JOHN MORLEY.

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TO MR. C.G.  STUART-MENTEITH

Parkstone, Dorset.  June 6, 1901.

Dear Sir,—­I have no time to discuss your letter[52] at any length.  You seem to assume that we can say definitely who are the “fit” and who the “unfit.”

I deny this, except in the most extreme cases.

I believe that, even now, the race is mostly recruited by the more fit—­that is the upper working classes and the lower middle classes.

Both the very rich and the very poor are probably—­as classes—­below these.  The former increase less rapidly through immorality and late marriage; the latter through excessive infant mortality.  If that is the case, no legislative interference is needed, and would probably do harm.

I see nothing in your letter which is really opposed to my contention—­that under rational social conditions the healthy instincts of men and women will solve the population problem far better than any tinkering interference either by law or by any other means.

And in the meantime the condition of things is not so bad as you suppose.—­Yours very truly,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

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TO MR. SYDNEY COCKERELL

Broadstone, Wimborne.  January 15, 1906.

Dear Mr. Cockerell,—­I have now finished reading Kropotkin’s Life with very great interest, especially for the light it throws on the present condition of Russia.  It also brings out clearly some very fine aspects of the Russian character, and the horrible despotism to which they are still subject, equivalent to that of the days of the Bastille and the system of Lettres de cachet before the great Revolution in France.  It seems to me probable that under happier conditions—­perhaps in the not distant future—­Russia may become the most advanced instead of the most backward in civilisation—­a real leader among nations, not in war and conquest but in social reform.—­Yours faithfully,

A.R.  WALLACE.

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TO MR. J. HYDER (Of THE LAND NATIONALISATION SOCIETY)

Broadstone, Wimborne.  May 13, 1907.

Dear Mr. Hyder,—­Although it is not safe to hallo before one is out of the wood, I think I may congratulate the Society upon the prospect it now has of obtaining the first-fruits of its persistent efforts, for a quarter of a century, to form an enlightened public opinion in favour of our views.  If the Government adequately fulfils its promises, we shall have, in the Bill for a fair valuation of land apart from improvements, as a basis of taxation and for purchase, and that giving local authorities full powers to acquire land so valued, the first real and definite steps towards complete nationalisation....