BY FRANK F. STONE

call for no reminder. The influence of
wife, a lover or friend, teacher-
even a book-may be as powerful for
evil as for good"
Then he bids us consider our ac-
counts with the great intellects, scien-
lists and inventors, our Indebtedness
to all the arts, crafts, ethics, laws--all
that goes to the making of modern
civilization and which we owe to the
genius, the industry and the humanity
OF countless men and women whom we
never saw,
And yet" says Mr.. Blatchford, ito
see the airs and graces of many edu-
Gated and superior persons one might
suppose they had invented and discov-
cred and developed all the knowledge
and thes wisdom, all the virtues and
the gtaces by which they benefit, of
their own act and thought; whereas all
their plumes are borrowed plumes."
Apostrophizing some rich young
scholar from Harvard or Cambridge
who despises the lout at the plow for
his lack of the benefits he himself has
received as a dole, Mr.. Blatchford bids
him remember that the university was
there centuries before ne was born;
that Euclid, Lindley Murray. DR.. John
son, Cicero, Plato and million others
ADLER than himself, forged every link
of the chain Of culture adjoining his
proud young neck. Yet it pieases his
young conceit to forget that the hand
at the pillow differs from him chiefly by
the accident of birth.
"All the mighty dead and the noble
works they have bequeathed us are
parts of our environment.
But for the grace of Cod said the
tinker Of Elstow-"but for the graces
of environment" say we--"there in the
hangman's cart, in the felon,s jacket,
the ounces cap, the begga-s rags, in
the degradation of the drunkard or the
misery OF the degenerate weed Of the
slums-go WE.
How heredity and environment work,
Mr.. Blatchford deals with at length
and without tediousness; incidentally
forestalling that often made objection
that since two men are differently af-
fected by the same environment, there
fore there must be some power in men
to overcome" their environment The
reader must get and read the book for
himself; he will be hard indeed to con-
vince If the author does not satisfy
him on this point as on others where
Mr.. Blatchford comes to straighten out
the tangles others have caused through
much loose thinking.
I'VE shall always find that the man
who rises above his environment has
in truth been helped by good environ
ment to overcome bad environment
and it is a mistake to thing that any
two men ever did or ever can have
exactly the same environment
why is John a drunkard? His
grandfather was a drunkard, and he
as a boy, worked where men drank
Why don't his brothers drink? Thomas
had the same hereditary inclination
but he worked among a steady set and
when, once or twice, he took liquor, a
wise friend warned him.
William has escaped the hereditary
faint Why? He does not take after
his grandfather. He never felt inclined
to liquor, and, though thrown among
drinkers, kept steady without effort.
stephen also missed the hereditary
faint. He mixed with drinkers and
gradually got the habit. then the taste
for drink. But he married a good wo-
man just in time, and she saved him.
Thus:
John was a drinker from heredity
and environment.
Thomas was a drinker from heredity
but was saved by environment.
william was always steady from
heredity and environment.
stephen was always steady from
heredity and nearly became a drunk
ard through environment, and was
finally saved by new environment.
"Why praise or blame, either one?
Each was what descent and surround
ings made him"
Mr.. Blatchford uses, among others,
the following illustration: A man is
rowing a boat across bay. Tide, cur
rent and wind are environments. They
NAV be with or against him, or the
tide against him and the wind in his
favor. and the currents dangerous If
not avoided. But "the man is large
ly what environment made him. His
knowledge of rowing, of the bay, OF
the currents, came from environment;
and the boat and the oars belong TO
his environment. And with these
favorable environments, plus his here
ditary qualities, he fights the adverse
environment of wind, tide and cur
rents.
Now let us suppose the sea rough.
tide and wind strong, and against
the oarsman. And then let us sup
pose two men, one an expert sailor In
a good boat the other a landsman
who could not row. who did not know
the bay or understand wind ana tiues
who was ignorant of currents and VINO
had bad oars and a leaky boat.
The sailor would have a chance of
getting across; the landsman would be
in grave peril of disaster. AND the
difference between the two would be
entirely one of environment.
But suppose, further, the sailor OF
healthy descent, strong, brave and in
telligent, and suppose the landsman
degenerate = weak, nervous, RANT
hearted and stupid. Then the differ
ence would be one of heredity and en-
vironment.
tho sailor came safe ashore, should we
curse and revile the one and praise
and reward the other? Or should we
not rather take the sailors success as
a matter of course and give the lands
man our pity? LII. .,,o,,
useless oars, with such FAINT hears
and lack of knowledge ana skill, anu
such q feeble mind, does the bottom
doc mt ont to wrestle with winds ana
storms and ESCAPE the currents OF Ire
while granting that environment
connot make a model citizen out OF
..horn criminal or atavist, the author
claims that good environment VIII
make the worst man better than ne
would he under bad environment En-
vironment has shaped evolution ana
raisad man above the beasts
No amount Of feeding, training ana
,.aa',h,ng he SAYS, will make an aver
49, nan into a Shakespeare or Plato.
%Ss,t s.onod environment will do more
So +he dullest man than bad environ
,oa,t . THE descendants of the Austria
itan convicts have turned out excellent
M M George asserts that he has never
known the members OF his George il.