CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

Aswe unravel political knots, they resolve themselves into proverbsand familiar truth, and thus our explanation becomes a treatise uponhuman nature,—a profession of faith.

The idea that man is an unselfish animal has gradually been forcedupon me, by the course of reflection which I give in the followingchapters, in the order in which it occurred to me. The chapters arelittle more than presentations from different points of view of thisone idea. The chapters on Politics and Society seem to show that ourpolitical corruptions and social inferiorities can be traced to thesame source,—namely, temporary distortion of human character by theforces of commerce. The chapter on Education is a study on the law ofintellectual growth, and shows that a normal and rounded developmentcan only come from a use of the faculties very different from thatpractised by the average American since the discovery of the cottongin.

viiiThe chapter on Democracy is a review of that subject by the light ofthe conclusions as to the Nature of Man, arrived at in the Essay onEducation; and it is seen that our frame of government is in accordwith sound philosophy, and is a constant influence tending to correctthe distortions described in the first two chapters. In the finalchapter on Government, some illustrations are drawn together, showingthat the whole course of reasoning of the book contains nothing novel,but accords with the ideals and with the wisdom of the world.

The book itself arose out of an attempt to explain an election.

J. J. C.

ROKEBY, June 10, 1898.