should be something more than a keen desire to acquire knowledge of every sort, and to apply it for practical purposes—­the Germans have that pre-eminently; or a love of order and organisation and a persistent and plodding industry in carrying out plans that have been carefully thought out beforehand—­the Germans have that also; or an intense devotion to the Fatherland—­the German people have a fervent and perfectly genuine love for their country.  The moral downfall of Germany, and the material losses which she will suffer whatever the other results of the War may be, are not simply due either to autocracy or to the domination of an aristocratic class, or to deficiencies in art—­the power to make things well—­or in thought—­the power to plan a course of action clearly—­but to the absence of a “just will.”  The regeneration of Germany means the substitution of a just for an unjust will, not simply the spread of democratic ideals, desirable though these may be, nor the substitution of democratic for autocratic or aristocratic government.  For our own nation, too, a “just will” amongst all classes of the community is the necessary condition for future welfare.

Another warning is necessary.  In elaborate plans for reconstruction and reorganisation by more deliberate and far-reaching action of the State and of organised associations there is often a risk of impairing or even destroying individual liberty.  The more complete organisation and reduction to definite system of education, for example, may result in hampering free thought and action both of teacher and scholar.  For them, as for an army, it is the “initiative” that counts.  In industry, in commerce, in political life, and also in intellectual and even in religious life, there is a danger that the free development of the individual may be checked and healthy growth prevented by over-regulation.  In education especially, “self-determination” within reasonable limits is as necessary for the well-being of the individual as it is in government for the well-being of nations.  We may dread the extended exercise of the powers of “directors of education” when they go beyond administration and include the choice of subjects and of methods.  The best educational movement of our day—­the Boy Scouts Association—­was initiated and is carried on without the intervention of the State or of local authorities.

In conclusion two other points may be offered for consideration.  In our methods of education do we not find the idea more and more prevalent that it is necessary for all, in order to be thorough, to devote their time and energy to exact manipulation?  It is true that you cannot make a good chemist, or even apothecary, without giving days and weeks to exact use of balances or to watching filter papers and the like but the mere layman may learn in a short time with profit the meaning of a chemical equation, and find a kind of diagrammatic knowledge sufficient to meet all he requires.  To discard what is irrelevant