Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/408

396 machinery of production. New and improved stocks come from cross-fertilization. "Breeding in-and-in" causes deterioration. Study and counting room will be more vigorous, sane and serviceable for an alliance.

Science is itself conservative and judicial. The rich trustees of a university may well feel secure in keeping their hands off academic freedom. The professors of a science do not belong to a mutual admiration society. They are more nearly a swarm of critics, makers of honey but armed with stings. No criticism from the business world could be so persistent, pitiless and remorseless as that with which real scholars pursue the pretender and amateur. But aside from this cooperative chastisement the very discipline of modern scientific method begets caution. No man ever stated the difficulties in Darwinism more clearly than Darwin himself. There is no class of men who so fully realize the meaning of the oath to state "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." The methods of science have much in common with the methods of business. Both are intolerant of gaps in the chain of causation. Both demand absolute continuity between end and means. Both are impatient of fog and speculation.

In this sense science is eminently "practical," because it measures by the most exact methods and instruments of investigation the available forces for attaining an end which seems desirable. The scientific ideal is an exact balance between the debits and credits, the causes and results of human action. There is an undetermined remainder, bad debts and losses, as in financial settlements, but the ideal is accuracy.

The social position of the "social theorist" is an advantage. The nature of his studies compels him to come into touch with persons of all classes and interests. He hears and reads on all sides. His associations are with the refined, and his ideals of life are formed in the best company. But his professional pursuits compel him to weigh the claims of the entire community. The recent introduction of the "laboratory method" in sociology is a guaranty that no department of human life will be