NOTES AND ABSTRACTS.
Luxury, Science, and Art Under Anarchism. Is it right for the man of science to content himself with the enjoyment of his own scientific pursuits, while the struggle for bread is going on all about him ? On the other hand, is a man not performing his whole duty to mankind when he produces for the world with the greatest possible activity that which he is capable of producing? Kropotkin presses the former of these questions in these words : " I ask in what respect does the scholar who pursues science in order to pass his life agreeably differ from the drunkard who also seeks in life only immediate pleasure, and finds it in wine? "
While appreciating the sentiment that lies back of this question, we need not adhere to the idea of the complete subordination of science and art to material needs, which is implied in it. Nor is it evident that the scientist obeys any other motive than that which impels all men alike, namely, the strongest motive. For it is through egoism that the purest altruism works.
The work of the scientist should be judged by its ultimate social effects. Pasteur, Lister, Roux, may believe themselves enemies of socialism, but in leaving us theoretical microbiology, and the innumerable results implicitly contained in their discoveries, they work more certainly for the future of social justice than those spirits, enflamed with love, who, with the best intentions in the world, believe that they are furthering it by throwing bombs in public places.
Kropotkin's proposal to impose equal manual labor on all results, in the first place, in an injustice to the men of thought, who must carry on their own pecu- liar work in addition to their share of the universal manual labor. It is possible that a great man, after the realization of a brilliant discovery, might be relieved from such drudgery. Pasteur would probably have spent two-thirds of his time cultivating wheat or raising onions, before having even a chance to demonstrate his ability. Thus a second result is the waste of time, manifested in imperfect production and a diminution of social energy.
The question of luxury under anarchism is also a pertinent one. The luxuries of one age are the necessities of succeeding ages ; the simplest things the thimble, clothes even were luxuries once. Society cannot afford to cease developing in this regard. Granting the need of diffusing comforts among all classes, yet we cannot afford universally to replace research by popularization, nor to arrest the production of objects of luxury under the pretext that not everyone can enjoy them.
I am then obliged to ask how the needs of luxury will be satisfied in a com- munistic society, since it is a condition essential to progress ; and this question will not yield even to that of bread. ALFRED NAQUET, " Luxe, science et arts dans 1'anarchie," in L'humanite nouvelle, October, 1903. E. B. W.
A Sociological View of the " Native Question." The " native question " arises whenever highly civilized nations colonize territories occupied by inferior races. The phenomena of contact, however, differ fundamentally according to the character of the races concerned and the climate of the area of contact. European colonization of temperate regions has almost always meant the extinc- tion of the native peoples, and thus the native question in such cases is not a permanent one. In the tropics, however, the native question is ever-recurring and permanent. Immigration of Europeans is almost exclusively of males, who form a small, but usually ascendant, element of the population. If partial inter- marriage occurs, several rival classes appear, which give the state an unstable and contentious character, as in the case of Latin colonization in the tropics. The pre-eminent virtue of toleration in dealing with native races, so well understood
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