[16] These dangers, which menace not one country
alone, but modern civilization itself, do but show that a
higher civilization is struggling to be born — that
the needs and the aspirations of men have outgrown
conditions and institutions that before sufficed.
[17] A civilization which tends to concentrate
wealth and power in the hands of a fortunate few, and to
make of others mere human machines, must inevitably
evolve anarchy and bring destruction. But a
civilization is possible in which the poorest could have
all the comforts and conveniences now enjoyed by the
rich; in which prisons and almshouses would be needless,
and charitable societies unthought of. Such a
civilization waits only for the social intelligence that
will adapt means to ends. Powers that might give plenty
to all are already in our hands. Though there is poverty
and want, there is, yet, seeming embarrassment from the
very excess of wealth-producing forces. "Give us but a
market," say manufacturers, "and we will supply goods
without end!" "Give us but work!" cry idle men.
[18] The evils that begin to appear spring from the
fact that the application of intelligence to social
affairs has not kept pace with the application of
intelligence to individual needs and material ends.
Natural science strides forward, but political science
lags. With all our progress in the arts which
produce wealth, we have made no progress in securing its
equitable distribution. Knowledge has vastly
increased; industry and commerce have been
revolutionized; but whether free trade or protection is
best for a nation we are not yet agreed. We have brought
machinery to a pitch of perfection that, fifty years ago,
could not have been imagined; but, in the presence of
political corruption, we seem as helpless as idiots. The
East River bridge is a crowning triumph of mechanical
skill; but to get it built a leading citizen of Brooklyn
had to carry to New York sixty thousand dollars in a
carpet bag to bribe New York aldermen. The human soul
that thought out the great bridge is prisoned in a crazed
and broken body that lies bedfast, and could watch it
grow only by peering through a telescope. Nevertheless,
the weight of the immense mass is estimated and adjusted
for every inch. But the skill of the engineer could not
prevent condemned wire being smuggled into the cable.
[19] The progress of civilization requires that more
and more intelligence be devoted to social affairs, and
this not the intelligence of the few, but that of the
many. We cannot safely leave politics to politicians, or
political economy to college professors. The people
themselves must think, because the people alone can
act.
[20] In a "journal of civilization" a professed
teacher declares the saving word for society to be that
each shall mind his own business. This is the gospel of
selfishness, soothing as soft flutes to those who, having
fared well themselves, think everybody should be
satisfied. But the salvation of society, the hope for the
free, full development of humanity, is in the gospel of
brotherhood — the gospel of Christ. Social progress
makes the well-being of all more and more the business of
each; it binds all closer and closer together in bonds
from which none can escape. He who observes the law and
the proprieties, and cares for his family, yet takes no
interest in the general weal, and gives no thought to
those who are trodden under foot, save now and then to
bestow aims, is not a true Christian. Nor is he a good
citizen. The duty of the citizen is more and harder than
this.
[21] The intelligence required for the solving of
social problems is not a thing of the mere intellect. It
must be animated with the religious sentiment and warm
with sympathy for human suffering. It must stretch out
beyond self-interest, whether it be the self-interest of
the few or of the many. It must seek justice. For at the
bottom of every social problem we will find a social
wrong.
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