Finally the social environment from which the literary men have sprung:

Social Classes. Number of Literary Men of Talent Relatively
to the Total Population of Each Social Class.
Nobility. 159
Magistracy. 62
Liberal professions. 24
Bourgeoisie. 7
Manual labor. 0.8

[[281]]

Upon examining these figures we see that of two persons of the same innate qualities the one who has sprung from the nobility has about 200 times as much chance of becoming a person of importance as the one who comes from the laboring class. The struggle of our day has been characterized as a race with a handicap, in which one runs on foot with a burden on his back, another rides a horse, while the third takes an express train. The reality, however, is still stronger.

Doubtless we must not forget that the researches of Professor Odin include in part a period that differs in many respects from our own (hence the small contingent of the bourgeoisie), and that since this time education has become more solid and more general, a fact which increases the chances of success of a gifted man sprung from a poor environment. In the second place it was literary men and not capitalists who were the subject of investigation, and since the former doubtless must have greater natural aptitudes than the latter, it may well be that it is easier for anyone without money to acquire capital, than would be suggested by the figures applying only to men of letters. Nevertheless, all this does not overthrow the fact that the researches of Professor Odin have proved that the fact of being born in a class where youth is without care, and enjoys a good education, procures an enormous advantage in the struggle for existence.[15]

In order to prevent erroneous interpretations I will add Professor Odin’s own conclusion, from which it is plain that he does not deny absolutely that men’s innate capacities differ widely (which, indeed, is disputed by few, and may be considered settled). “Heredity and environment,” he says, concur with one another in the development of talent. We may characterize as follows their respective spheres of action: where the hereditary qualities are identical—to suppose an impossible case—it is the environment which causes all the difference between individuals; where the environment is identical, it is heredity.

“Put in these terms the proposition is banal. What is less so, since this has been established here with certainty for perhaps the [[282]]first time, is that heredity alone can do nothing. However strong may be the natural disposition given by heredity, it can only develop itself in a favorable environment. Thrown into an unfavorable environment it will become weakened in the degree in which the environment is contrary to it, and may even end by being atrophied to the point of being no longer perceptible. The supposed omnipotence of heredity is only an illusion, resulting from an elementary confusion between heredity and simple parentage.

“This is not all. We have been able to determine more nearly what is the indispensable environment for the development of literary talent. It is a good education, made possible by certain circumstances which are advantageous socially and economically, in other words, a proper social environment.”[16]

As a second form of the handicap we must speak of inheritance. It is impossible to estimate this advantage in figures, but it is incontestable that the man who has become rich in this way has no need of great knowledge or great intelligence in order to remain rich. Provided he does not speculate or squander his money, he should be able to have the enjoyment of it all his life. The struggle for existence is unknown to him; at the very start of the race his foot is nearly at the goal.

We see already that these two circumstances have as their result that the classes do not correspond exactly to the groups into which men are separated according to their capacities. However we must now leave the cases in which one has a start of another, and give an answer to the question, “In what do the conquerors in the contest excel?”