n for the money paid by taxation.
It is possible only by study, care, civic responsibility, and interest
in government affairs, as well as by increased intelligence, that our
democratic idealism may be put {499} into practice. Laboratory methods
in self-government are a prime necessity.

_The Equalization of Opportunity_.--Popular education is the greatest
democratic factor in existence. It is the one great institution which
recognizes that equal opportunities should be granted to everybody.
Yet it has its limits in establishing equal opportunities in the
accepted meaning of the term. There is a false idea of equality which
asserts that one man is as good as another before he has proved himself
to be so. True equality means justice to all. It does not guarantee
that equality of power, of intellect, of wealth, and social standing
shall obtain. It seeks to harmonize individual development with social
development, and to insure the individual the right to achieve
according to his capacity and industry. "The right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness" is a household word, but the right to
_pursue_ does not insure success.

The excessive altruism of the times has led to the protecting care of
all classes. In its extreme processes it has made the weak more
helpless. What is needed is the cultivation of individual
responsibility. Society is so great, so well organized, and does so
much that there is a tendency of the individual to shift his
responsibility to it. Society is composed of individuals, and its
quality will be determined by the character and quality of the
individual working especially for himself and generally for the good of
all. A little more of the law of the survival of the fittest would
temper our altruism to more effective service. The world is full of
voluntary altruistic and social betterment societies, making drives for
funds. They should re-examine their motives and processes and
carefully estimate what they are really accomplishing. Is the
institution they are supporting merely serving itself, or has it a
working power and a margin of profit in actual service?

_The Influence of Scientific Thought on Progress_.--The effect of
scientific discovery on material welfare has been referred to
elsewhere. It remains to determine how scientific thought changes the
attitude of the mind toward life. The laboratory {500} method
continually tests everything, and what he finds to be true