Personal initiative essential, p. 78. Prevention of waste the main principle of advance, p. 79. Gain in health, p. 79. Gain in amount of activities of life, p. 80. Gain in rapidity, p. 81. Gain by working instead of playing, p. 81. Gain by saving waste in renewal, p. 83. Gain by permanent marriage, p. 84. Gain by high-tending of families, p. 85. Gain by improving or weeding of bad stocks, p. 86. Gain by individualism, p. 89. Gain by free combinations, p. 92. Gain by international labour, p. 93. The meaning of war, by trade, by armament, and by violence, p. 95. Improvement of checks, p. 99. The ultimate type of states, p. 100. The ultimate type of man, p. 101. INDEX 105 JANUS IN MODERN LIFE. CHAPTER I. CHARACTER, THE BASIS OF SOCIETY. In considering or designing any kind of work the first and most essential condition is the quality of material that has to be used. "You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." And what is true materially is true also mentally; the character of a people is the essential basis of all their institutions and government. If we intend to consider what improvements are possible, or what degradations may occur, we must treat the matter entirely as a question of character. "For forms of Government let fools contest, whate'er is best administered is best," and the administration depends upon the character of the people. We see on all sides that races of a low character necessarily pass, by the force of events, under the domination of other races who have a higher or stronger character. It is the quality of the race which is the most essential and determining factor in its history. That every nation has the kind of government which it deserves, is an old remark, which implies that its character determines its fate. The diligent but cautious Scot; the slovenly Slovene; the self-deceived Gaul; the tediously complete and logical German; these all show the manner in which their administration is the product of the individual character. Further, happiness is essentially dependent upon character, and is—by comparison—determined by character alone, almost apart from external circumstances.