TIMELY TOPICS 
 
 THEODORE W HUNT 
 
PUtt (BoUege of Agricultute 
 
 JIttiaca, N. 1. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 D 525.H79 
 
 Timely topics ... 
 
 3"'T924 014 015 808 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014015808 
 
TIMELY TOPICS 
 
TIMELY TOPICS 
 
 BY 
 
 THEODORE WHITEFIELD HUNT 
 
 PROFESSOR OF ENGUSH, EMERITUS 
 PRINCETON UNIVERSmr 
 
 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 PRINCETON 
 
 LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1921 
 
Copyright, 1921, by 
 Princeton University Press 
 
 Published, 1921 
 Ftinted in the United States of America 
 
 (^JL/ortj 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In^ these brief papers it is proposed to present a series of 
 vital discussions on vital topics — ^topics in part growing out 
 of the World _War, but 'mainly those of a fundamental 
 and permanent interest, in the rapidly developing life of the 
 modern world. To a limited extent educational, they are 
 mainly topics of civic interest — national and international — 
 the object being to assume a desirable and tenable position 
 between radical extremes, and in a sane and sensible manner 
 to investigate and interpret those pressing and practical 
 problems which confront the country arid the civilized world 
 at large. 
 
 T. W. Hunt. 
 
 Pfincetdn, June i, 1921. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Democracy and Its Limitations i 
 
 The Costly Benefits of War 6 
 
 The Return of Peace 1 1 
 
 The New Era i6 
 
 The New Era in Higher Education 20 
 
 The International Mind 26 
 
 II 
 
 The Call for Civic Leadership 30 
 
 The Call for College Men in the Business World 35 
 
 The Problems and Responsibilities of Peace 40 
 
 Justifiable Compromise 47 
 
 Martial Qualities in Civic Life 52 
 
 The Value of Meliorism 58 
 
 The Mission of the Middle Classes 63 
 
 The Growth of Liberalism 70 
 
 ni 
 
 America's Need of Statesmen ']^ 
 
 The American Forum of To-day 83 
 
 Constructive Processes 88 
 
 National Rights and National Duties 94 
 
 Level-Headedness ......; loi 
 
 Rational Reform ,...'. 107 
 
 International Leagues 112 
 
 vii 
 
viii Table of Contents 
 
 IV 
 
 I u PAGE 
 
 The Puritan Legacy to America 121 
 
 Democracy on Trial 129 
 
 National Loyalty 139 
 
 Great Historic Movements ...:.... 147 
 
 The Recent Revival of Learning 155 
 
 The Emphasis of Principles in Liberal Education 162 
 
 The Modern Age of Unrest 168 
 
 V 
 
 The Academic Point of View 177 
 
 Successful Teaching 183 
 
 The Office and The Man 189 
 
 Eras of Reaction 197 
 
 A Needed ilevival of Conscience. 205 
 
 The Maintenance of Standards .216 
 
TIMELY TOPICS 
 
 ' . DEMOCRACY AND ITS LIMITATIONS 
 
 - Thirty years, ago, Professor Fiske published a volume 
 under the title — "The Critical Period in American History." 
 If, at that date^ the conditions were critical what shall be 
 said of the America of to-day, at the close of the World 
 War!- It is the world as a whole that has arrived at the 
 most critical era in its history. So momentous have been 
 the evolutions and revolutions of the last decade that they 
 are nothing less than dramatic and that on the side of trag- 
 edy. History has become histrionic. j^ 
 
 To examine these- pending and confusing issues in a 
 judicial and dispassionate temper demands the wisdom of 
 the wisest. The world is at its crisis and the crisis must 
 be met. Two or three fundamental considerations may be 
 cited : 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC INSTINCT , 
 
 The word, democratic, is here used in its etymological and 
 generally accepted sense, of the rule of the people. Among 
 the ''inalienable rights" with which men as men are en- 
 dowed, liberty is an indispensable .one and never can be 
 
2 Timely Topics 
 
 safely surrendered. It is, indeed, more than an endow- 
 ment. It is an instinct in peoples of all eras and races and 
 from the dawn of history has insisted upon its presence and 
 expression. Whatever may be^said of the divine right of 
 kings, the divine right of peoples is a prior one to which 
 the assumptions of kings must give way as- they are now ' 
 doing, perforce, the civilized world over. Herein, lies the 
 origin of what by various names we call. Representative 
 Government "of and by and for the pepple," what Maine; ik 
 his isuggestive work 'calls, "Popular Government," what Mr. 
 Bryce calls, "The Commonwealth," where the ultimate ob- 
 ject of government is the common weal. At times it is 
 known as Parliamentary Government. This is what is, 
 meant in English History by the Rise of The People, as 
 expressed in the thirteenth century in the Magna Charta of / 
 British Rights. It is this ineradicable instinct which from 
 the days of the ancient empires has protested against abso- 
 lute monarchy, and which has been the occasional cause of 
 every Epoch of Reform in church and state Its vdice, if 
 stifled for a time, will reassert itself with redoubled vigor 
 and will eventually be heard above the loudest din of 
 despotism. It is needless to assert that in the American . 
 Nation this instinct for freedom has had, and will ever have, 
 fullest expression. - , 
 
 The American "Declaration" is. a "Declaratibn of Inde- 
 pendence." The avowal that "all men are created equal"' 
 before the law and stand at the outset upon a common plane 
 of privilege is a fundamental avowal of American political 
 belief. In this belief may be found the spirit and innermost 
 character of democracy as exemplified in the Western 
 
Denmcracy and Its Limitations 3 
 
 World, affecting all phases of its life, civic, social, educa- 
 tional, economic and religious. From the revolutionary 
 days of. 1776 on through the tragic era of the Civil War 
 (1861-1865) this divine-human instinct has made its pres- 
 ence known and felt. It is this that Draper in his "Civic 
 Polity in America" has emphasized, as ex-President Wilson 
 and Mr. Fiske have done in their varied contributions to 
 our national history. Indeed it is not too much to say that 
 the mission of America to the world is to reveal the potency 
 and primacy of this insatiable craving for civic freedom. It 
 is the primary justification of her existence as a people. If 
 she fails here, she fails completely and must at length give 
 place to other nationalities which can make the mission suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 II 
 
 THE LIMITATION OF DEMOCRACY 
 
 Here we reach an essential principle in the exposition and 
 application of Democracy as a method of government, that 
 it be under the constant dominance of conscience and law. 
 Montesquieu in his "Esprit des Lois" was one of the first 
 political authors to state and elucidate this principle. The 
 Democratic Instinct must be safeguarded by the higher rule 
 of reason and right. It is in this way only that the v(rorld 
 can be made "safe for democracy" or democracy safe for 
 the world. There is no more dangerous political theoty than 
 that of unconditioned freedom in the state, — a freedom of 
 civic polity unhampered by statute and national restriction, 
 from which ^rise revolutions inside and outside the state. 
 
4 Timely Topics 
 
 This is the theory that has begotten a direful brood of 
 descendants, such as Populism, and that order of Socialism 
 by which the Golden" Age of the Proletariat is to be ushered 
 in. Here we are told that the redemption of the world 
 draweth nigh. 
 
 It is this divorce between liberty and law, between a true 
 and a false democracy that has produced the tragic condi- 
 tions of the last half decade of European history and which 
 at this moment threatens the very life of nations. Limited 
 democracy is the only possible civic order between despotic 
 rule on the one hand, and rampant anarchy on the other, by 
 which monarchy is so democratized and democracy so regu- 
 lated as to secure a safe and sane governmental regime. 
 What such standard writers as Hallam and Stubbs call. Con- 
 stitutional Government, is of this stable and conservative 
 liberty under control. It is just here that we find the best 
 justification of Limited Monarchy as exemplified in Eng- 
 land, an order of civic rule that may just as appropriately 
 be called Limited Democracy, and which as thus interpreted 
 is regarded by many students of government as the ideal 
 order for a state. Whether Aiflerica has or has not worthily 
 fulfilled this theory is a question of cardinal and present 
 interest for whose answer the world is waiting. 
 
 Mr. Bryce, in his "American Commonwealth," devotes 
 no little space to this vital question as to what are the "Sup- 
 posed Faults" and the "True Faults" of Democracy in 
 America, concluding, however, and as we think, wisely, that 
 all defects conceded, Representative Government in the 
 ^ United States is, in the main, a successful political experi- 
 ment, espe(fially confirmed when we contrast it with the 
 
\ Democracy and Its Li4nitatipns 5 
 
 existing governments of Continental Europe. From the 
 days of the Revolution on through the Civil War and down 
 to the present this vital principle has been steadily growing, 
 permeating every phase and function of national life and be- 
 getting the confident belief that, in due time, existing defects 
 will be substantially remedied and an order of government 
 will emerge as nearly ideal as the essential limitations of 
 human nature will permit. The imperfections cited by Bryce, 
 such as — rapidly shifting public opinion, the tendency to 
 level all distinctions, the overbearing demands of majority 
 rule, — ^these and similar faults are not beyond correction, 
 so that a political result is possible more satisfactory than 
 as yet has been realized among men. In fine, a conservative 
 liberty and a liberal conservatism will afford the best solution 
 of governmental polity. The democratic instinct will per- 
 sist and when safeguarded by wholesome political restraint, 
 will justify its claims as the best possible order. 
 
 Here is seen The World Ideal as from the days of the 
 Greek and Roman Republics on through the Reformations 
 and Revolutions of Modern Europe in England and France, 
 in Italy and Holland and other States, it has sought un- 
 ceasingly for an adequate expression and will not be denied. 
 This, after all, is the deeper meaning of the World War 
 just ended— the titanic and desperate and final struggle be- 
 _ tween the rule of despots and the rule of the people, a strug- 
 gle well worth the stupendous price that has been already 
 paid to secure it. The great World Commonalty demands 
 a hearing in the open forum of public opinion, a demand that 
 will be heard arid answered, for it is the voice of God ar- 
 ticulated in human terms. 
 
,6 Timely Topics 
 
 The Parliament of Man is now in session as never before 
 and no motion to adjjourh will be entertained until the im- 
 perative business before the House — the free federation of 
 the World, is fully and satisfactorily transacted. [The 
 solemn duty of the hour is to realize this great democratic 
 -ideal. The cry for Freedom, a safely guarded and beneficent 
 freedom, is in the air ringing clearly out above the sound 
 of all competing voices. To make "the bounds of freedom, 
 wider yet" is the call; to enfranchise all enslaved peoples; 
 to rebuke tyranny and anarchy in high places, and thus to 
 bring in, as speedily as possible, the Kingdom of Man on 
 earth. 
 
 THE COSTLY BENEFITS OF WAR 
 
 War in itself is an unmitigated evil — ^the greatest curse 
 that could befall a nation. Even when justified on the 
 ground of national life and in defense of fundamental truth 
 and justice, its immediate effects are calamitous and viewed 
 in themselves are fraught with untold disaster and distress. 
 The actual loss of men, representing the youth and vigfor and 
 promise of the world; the more or less permanent impair- 
 ment of the soldiery through wounds and diseases incident 
 to war; the incalculable waste of the raw materials and the 
 finished, products of a nation's activity; the conversion of 
 the industries of a people to purely destructive ends; the. 
 limitless legacy of loss and sorrow to succeeding genera- 
 tions ; the intensive development of the military temper and 
 all the baser passions of the race ; the incentive to civic dis- 
 order and the reign of riot ; the devastation of homes and the 
 violation of the most cherished ideals of life — ^these are the 
 
The Costly Benefits of War 7 
 
 • _ _ ,_ - ■ '1" 
 
 tragic resultants that follow in thcxwake of war and cast the 
 
 course of civilization backward toward the darkest ages of 
 history. When such a conflict assumes the proportions of 
 the world-war just closed, the attendant evils are so appall- 
 ing as to stagger the imagination and institute the inquiry 
 as tCL whether life under such possibilities is worth the price 
 of blood and treasure that is paid for it, and woe to that 
 people who take the field with sword in hand, save as they 
 do so by a manifest mandate from Heaven. 
 
 That any results of value can ensue from such a regime 
 as this would seem to be an impossibility; It is just here, 
 however, that we note a law of history and, indeed, of Provi- 
 dence that offers an answer and is in the nature of a justifi- 
 cation. It is the law of sacrifice and struggle in order that 
 the highest ends of individual and national life may be se- 
 cured. When the struggle is in a worthy cause, for the 
 highest ends, the results are correspondingly valuable, and 
 even when the cause is an ignoble one, unjustified in its 
 origin and method, Providence intervenes to make the 
 wrath of men praise Him. All the greatest reforms in 
 church and state have been reached through blood and fire. 
 In the great Reformations of England and Continental Eu- 
 rope, in such imposing Revolutions as the French and the 
 American of 1789 and 1776; in the Napoleonic campaigns 
 and the Civil War of our own land, benefits have accrued 
 despite the countless cost involved and the general move- 
 ment of the world has received impetus and progressive 
 force. Some of these costly benefits may be cited. 
 
 I. The Spirit of Patriotism is intensified. National loy- 
 alty has never been so signally illustrated as in the late war. 
 
8 Timely Topics 
 
 the great body of the people recognizing at the outset the 
 rightful claim of their respective governments to their 
 whole-hearted allegiance. This supreme devotion to the 
 nation's interests increased as national peril and need in- 
 creased, so that ample assurance was thus furnished that the 
 rank and file of the body politic could be relied upon to meet 
 all emergencies and ensure the final triumph of the govern- 
 ment over all its foes. Here and there, it is conceded, were 
 heard undoubted notes of disaffection and a readiness and 
 -purpose to oppose, as far as possible, the official and military 
 policies of the government, but such a disloyal temper was 
 never sufficient to lessen or impair the patriotic spirit of the, 
 people in the main. Indeed, the effect was rather to stimu- 
 the national devotion and arouse an indignant protest 
 against the attitude and action of all disaffected agencies. 
 
 2. The Spirit of Sacrifice is intensified. This has been . 
 so unprecedented as to excite the admiration of the civilized 
 world, — sacrifice of life and health and home and native 
 land, of exacting business interests and all that pertains to 
 social well being. Whatever the hardships of military life, 
 on the march and in the trenches, behind the lines and at the 
 front, these were willingly endured for the country's good. 
 Nor was this spirit of sacrifice confined to the soldiery who 
 actually participated in the camp life and the conflict of 
 battle, but equally fully exhibited on the part af those who 
 voluntarily surrendered to the nation those whom they most 
 dearly loved and on whom in numberless instances they were 
 dependent for sustenance and fellowship and service. We 
 speak of the supreme sacrifice, as the sacrifice of life, and 
 yet this side that final offering on the altar of country, there 
 
The Costly Benefits of War 9 
 
 were untold instances of an order of sacrifice well nigh as 
 crucial, and alike expressive of an absolute surrender of self 
 for a noble cause and a high ideal. ; 
 
 3. The spirit of Generosity and Service has been ex- 
 1 pressed on a scale so conspicuous and colossal as to make 
 
 quite insignificant all previous records along this line, un- 
 " ptiirted and unceasing contribution to all the multiform ob- 
 jects incident to such a gigantic struggle — the calls for aid 
 being as insistent and urgent as the world-wide character 
 of the war itself. Never has philanthropy assumed such 
 spacious proportions and been applied to such divers in- 
 terests. The superb ministries of the Red Cross organiza- 
 tion on the field and in the wards of the hospital ; the efforts 
 -to afford such instruction for the wounded as to enable them 
 to resume, in part at least, the ordinary and essential voca- 
 tions of life; the offering of time and means and per- 
 sonal effort for the restoration of desolated homes; the 
 various activities of a Strictly moral and religious nature 
 whereby the army and navy might be maintained at their 
 highest efficiency, andihe numberless ways in which a help- 
 ing hand might be given to relieve distress and inspire new 
 hope and cheer, all this has marked an order of genuine 
 philanthropy which is without parallel arid which has done 
 much to divest war of its terrors and horrors and evince 
 the possibility of educing good out of evil. 
 
 4. The Spirit of Unity in sentiment and service has 
 been one of the rarest benefits of the war — ^by the influence 
 of which the masses and the classes have met on common 
 ground as never before, by which all unnatural distinctions 
 in the civil and social order have been obliterated or lessened 
 
lo Timely Topics ' 
 
 and what may be called the democratization of the world 
 has ensued. The high and low, the cultured and' the illit- 
 erate, th« pauper and the prince^ the priest and the parish- 
 ioner,- have struggled and suffered together. All conven- 
 tional distinctions — civic and ecclesiastical, have disap- 
 peared, as all classes and orders have been mobilized for 
 united service. Never again, it would seem, can the old 
 regime of exclusiveness be effective, but as all men are 
 created equal before the law and have been widely separated 
 by agencies purely artificial and unjust, this original equal- 
 ity must reassert itself with vastly increased efficiency and 
 the blessings and benefits of civilized life be equally open to 
 all sorts and conditions of men. This levelling process in 
 the line of catholicity and unification of interest is in itself 
 well worth the price of blood and treasure already paid and 
 is full of promise for the future of the world. 
 
 5. A further secondary result of war, applicable to that 
 just ended, is the Cementing of Friendship between France 
 and America as, also, between America and England. Such 
 a confirmation of Anglo-American and Franco-American 
 unity, it is urged, would be a factor second to no other in 
 securing general international comity and maintaining gen- 
 eral international peace, especially as to America and Eng^ 
 land. Such a confirmation of friendship would be singu- 
 larly significant and fraught with untold blessing. 
 
 Such are some of the Costly Benefits of War, despite the 
 essential curse of war itself, confirmed by all history and 
 gradually evolved by the mysterious and gracious processes 
 of that Providence that rules and overrules the destinies, of 
 men. 
 
The Return of Peace 1 1 
 
 What the nations have now left them as a legacy is — ^The 
 Priceless Blessings of Peace — ^The Golden Age of Fruition, 
 for which all antecedent history and all national struggle 
 have been a preparation and to the rational enjoyment and 
 fullest utilization of which the nations of the world are 
 solemnly summoned. How best to enjoy and utilize these 
 blessings is the practical problem of the hour, so as to fall 
 in line with the primary purpose of Providence regarding 
 them and so as to ensure the greatest benefit to the civilized 
 world at large, — a problem for every separate nation and 
 every separate citizen, if so be the errors and evils of the 
 past may be eliminated and the course of the world clearly 
 determined toward an ever higher order of life and service. 
 
 THE RETURN OF PEACE 
 
 "The Day''' so long and patiently awaited has at length 
 dawned, irrradiating a darkened world, not "The Day" of 
 conflict as some anticipated and welcomed it, nor even 
 "The Day" of Victory for the mere sake of victory over a 
 nation's foes, but a day of disarmament and demobiliza- 
 tion, a day of deliverance from the ravages and bitterness 
 of war and the reinstatement of the pursuits and privileges 
 of peace, when a people may once again come into its own 
 and the normal processes of life be resumed. 
 
 I, One of the greatest blessings of the Return of Peace 
 is Peace itself, the sheer sense of relief from the devastation 
 and desolations of strife, the mere enjoyment of repose 
 after the harassing disquietude and anxieties of war when 
 
12 Timely Topics 
 
 the baser elements of human nature are relegated to the 
 background and all the gentler expressions of life reassert 
 themselves. There is a sense of untold satisfaction in the 
 restoration of order and quiet procedure when life can be 
 viewed and enjoyed in its essential realities and recom- 
 penses. The experience is like to that of a storm-tossed 
 mariner reaching at length a harbor of safety, or that of a 
 worn out traveler enjoying refreshing rest after a long and 
 dangerous journey, or that of a stricken sufferer reaching 
 the period of convalescence and complete recovery. It is 
 here that the distinction between the individual and the 
 national is practically eliminated when an entire people in 
 their collective capacity passes froin a state of distressing 
 unrest and alarm to the actual realisation of rest. 
 
 So distinctive and deep-seated has been this sense of 
 relief, as the late titanic struggle closed, that one could 
 almost hear the note of joy on the part of the nations thus 
 enfranchised. It is a blessing whose value cannot be ex- 
 pressed in language, too deeply imbedded in the recesses of 
 a people's heart to be reducible to words, a radical restitu- 
 tion of national life — a real renaissance of the national 
 I spirit and the national hope, imparting a new lease of cor- 
 porate life, infusing new energy into all the functions of 
 national activity and opening^ up such an outlook for na- 
 tional endeavor and enterprise as to stimulate every doi-mant 
 capability and set the nation far ahead on the open highway 
 of national progress. 
 
 2. A more positive and objective result of Peace is the 
 awakening of what might be called the Constructive spirit 
 
The Return of Peace 13 
 
 of a people, a making over again of a nation's structure and 
 character, a building, as if anew, of the very foundations of 
 a nation's life and in a manner more durable than ever. 1 
 
 War is essentially" destructive in its governing purpose, 
 and the methods by which it is conducted. From first to last, 
 its primary aim is the demolition of all that stands in the 
 way of its advance. We speak, and rightly, of the waste of 
 war. This is its ideal, to uproot all existing agencies and 
 mark its track by an indiscriminate ruin. Whatever its 
 ultimate ends may be in the defense of national life and 
 interests and the realization of political, social or economic 
 ends, its immediate aim is desolation and that only. 
 
 Hence, the first and foremost call of the hour after peace 
 is secured is that of Restoration and Reconstruction, a vig- 
 orous process of Reformation, partly by way of recovering 
 that which has been lost and partly by way of instituting 
 a new and better order. Construction must be carried on 
 concordant with reconstruction. Indeed the more positive 
 process of building anew from the ground up must be em- 
 phasized qver any form of merely reparative work. For- 
 mation must co-operate with and surpass mere reforma- 
 tion, and the nation at large and the world at large be thus 
 advanced to ever higher levels of endeavor and achieve- 
 ment. It is one of the most significant and beneficent 
 anomalies of life and strictly within the divine order of 
 the world that when the destructive processes of man or 
 nature have had their dire way and done their worst and 
 at length cease, the restorative and constructive processes 
 at once assert themselves with redoubled vigor and with 
 an intensity often in proportion to the destruction that has 
 been wrought. 
 
14 Timely Topics 
 
 Were it not for this benign law of Providence and his- 
 tbry, whweby these remedial agencies begin to act close 
 upon the wake of devastation, the world would soon revert 
 to chaos. How graciously and potently in the day of con- 
 valescence the healing agencies of the body begin to act, so 
 as to repair the waste of disease, reinvigorate the depleted 
 system and awaken hope and joy in the sufferer's heart. 
 Even so graciously and potently do a nation's restorative 
 powers assert themselves when the struggle ceases and all 
 the factors and forces of the national life are quickened into 
 fuller function. Herein lie the responsibilties that the 
 " dawn of peace brings with it — ^that any people so delivered 
 shall at once appreciate the meaning of its deliverance, take 
 full advantage. of the new opportunities thus offered, and 
 address itself whole-heartedly to the duties and demands 
 of the hour, acknowledging the presence of all the con- 
 structive forces and co-operating with them in all their 
 beneficent ends. It is largely by this |)rinciple that the char- 
 acter of a people is tested, whether it utilizes or fails to 
 utilize the privilege of the hour. , 
 
 Hence, The Perils of Peace, induced by the principle 
 of Reaction, distinctive and pronounced in proportion to 
 the intensity of the conflict that has closed; During the 
 time that war prevails the nations engaged are in a state 
 of unwonted tension. Every agency is at the limit of its 
 activity under the ever-increasing stress of events. Normal 
 processes have given place largely to abnormal conditions 
 and entire peoples .are the subjects of nervous energies 
 aroused beyond all ordinary limits, in all the spheres of life 
 
' The Return of Peace 1 5 
 
 — civic, industrial and.social. The national pulse is beating 
 at fever heat and the body politic is charged with a vitality 
 that is unnatural and dangerous. From such a condition 
 Reaction necessarily enters, and when it arises from such 
 a world-wide catastrophe as the late war the results are 
 ominous and often tragic, testing the very existence of any 
 nation that is the subject of it. Hence, the variety of forms 
 that such a reactionary movement may take, assuming at 
 one time the form of absolute anarchy or a protest against 
 all established order, and at another expressing itself in a 
 stolid and supine inactivity, blocking all the wheels of 
 progress and suppressing every remnant of national ambi- 
 tion and hope, while between these two extremes of revolu- 
 tion and an abject surrender of all national aspiration divers 
 forms of evil assert themselves, such as national arrogance 
 as a result of victory ; national extravagance as the fruit of 
 the waste of war ; a development of an excessive economic 
 rivalry among the nations in order to repair such waste; a 
 legacy of national and international hatred engendered by 
 the habit of war ; the infusion into civic life of a distinct 
 militaristic temper; a distaste for the quiet and ordinary 
 avocations of life as contrasted with the exciting activities 
 of war — in a word, the dominance of the lower over the 
 higher instincts of nature. Here lies the supreme obliga- 
 tion in the history of all great struggles, — ^to utilize their 
 best eflforts and neutralize the possible attendant evils, and 
 here is needed the best judgment of a nation's leaders and 
 of the people at large to hold the nation to its highest ideals 
 lest it lose the very ends for which the sacrifice and struggle 
 have been made. Such are the perils even of a peace that is 
 
i6 Timely Topics 
 
 victorious, and when a nation as a result of unsuccessful 
 war is compelled to sue for peace, such perils are indefinitely 
 increased and are wont to assume the most revolting and 
 alarming forms, induced by the sheer desperation of defeat. 
 It is thus clear beyond all question that the dominant 
 duty of all peoples at the close of a national conflict is that 
 of Conciliation and Reconciliation, if so be the inevitable 
 evils of war as provocative of all the baser instincts may 
 be reduced to the minimum and the better elements and 
 functions of the human heart be encouraged to express 
 themselves. On the part of the victorious people this should 
 induce the suppression of all national vanity, and on the 
 part of the conquered nation a rational submission to the 
 arbitrament of arms. National arrogance and national 
 resentment should alike be subordinate to an ever-growing 
 desire to heal the spirit of dissension existing among former 
 foes and return again to those conditions of international 
 comity and fellowship which are the only guarantees of 
 the world's progress. Nothing should more clearly mark 
 the return of peace than the 'restoration of Good Will, — a 
 League of Nations based on fraternity rather than political 
 diplomacy and thus designed to contribute to the general 
 good. 
 
 THE NEW ERA 
 
 The era now at hand is indeed new, not only chronologi- 
 cally as subsequent to antecedent eras, but in every phase 
 and function of national and international life, and new 
 not only as to those external changes which impress them- 
 
The New Era' 17 
 
 selves so vividly upon the mind of the most casual observer, 
 but as to the hidden itjternal changes which affect the 
 foundations and movements of life and of which all that is 
 external is but the manifestation and expression. The very 
 spirit of life has been changed — its motives and governing 
 purpose, its ideals and aspirations, so that nations cannot 
 develop along traditional lines nor subserve simply tra- 
 ditional ends. In this era, more than ever before, it may 
 truthfully be said that nations are born in a day and rise at 
 once into newness of life and action. It is the Renaissance 
 of the world. 
 
 To the superficial and merely materialistic student of the 
 world's life these changes are apt to be regarded as mainly 
 .industrial and commercial, inducing a new economic order 
 by which the wealth of the world is to be increased and what 
 one calls the comforts of civilization more widely diffused. 
 As the origin of the late war, and of most wars, is said to 
 be mainly economic, so their final purpose is regarded and 
 as the struggle ends the victorious nation is busily engaged 
 in summing up its monetary assets. The fact is that changes 
 such as these are the least significant to the eye of the right- 
 minded observer, the dominant inquiry being how the great 
 imderlying currents of the world's life are affected, its civic 
 and social order, its educational and intellectual order, its 
 moral and religious order — in a word, the real life of the 
 peoples. Here, as nowhere else, the new era is to be studied 
 and tested, and if failing in these respects to abide the test, 
 it Hioy be said to fail completely, for what the world is 
 seeking is not its material enrichment, but its sound civic, 
 mental and moral regeneration. Tragic and saddening 
 
1 8 Timely Topics 
 
 beyond air conception as this world-wide conflict has been, 
 it may be said that the price is scarcely too great, if so be 
 such a regeneration is the fruit of it, and it is on this issue 
 that the heart of man is set and the hope of the world 
 based.^ If this hope is realized the era at hand is only new 
 in the highest conceivable sense, and happy is he who appre- 
 ciating its character and possibilities is privileged to share 
 in its fulfillment. 
 
 Evidences already are clearly seen that the nations far 
 and near are awakening to their mission and initiating meas- 
 ures to utilize it. The heart of the world is stirred as never 
 before, and despite all existing obstacles that must arise in 
 connection with so radical a revelation, mankind is more 
 hopeful than ever that order, civic and social, will eventually 
 emerge, that the best elements of individual and national 
 life will assert themselves and the dawn of this new ^ay 
 steadily advance to its meridian. 
 
 As to how these promising results may best be reached 
 without unduly disturbing established order, so that reno- 
 vation may not degenerate into revolution, this is the prac- 
 tical question of the time. 
 
 Without entering into the details of this onward and 
 upward movement as to just what these new features should 
 be in society and government; in mind and morals, there are 
 two suggestions of movement that may be urged. First of 
 all, these changes should be Gradual and not violent^ arid 
 this just because they are so radical. The transition from 
 - prior conditions to a new and distinctive order must ob- 
 serve the law of any beneficent transition by gradational 
 process. Great transitions are in their nature inclined to 
 
The New Era 19 
 
 rapid movement because transitional, and easily pass the 
 bounds of reason and take on the form of revolution. Such 
 a tendency is apparent at this hour, as the very foundations 
 of society are shaken and the best judgment of peoples is 
 needed to withstand the tendency to violent revolt and insti- 
 tute a process of slow and sober adjustment. History is 
 replete with signal illustration of the lack of thi:^ steadying 
 guidance in the -midst of violent disorder and conf lision. 
 Never has such an ordered movement been more urgently 
 needed than it is now, and never has there been such a de- 
 mand for the wisdom of the wisest, if so be the very ends 
 that are sought may not be thwarted. Leaders of the people 
 and the people themselves must co-operate with this stabil- 
 izing process^ and make haste slowly. 
 
 A further and equally important suggestion is to the 
 effect that whatever the new order of things may bring to 
 the world at large, the essential values of the Older Order 
 must be preserved. Here is a crucial problem — to preserve 
 the best of that which is old and secure the bes^ of that 
 which presents itself as new. This salient principle applies 
 equally fully in all departments of judicial and international 
 life — ^the principle of a valid conservatism and a valid 
 liberalism, by which the _past and the future are vitally 
 linked, by which bigoted traditionalism and an equally 
 bigoted radicalism are alike rebuked and the wholesome 
 unity and continuity of world progress preserved. In the 
 application of this principle to social and philanthropic 
 problems, to the pressing problems of governmental polity, 
 to the vastly important question of educational reform and 
 to all the possible changes in the sphere of the religious and 
 
20 Timely Topics 
 
 ecclesiastical, care must be taken to engraft the new order 
 on that portion of the old stock which is essential and vital. 
 
 It is gratifying to note that events are shaping in this 
 direction. Modifications of the social order are studied in 
 the light of what is best in past conditions, changes in the 
 constitutions of states, in curricula of institutions of learn- 
 ing and the creeds and confessions of all churches are 
 contemplated in deference to what has been already proved 
 to be desirable and serviceable. It is by this method and 
 this only that the new era will be beneficent and lasting— a 
 safe and genuine attempt to move the modern world a little 
 further on along the line of an ever advancing progress. 
 
 It is at this point that the outlook is promising and the 
 interests involved inspiring, summoning every lover of his 
 country and his kind to take his part in the inspiring service, 
 if so be an order of life among the nations may be ushered 
 in for which the world has long been waiting. It is in the 
 light of such an issue that the redemption of the world' 
 draweth nigh. 
 
 THE NEW ERA IN HIGHER EDUCATION 
 
 Higher education is distinguished here from secondary 
 education, pertaining specifically to the college and the 
 university. 
 
 Education, in common with all other forms of human 
 activity, has been distinctly affected by the late war, and is 
 also affected, and chiefly so, by all those changing conditions 
 which mark what we call the progress of the race from 
 higher to higher "levels, a progress induced by the natural 
 
The New Era in Higher EdMation 21 
 
 law of change, by the sheer stress and demands of modern 
 life, and which, as such, is as inevitable as the movement of 
 the tides. 
 
 The new era is primarily one of modification, a modifica- 
 tion of means and ends, and, in some instances, of what 
 have been regarded as fundamental and abiding principles. 
 By such a modification the relation of the primary and sub- 
 ordinate may at times be reversed, emphasis may be laid on 
 methods and aims hitherto viewed as unimportant; the old 
 and the new may interchange positions — in fine there may be 
 induced a recasting of the existing educational status to meet 
 the issue of the hour. Events are moving more rapidly than 
 ever, the world at large is more alert and restless than ever ; 
 too much so to await the slow processes of the past. 
 
 The conditions, therefore, that confront those who have 
 most at heart the highest advance of the race and who will 
 be most instrumental in securing it are nothing less than 
 critical and demand the highest order of judgment. The 
 sphere of religious thought and life apart, there is no provr 
 ince in which such a problem is more pronounced and 
 important than in that of education, especially in its higher 
 forms, and none in which the call of the times is more 
 imperative and urgent. 
 
 The forms which such a problem may assume have differ- 
 ent phases and values, such as: 
 
 The true relation of the cultural and vocational ; of the 
 general and the special; the liberal and .the technical; of the 
 classical and scientific; of the ancient and the modern. 
 Shall the humanities, so called, retain their place of primacy? 
 Shall liberal education mean in the future what it has meant 
 
22 Timely Topics 
 
 since the Revival of Learning? What is the relative value 
 of the arts and. sciences, and in the arts themselves the rela- 
 tive value of the Fine and the Useful Arts, and in the 
 sciences, that of Pure and Applied Science? It is clear that 
 the problem involves the entire content or subject-matter of 
 education; the question of its best methods as a pedagogic 
 training and its ultimate purpose in deference to existing and 
 future needs. The problem is so interesting as to be fasci- 
 nating, and so difficult as to be embarrassing, and in any 
 discussion and resolution will vitally affect the general 
 collegiate and university life of the modern world.- A sug- 
 gestion or two may be of service. 
 
 A. First of all, it is vital to maintain that no essential 
 Antagonism exists or should be allowed to exist between any 
 two of these contrasted methods, such as the Cultural and 
 Vocational, the General and Special. They are to be viewed 
 as co-ordinate and interactive, possessing with all their con- 
 trasts, elements in common, and in the end co-operating to 
 the complete education of the student. Differences may 
 exist, but not antagonisms, an honest effort being made to 
 minimize the differences ^nd emphasize the features in com- 
 mon. Great harm has been done in this discussion in that 
 rival camps have been instituted, bitter opposition engen- 
 dered and a method of controversy adopted which prevents 
 at the outset impartial argument and an ingenuous effort to 
 reach a valid result just to all concerned. Competing inter- 
 ests need not be conflicting interests, and exponents of dif- 
 ferent educational policies may be surprised to find as to how 
 much they can severally ajgree. The question is one of 
 relative value and proportion, as demanded by those new 
 
The New jBra in Higher Education 23 
 
 and unforeseen conditions which make some modification 
 imperative. 
 
 B. It may further be suggested : that the Essential Prin- 
 ciples and features of the existing regime should as far as 
 possit(le be maintained — the cultural, general, liberal, classi- 
 cal and ancient, but not in the exact form and measure in 
 which they have hitherto obtained. It is just here that the 
 valid principle -of concession or compromise enters as a 
 feasible factor — a principle clearly illustrated in all the great 
 reforms of history, that concession being granted by reason 
 of the manifestly new developments of the time. 
 
 To insist here upon the hyper-conservative theory that 
 traditional educational methods should prevail because tra- 
 ditional, is as dangerous and illogical an extreme as to insist 
 upon their complete elimination. Every form and phase of 
 human activity has changed, and he has in hand a difficult 
 problem who contends that in the sphere of education this 
 inevitable law is inoperative. Education, in its very nature 
 and ideal, is a process, a development, and as such involves, 
 in its very conception, the necessity and desirability of modi- 
 fication to adjust it to ever-varying needs. 
 
 There is such a thing as educational modernism, as im- 
 portant in its place as modernism in the sphere of religious 
 thought and life. Education must not only be held back 
 to date in deference to the past, but brought down to date in 
 deference to the present and the future, and these results 
 are not incompatible. 
 
 C. The question of primary purport, therefore, that here 
 emerges is: What are the Specific Changes desired and 
 
24 Timely Tofics 
 
 needed, and where are they to begin and end to meet this call 
 for adjustment? 
 
 Here is an open field for wide and reasonable differences 
 of opinion among those who are seeking a tenable and prac- 
 ticable policy, and there is no doubt that safe and satisfactory 
 conclusions will be reached by the temperate exchange of 
 views and the spirit of mutual surrender of opinion when 
 demanded. It is here that the classical controversy reaches 
 its acute stage, and it is at this moment the dominant ques- 
 tion, a question involving, it is urged, the classical languages 
 only, and not their literatures, and the languages themselves 
 in their original text. Classical authors, it is justly said, 
 may be profitably studied in translation, quite fully enough 
 to obtain a classical outlook and imbibe the classical spirit, 
 and the literature of the ancient languages may be enjoyed 
 quite apart from specific linguistic study of grammar and 
 text. This is a point urgently pressed by the advocates of 
 modification as to classical requirements and would release 
 a large amount of time and space for other studies. More- 
 over, as to the study of the languages themselves, a valid 
 distinction is made by many between the Greek and the 
 Latin in relation to the needs of the average student, the 
 reduction of the Greek being urged as more imperative than 
 that of the Latin. By the time thus released the increasing 
 demands of political, economic, historical, social and scien- 
 tific studies, it is argued, could be safely met, as also the 
 just claims of the Modern Languages, of Continental 
 Europe. 
 
 In a word, herein lies a scheme, not of elimination, but 
 of partial reduction in behalf of what may be called the 
 
The New Era in Higher Education .25 
 
 modern order ; containing nothing radical or revolutionary, 
 omitting nothing which the student may not secure if he 
 desires, at least in modified measure, and thus co-ordinating 
 in a sense the diverse demands of the conservative and the 
 liberal schools. In some way or another, this insistent call 
 of the new era must be heard and heeded. It will not be 
 and cannot be suppressed; and he is a wise exponent of 
 traditional education who appreciates the potency and the 
 urgency of that call, and is willing.to' concede enough of the 
 old regime to give a larger function to the new, and thus 
 to unify the past and present. 
 
 Though Mr. Huxley holds an extreme view when he 
 insists that culture can be secured as fully from purely 
 scientific studies as from literary and linguistic, it is also 
 true that a comprehensive and satisfactory type of culture 
 cannot be secured apart from adding to literature and 
 language that particular element of education that comes 
 from a knowledge of the industrial, as well as the liberal 
 arts; of the great facts and truths of history and social in- 
 stitutions; of the study of physical nature and the political 
 development of men and nations. Thus will the New Era 
 in Higher Education interact with the Old Era, the Arts 
 with the Sciences, literature and language with the daily 
 life of the race; thus securing stability and ever increasing 
 progress and best preparing the American undergraduate 
 to take his place and do his part in the inspiring work of the 
 modem world. 
 
26 Timely Topics 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL MIND 
 
 The close of the World- War reopens many old problems 
 either for elimination or revision and originates a wide 
 variety of new problems that must be examined and settled 
 in the light of new conditions. These problems for their 
 solution require an order of mind hitherto uncalled for. No 
 man can properly approach and discuss these questions by 
 any canons of criticistn as yet obtaining, nor can he, least of 
 all, discuss them in any other attitude than that of an 
 observer and student of world conditions. This order of 
 mind may be known by various names. As we are treating 
 of conditions largely political, we may call it. The Inter- 
 national Mind. Some of its characteristics may be cited. 
 
 I. It is a Comprehensive Mind, as distinct from an)rthing 
 partisan, provincial, local, or even national, cosmopolitan in 
 its compass. The field of its operation is the world, so that 
 nothing short of the world at large will answer for its exer- 
 cise. It illustrates what Bacon calls "Universality," on 
 which all progress is based. This age is certainly not one 
 for limited outlook, but only for a breadth of vision that has 
 no assigned boundary, that sweeps the farthest limit of the 
 horizon and takes in all tr-uth and knowledge for its provr 
 ince. What is wished here is Scope, "ample room and verge 
 enough" to take in the whole situation in its mental range, 
 continental in its area as contrasted with the merely insular 
 and seeking for conclusions that will be acknowledged the 
 world around. 
 
 II. Jt is a Catholic Mind, as distinct from anything in 
 the line of narrowness and bigotry, insisting on examining ': 
 
The International Mind 27 
 
 truth untrammelled by any preconceived opinion and giving 
 all due weight to those great generalizations that are the 
 result of an unbiassed outlook. It is this catholicity of con- 
 ception for which the large-minded men of every age have 
 contended and which has lain at the root of all the great 
 reformations of the world, and emphasized with imposing 
 significance in this era of agitation and reform. This is the 
 true Liberalism for which the world fs waiting more im- 
 patiently than ever, a solemn protest against the tyranny of 
 an extreme conservatism and insisting that in the ultimate 
 issues mere traditionalism must give place to advanced 
 thinking and the bounds of mental freedom be ever widened. 
 It is this catholic tendency that is liberalizing the govern- 
 ments of the world, a form of civil polity which is simply 
 another name for democracy. The democratic temper is 
 eminently catholic and will not brook political bigotry. This 
 is what is meant, moreover, by the Open Mind, open to all 
 light and evidence, friendly to new truth as new and to any 
 new interpretation of established truth, a student at large in 
 the great- out-of-door world where life is at its fullest and 
 conditions are ever changing, ready to accept conclusions 
 hitherto rejected and placing itself right at the centre of the 
 strongest currents of thought and life. The catholic mind 
 is thus committed to the principle of free trade as against 
 exclusion in the intellectual commerce of the world, opening 
 its entrance for all ingenuous seekers after truth and claim- 
 ing a similar free entry into every harbour of the world's 
 thought. Nothing is more indicative of mental sanity in 
 men or nations than a willingness to surrender long cher- 
 ished opinions when proved to be untenable. 
 
28 Timely Topics 
 
 III. It is a Balanced Mind, marked by poise and equi- 
 poise, and as such proof against violent transitions, char- 
 acterized by mental steadiness in the midst of disturbing 
 agencies. It is because events and conditions are seen in 
 their entirety as involving world interests that such a mind 
 is stabilized. Mental balance is as rare as it is desirable, a 
 state of stable equilibrium as essential in thought as in 
 physics, a maintenance of the centre of gravity by which dire 
 disaster is averted and all intellectual processes well ordered. 
 
 IV. It is a Modern Mind as distinct from being Medi- 
 aeval. Internationalism as a principle in the life of states 
 may be said to have originated at the Reformation of the 
 1 6th century, when bigotry in church and state received its 
 death-sentence and nations for the first time thought in 
 terms of modem life. From the Elizabethan Era onward 
 the principle advanced by slow and difficult stages until,, at 
 the opening of the last century, it may be said to have estab- 
 lished its place, coming into increasing potency in this second 
 decade of the 20th century as the direct result of that tragic 
 upheaval from which the world has just emerged. We are 
 now in the Golden Age of Modernism, and they only ate 
 wise who recognize the fact and act in obedience to it. It 
 is from Lord Bacon, the author of the "Novum Organum" 
 — the new method in philosophy that we read — "Antiquity 
 deserveth that reverence that men should make a stand there- 
 upon and discover what is the best way, but when the dis- 
 covery is well taken then to make Progression." It is this 
 political and mental progression that marks the present age 
 as distinctly Modem — a definitely New Era. 
 
 Such are the Characteristics of the International Mind — 
 
The International Mind 29 
 
 Comprehensiveness, Catholicity, Balance -and Modernism, a 
 type of mind never more needed than now to regfulate the 
 world. When so many statesmen, so called, are discussing 
 world problems from the standpoint of the locality which 
 they are supposed to represent, when so many theologians 
 are still living in the fifteenth century, and so many uni- 
 versity men are still interpreting educational problems in the 
 light of the Schoolmen of the Middle Ages, what is surely 
 needed is the International Mind, universality of thought 
 and outlook. Especially in the sphere of the civic and 
 political is this order of mind demanded. One of the most 
 damaging disclosures of the late war is seen in the fact that 
 in the parliaments of the people, and especially in the Con- 
 gress of our own country, there. are so few national repre- 
 sentatives who seem to have the least idea of what is meant 
 by Internationalism in statecraft, or what the urgent need is 
 for many-sided, wide-minded men, men of such character 
 and calibre, such largeness of nature and spaciousness of 
 view, as to look out from the confines of their own political 
 environment into the open area of the world's needs, and 
 legislate for human interests at large. We need another 
 Bacon to arise and pen another Novum Organum — a new 
 philosophy of legislation for the Modem World. 
 
II 
 
 THE CALL FOR CIVIC LEADERSHIP 
 
 One of the most urgent issues of the hour demanding the 
 best thought of the wisest men is how to- secure and con- 
 serve the fruits of peace. No problems of a strictly military ■ 
 character that emerged as the late tragic war went on made 
 a more urgent appeal to military men for discussion and 
 settlement than the inevitable problems of peace now make 
 on the civilians of the country, while the difficulties and 
 possible perils in the solution of such problems are no less 
 pronounced than those which confronted the officers of 
 the army. The call is for leadership, and while addressed 
 to the general body of American citizens without distinction, ;^ 
 is especially addressed td the young^men of the nation as to 
 those best fitted in age, opportunity and necessary equip- 
 ment for the high behests of the hour, a call as insistent in 
 days of peace as the call for volunteers in the"da3rs of war. 
 Herein lies one of the tragedies of the situation that con- 
 fronts the nation as thousands of the choicest of these men 
 have made the supreme sacrifice and are beyond the heeding 
 of their country's call. Already they have responded to an 
 earlier call and have fully done their share in the preserva- 
 tion of the nation's honor. These were they on whom the 
 land was relying for future service, and by reason of their 
 sacrifice of life have made the responsibility of their sur- 
 vivors all the more weighty and irresistible. The duties 
 
 30 
 
The Call for Civic Leadership 31 
 
 thus devolving: on what Matthew Arnold called the "Rem- 
 nant," are thus redoubled as the nation solemnly commits 
 the destinies of the people especially to them for guidance 
 and safe-keeping. 
 
 Nor is there a sphere of citizen service in which such 
 .leadership is not needed — in government and society, in 
 the industrial world and in the educational and religious 
 world. It is, however, in the province of what we may 
 term the civic that this demand is most emphatic — a call 
 for specifically legislative leadership by which the highest 
 political interests of the people may be secured and main- 
 tained, and the country advanced steadily onward in the 
 friendly rivalry of nations. In the highest offices of the 
 government and in the least conspicuous — in Congress, as 
 senators and representatives, in the Supreme Court and 
 lower courts, in the governorship of states and the mayor- 
 alties of cities and towns, in the common councils of bor- 
 oughs and municipalities, in fact, wherever men are needed 
 for administrative functions, a supply must be found from 
 the ranks of those young men who will thus be able to 
 assume and fulfill the role of civic leaders and thus sub- 
 serve the highest civic interests. 
 
 The qualifications needed for such a ministry are worthy 
 of emphasis. First of all, is Civic Knowledge — a compre- 
 hensive and an accurate acquaintance with the nature and 
 forms and obligations of civil government, all that pertains 
 to the constitution and fimction of the state — its jurisdiction 
 and its limitations, what is involved in citizenship, and 
 what citizens of a free commonwealth have a right to expect 
 of those whose leadership has been acknowledged and who 
 
32 Timely Topics 
 
 are to be held responsible for the right administration of 
 public interests. 
 
 Something more is involved here than a possession of 
 general intelligence or average mental equipment ; a specific 
 political intelligence, a clear apprehension of what civic 
 polity is and what it involves and demands on the part of 
 those who are called to represent and apply it. It is a hope- 
 ful sign in modern educational programmes that this 
 demand for a broader and clearer knowledge of statecraft, 
 the process and function of government, is being more fully 
 met so as to qualify American youth for the place of civic 
 leadership. 
 
 The study of history, jurisprudence, economics, social 
 institutions and political science is given an ever larger 
 recognition in common with scientific, philosophic and 
 literary subjects. (2) Closely connected with this primary 
 requisite is that of Organization and Initiative, a distinct 
 and well defined aptitude for executive duty. We are living 
 in days when a civic leader must have something of the 
 same capability that is demanded of a military leader, that 
 of collecting and consolidating the various forces and facil- ~ 
 ities under his control so as to secure the speediest and best 
 results. 
 
 It is related of one of the ancient tribes of Israel "that 
 they had understanding of their times, to know what Israel 
 ought to do," and it is especially required of a leader in the 
 state to know just what ought to be done under existing 
 conditions and so to reconstruct and manipulate the agencies 
 at his command as to meet the urgent needs of the hourr 
 Organization and Initiative will secure results at such a 
 
The Call for Civic Leadership 33 
 
 juncture, attainable by no other agency, so that while 
 the incompetent man is dreaming and debating the real 
 executive will be reaching immediate and eflfective results. 
 
 (3) A further qualification is Civic Courage— the cour- 
 age of conviction and of action, a positiveness of character 
 and official procedure that will maintain its ground, let the 
 opposition be what it may, a real vertebrate tenacity. So 
 insistent, aggressive and insolent are the agencies and 
 influences now at work against well-organized and well- 
 ordered government and all well-established social institu- 
 tions, so prone are many of the heads of the industries to 
 encourage disorder and revolt under the guise of economic 
 privilege, and so extreme are many of the so-called theories 
 of socialism, that somewhere there must be found a body 
 of men to resist to the bitter end these encroachments on 
 popular government and civic order. These real servants 
 x>f the state must be found in the young men of the land 
 who are qualified to lead their fellow-citizens along the lines 
 of civic duty and safety and progress. Civilian leaders 
 must, in fine, have something of that same type of heroic 
 bravery and fortitude that is essential to military leaders, 
 and fight to the finish for the maintenance of law and 
 order. 
 
 (4) A final requisite is Integrity, which in its very ety- 
 mology means that a man should be every inch a man, 
 unflinching in his avowal and defense of those fundamental 
 principles of character and conduct on which the structure 
 of government and society is based. There is no greater 
 need of the modem state and all modern institutions than 
 that for men who are absolutely trustworthy in any func- 
 
34 Timely Topics 
 
 tion, official or unofficial, to which they may be called— 
 reliable men, or as a late American scholar was wont to 
 call them — reli-on-able men, men on whom, as the word 
 means, you could fall back, assured that they would be 
 found dependable. Never has the call for this order of 
 leaders been more insistent than it is at this critical juncture 
 in the world's history. Whom can we trust or should we 
 trust, if not those supposed guardians of the people, who 
 subordinating all personal and selfish interests to the public 
 good, should invite and expect the absolute confidence of 
 the people in their character and civic functions, without 
 reproach or without fear and justify unqualified faith in 
 their motives and services! 
 
 Such are the essential qualifications of leadership and 
 hence it is evident that a special call is issued to the colleges ' 
 of the country to furnish to the state such a body of men, 
 men of civic intelligence, or independent initiative, of cour- 
 age and of character. The fact that in the late war eighty 
 per cent, of the American college men who entered- the 
 service became in due time officers in the army would lead 
 us to look for a similar ratio of leaders in all the depart- 
 ments of civic service, in the subsequent days of peace, when 
 the need of such leadership is even more urgent. 
 
 When military prowess must give place to mental and 
 moral prowess, and civic and social reconktruction must 
 repair the ravages of war and reinstate the moral forces of 
 the world in fullest function, the Christian college and the 
 Christian church constitute the true hope of the world, while 
 the opportunity thus offered to college men is as inspiring 
 as it is obligatory. That the educational institutions of the 
 
The Call for College Men 35 
 
 country are realizing this duty and privilege and are address- 
 ing themselves to it with unwonted zeal is one of the most 
 promising signs of the hour. 
 
 THE GALL FOR COLLEGE MEN IN 
 . _ THE GOMMERCIAL WORLD 
 
 As late as the opening of the present century the college 
 world and the business world were widely separated in spirit 
 as well as in function, nor was it supposed possible that any 
 bond of mutual interest could unite them. Gollege men in 
 politics, especially in the various branches of the diplomatic 
 service, as exemplified in our earlier history in the persons 
 of Irving, Bancroft, Hawthorne and Lowell, were an ac- 
 cepted factor in national and international administration. 
 In the national legislature as well as in those of the several 
 states this educational representation was more or less 
 present, but not until recent years has such a body of men 
 been appealed to as a necessary factor in commercial circles. 
 Hitherto, it was stoutly contended by leaders in the business 
 world that business was one thing and higher education 
 another, that men of affairs by the very nature of their call- 
 ing could have but little affiliation with men of letters and of 
 learning, that the best course open to those who were con- 
 templating commercial life was to pass directly from the 
 common school to business itself in its initial stages and by 
 actual experience secure the training they most needed to 
 ensure advancement and the greatest ultimate success. It 
 was practically the old theory of apprenticeship as seen in 
 the manual arts by which alone an apprentice was to prepare 
 
36 Timely Topics 
 
 himself for efficient service in his chosen trade or industry. 
 
 Just here, once again, we are confronted with the lessons 
 of the late war and find one of them to lie precisely along . t 
 this commercial line, so that existing theories give place to 
 new ideals as presentedby new conditions and the real rela- -J 
 tion of college men to the world of business is prominently 
 present. In the exigencies of the war the government found 
 itself face to face with serious problems, one of them being 
 that of finding suitable men for the unwonted demands of 
 the hour — ^men in whom the government could confide for 
 the various forms of service needed. On grounds of im- 
 mediate necessity the colleges were summoned to furnish 
 needed men, a call to which there was as enthusiastic a re- 
 sponse as to the demand for soldiers and sailors. It is now 
 an open secret that the government was not a little surprised 
 by the rare aptitude which members of college faculties and 
 undergraduates evinced in all the departmental and adminis- 
 trative functions to which they were assigned, displaying a 
 grade and measure of specific commercial ability for which 
 they had not received credit hitherto and which the govern- 
 ment proposed more and more to utilize. This order of 
 efficiency, when the war ended, was in immediate demand in 
 general business circles and important industrial vocations. 
 Banks and financial corporations were in the market for the 
 services of these men now highly accredited by war service . 
 and all the traditional prejudices against the entrance of 
 highly educated men into business disappeared and a new 
 regime of demand and supply was instituted. 
 
 Professor Erskine, Chairman of the Army Education 
 Commission in France at the close of the war, goes so far 
 
The Call for College Men 37 
 
 as to predict that in the near future there will be a close 
 connection not only between our universities and com- 
 mercial life, but that their schedules will find a place even 
 for the manual and industrial arts so that, as he insists, 
 "the teaching of trades should be enriched by contact with 
 the spirit of scholarship," this being one of the ways in 
 which the pending problem of the social order could be 
 solved. 
 
 If it be asked where the special ground or reason for this 
 call for college men in business is found to be, it may be 
 answered, in the scarcity of competent and reliable men, as 
 taken from the rank and file of the non-collegiate classes — 
 men of foresight, initiative and independent judgment, who 
 could rise above the mere material plane of profit and loss, 
 dollars and cents, and look at business as a high vocation 
 demanding a high order of ability for its right discharge. 
 The demand was for men that were not merely business 
 men, slaves to the mechanical duties of the shop and the 
 counter, but men of intellectual outlook and comprehension 
 who could look at commercial interests along the broadest 
 lines and connect them with the highest national progress. 
 Nor should it be concealed that in such a call for high-grade 
 - men, reliability has been as much stressed as competence — 
 men not only of mature judgment were demanded, but men 
 possessed of an acute sense of personal moral accountability, 
 to whom the most important business interests could be 
 safely committed. It is interesting to note just here that 
 such men have often been selected with reference to inter- 
 national business, where the province of operation is wider 
 and where something more than a merely local or pro- 
 
38 Timely Topics 
 
 vincial type of mind is needed. This has been of late a 
 distinctive feature in economic interests that lie beyond the 
 nation itself and call for breadth of vision and an ability 
 to view business as vitally related to all other forms of 
 human activity, at home and abroad. 
 
 To this call the brightest young men of our colleges are 
 responding and are in special preparation to meet the grow- 
 ing demand. Students who hitherto have had professional 
 life in mind, more especially that of law, are fitting them- 
 selves for commercial pursuits, while it goes without saying 
 that as never before, scientific students, as a class, are in 
 demand in all the departments of the industrial arts, where 
 technical skill is needed and where, as in no other spherej 
 the mental factors and the mechanical meet and interact 
 to a common end. 
 
 It is in place to add that in this commercial demand a 
 specific literary feature is apparent, in that young men are 
 sought who have a good command of English, who thus can 
 be of exceptional service in the composition of reports and 
 in commercial correspondence — ^masters of a clear, vigor- 
 ous and attractive English style so as to commend them- 
 selves and the firms they represent to the intelligent busi- 
 ness world. This department of commercial composition 
 and correspondence is assuming ever increasing importance < 
 
 The special Benefits of this somewhat new relation are 
 worthy of note : 
 
 I. One of them is found in the fact that it evinces and 
 confirms the true relation of the Cultural and the Vocational 
 so that it is reserved for this modern era to find an approxi- 
 mate solution of this old and vexing problem. Men of 
 
The Call for College Men 39 
 
 affairs and men of the library and the study are brought 
 into close and confidential contact, whereby the differences 
 that separate them to a large extent disappear as they dis- 
 cover increasing forms of unity. The benefits are seen to 
 be mutual — a more practical and useful element being im- 
 parted to the cultural order and a more distinctively in- 
 tellectual element being imparted to the vocational. Business 
 is emancipated from its purely sordid features and culture 
 is freed from its manifest tendency to exclusiveness and a 
 sense of superiority. It is in reality but another phase of 
 that levelling influence induced by the war by which classes 
 hitherto disjoined are brought together on a common level 
 for common ends. 
 
 2. A further benefit of this new relation of cordial co- 
 operation is found in the fact that this S3rmpathetic interest 
 between mental pursuits and the world of commerce and the 
 trades may be one and should be one of the Mediating 
 Agents between Capital and Labor — ^the most perplexing 
 problem of the day, by which the educated men of the 
 nation may in a sense come in between the capitalist and the 
 daily laborer and induce an increasing spirit of harmony 
 making it clear that no necessary antagonism should exist 
 between the merchant and the miner, but that each order in 
 its way should fill its place and do its work in full recogni- 
 tion of the rights of others. Certainly the scholar in politics 
 and the scholar in business should lift the science of state- 
 craft and the functions of business to an ever higher level 
 and be a distinctively assuaging and harmonizing factor 
 against all discordant tendencies. Whatever individual or 
 organization contributes to such an ameliorating influence 
 
40 Timely Topics 
 
 will place the modern world of industrial unrest under last- 
 ing indebtedness. 
 
 Men of books and men of business should alike be students 
 of the Humanities — seeking above all special interests to 
 further the interests of the world at large, while in this 
 increasing fraternization of our colleges and commercial 
 circles, there is seen one of the many ^gencieS now in 
 evidence by which the masses and the classes ate to be 
 reconciled and related. Herein lies one of the great re- 
 sponsibilities of the college world and business world of 
 to-day — to lessen all divergent agencies between them and 
 unify their interests and influence to the furtherance of the , 
 peace and progress of the world. 
 
 THE PROBLEMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 
 OF PEACE 
 
 If, as the poet states it, "Peace hath her victories no less 
 renowned than war," then it behooves the conquering nation 
 to secure and ratify these victories so that they may in part 
 compensate for the losses of war and become a determining 
 factor in all that pertains to the nation's highest progress. 
 Wirming the peace is a necessary sequel to winning the war 
 -and may be as difficult a contest as the war itself. This is 
 especially true when a tragic struggle so unexpectedly closes" 
 and, as if in a moment, changes the situation in all its phases 
 and calls for immediate and positive measures to meet it. 
 So radical and sudden is the transformation, that for the 
 time, the wisest minds are bewildered and there is serious 
 difficulty in assuaging the disturbing and conflicting elements 
 
The Problems and Responsibilities of Peace 41 
 
 and reaching anything like an established order. The world 
 is veritably overturned. All the varied forces of the state 
 are in process of ferment, well nigh chaotic. On all sides 
 open questions emerge for discussion and settlement — some 
 of them modifications of prior problems and many of them 
 altogether new to the most experienced observer of national 
 and international progress — problems religious, political, 
 educational, commercial, industrial and social, affecting in 
 fact every function of corporate life. To thoughtful minds 
 the dominant impression of the hour is one of national and 
 individual responsibility, so as, in a measure, at least, to 
 take in the situation as it confronts the intelligence and con- 
 science of the modern world and meet the new and impos- 
 ing obligations that arise. Nothing less is needed than the 
 most virile elements of character, courage, constancy, 
 patience and fortitude, and a fixed resolve to take full ad- 
 vantage of the rare opportunities offered and interpret the 
 lessons of the war in such wise as to bring unwonted 
 blessing to the generations following. Some of these 
 emerging problems may be cited — ^the proper place, if any, 
 of a military regime in civic life — ^what Mr. James calls 
 "The Moral Equiv^alent of War," the effect of war on a 
 nation's language and literature and general culture, and 
 morale, what is the best guarantee against a recurrence of 
 these ends that issue from a great national struggle and 
 what measures may best serve to consolidate and maintain 
 these possible benefits that accrue from such a conflict. 
 Two or three additional suggestions of special interest and 
 import may engage us: 
 
 I. The initial issue of the hour is one of Construction. 
 
42 Timely Topics :, 
 
 Just as on the material side, the first essential at the close 
 of a conflict is to repair the waste of war, to dear away all 
 obstructions and lay the basis of a new industrial order, so 
 in the h^her sphere of the civic and social, the educational 
 and ethical, a real beginning must be made in the Way of 
 reparation. The corporate life of the people in all its func- 
 tions mustte laid on new foimdations in the light of present 
 and prospective needs. It is nothing less than ^hat the 
 historian Green would call, the making of a state. The 
 process is constructive and reconstructive. Herein lies the 
 Heed of the organizing fatuity of a people, a positive ability 
 in the line of constituting a new order, a formative function 
 calling into play the best abilities of a people eager to take 
 advantage of existing emergencies. In the c^urCh, con- 
 structive theology is needed; in the state, constructive legis- 
 lation; in education, a constructive method of mental dis- 
 cipline, and in the communit)^ at large a constructive eco- 
 nomic order, if so be in all these departments the best 
 results may be reached. 
 
 2. A further responsibility has to dp with the attitude 
 of Stronger and Advanced peoples to those that are Weaker, 
 more or less dependent and but partially advanced toward 
 the highest forms of civic and national life. This £!,ttitude 
 . must be one of helpfulness — a thoroughly disinterested and 
 philanthropic relation to those in need and who are looking 
 to more highly favored nations for guidance and aid. 
 There are few chapters in the history of states, the world 
 over, more damaging and disheartening than those which 
 trace the relationship of older and stronger powers to the 
 struggling peoples with whom in one way or another they 
 
The Problems and Responsibilities of Peace 43 
 
 are brought into political contact. Not only in such flagrant 
 examples as the government of the Congo under Leopold, 
 - or that of Spain with her West Indian possessions, or that of 
 Germany with her African dependencies, or that of Russia 
 and Turkey, but European nations with scarcely an excep- 
 tion, and such Asiatic Empires as Japan must be arraigned 
 under this indictment. The prevailing policy, the world 
 over, has been one of exploitation and not of just and 
 humane jurisdiction, a persistent purpose backed by military 
 force to despoil depeiiderit peoples to the advantage of the 
 despoiler and thus to frustrate the very ends which such 
 political control was supposed to subserve. 
 
 In fine, colossal selfishness has been the conspicuous 
 policy in colonial history, a closed door to all national aspi- 
 ration, subjection instead of support; the studied suppres- 
 sion of all those natural, ambitions which every smaller 
 nation is supposed to entertain. Guizot and Hallam and 
 Buckle ahd others who have traced for us what is called the 
 progress of civilization have been obliged to confess that the 
 record has been mainly one of oppression. Accepting the 
 principle in national life of tiie survival of the fittest, they 
 have often made it impossible for the fittest to survive, 
 inasmuch as from their point of view it is only the strong 
 and self-sustaining who have any claim to survival, all 
 other peoples as dependent being thereby simply contribu- 
 tive to those that are independent. ' 
 
 3. A further obligation issuing from the late war is that 
 of a higher type of International Diplomacy. Our English 
 word, diplomacy, in its original Greek signification,? means 
 a document folded double, in which the emphasis has been 
 
44 Timely Topics ^ 
 
 laid on the word, double, in an ethical sense, so that the 
 science or art of diplomacy has been practically synonymous 
 with double dealing, whereby the word is no sooner sounded 
 than we connect it with intrigue, with some sort of political 
 strategy or subterfuge, with anything haX just and honor- 
 able procedure. A recent histoi^ian in his study of Greece^ 
 calls our attention to "the intricacies of modem diplomacy 
 which can seldom go straight to a mark in matters of the 
 clearest right and duty," meaning by "intricacies", any form 
 of political juggling by which the worse is made to appear 
 the better reason, any device by which the opposing party 
 may be misled or manipulated. So, it comes to pass that 
 when a body of diplomats is convened to discuss and settle 
 great questions of state and supposedly on behalf of good 
 government, they at once assume the diplomatic attitude, 
 well understood to be one of shrewdness, equivocation and 
 mental reservation, anything but openness and ingenuous- 
 ness. All parties take the defensive, cloak real intentions 
 under a maze of expressed intentions and insist that lan- 
 guage of a political type is the art of concealing thought. 
 Were all the cards laid on the table in full view, the session 
 would be short indeed. If one would read a history as 
 interesting as a romance, he must sit down to the perusal 
 of the record of European Diplomacy from the days of 
 Machiavelli and Metternich to those of Otto Bismarck and 
 his school. As a typical example the Congress of Berlin 
 might be selected — a truly Bismarckian Council at which the 
 Iron Chancellor held the winning Cards well in hand and 
 played the game in full accord with his theory of statecraft, 
 the result being that the initial steps were then taken which 
 
The Problems and Responsibilities of Peace 45 
 
 led to the late war. To think of Bismarck and Disraeli at 
 the same table vieing with each, other to promote the best 
 interests of Europe irrespective of special German and 
 English politics would be to indulge in a serio-comic exer- 
 cise of mind. The indictment to be made against such a 
 council could be framed in the same terms as those made 
 by the Allied Powers against the Ex-Kaiser "a supreme 
 offense against international morality and the sanctity of 
 treaties" not to speak of other Counts that might be justly 
 included. We can conceive of no more urgently needed 
 reform as a new world-order is in the process of making 
 than that of international diplomacy — ^an order of political 
 dealing based on common interests in which the separate 
 nations shall be given their deserved place and privileges. 
 The dream is Utopian, but still it lies within the possibility 
 of partial realization as the common conscience of the world 
 is quickened. Nor has the Christian Church been blameless 
 at this point. In countries especially where church and 
 state were under one jurisdiction ecclesiastical statesmen 
 were in evidence, and it was often a question difficult to 
 determine as to which of these factors, the ecclesiastical or 
 the secular, excelled in political intrigue. From the days of 
 Hildebrand and Loyala on to those of Richelieu this diplo- 
 iliatic chicanery has been so pronounced as to control the 
 policies of Europe. Popes and cardinals, kings arid queens, 
 chancellors and ministers of state were in frequent collu- 
 sion to effect their several interests ; wherein it was assumed 
 that diplomatic dealings as such were not supposed to con- 
 form to the strictest code of biblical ethics. 
 The greatest danger that lay in the line of the recently 
 
46 ' Timely Topics 
 
 convened Leagiie of Nations as they were aiming to arrive; 
 at a just settlement of world^problems w^s precisely at this 
 point of national self-interest and an unvpillingness to com- 
 prehend altruistically the needs of the world and make com- 
 mon concession to meet them. In carrying out from year 
 to year the solemn stipulations of the League this will 
 still be the dominant danger. Toward this end, ho-w(ever, 
 where national and international loyalty is seen not to con- 
 flict every people should aspire, if so be each nation, strong 
 or weak, may be allowed to work out its own salvation oply 
 in obedience to the common mterests Of the family of 
 nations of which it is a part. 
 
 Such are some of the fundamental issues and responsi- 
 bilities that emerge from the late war and which in their 
 examination and adjustment call for all the wisdom that can 
 be summoned. Political sanity, mental insight and equi- 
 poise, a high degree of moral sobriety and a disinterested 
 endeavor to reach conclusions contributing to the good of 
 the world at large are indispensable requisites to anything 
 like a satisfactory solution. The world from centre to 
 circumference is awake as never before. AH classes are 
 moving out of their old positions to higher leVels of thought 
 and action. The old slogan of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity 
 has received a new significance. The unification of nationg 
 for the common weal of the world is the aspiring ideal and 
 toward that ultimate goal it is the duty and privilege of 
 every people to press. 
 
' ~ Justifiable Cdmpromise 47 
 
 JUSTIFIABLE COMPROMISE 
 
 In the course of history, national and personal, new prob- 
 lems are ever arising for examination and solution — so 
 numerous and insistent that on the principle that "all the 
 world's a stage," what the dramatist calls "Probliem Plays" 
 would seem to constitute the dominant form of human pro- 
 duction. These problems have been enormoiisly multiplied 
 by the recent world struggle, involving the sum total of the 
 world's area, and affecting every local, national, interna- 
 tional and moral province open to human function. It goes 
 without saying that to approach, discuss and determine these 
 varied and conflicting issues will require the wisdom of the 
 wisest. 
 
 I. The Two-Fold Interpretation of the Term— Compro- 
 mise. 
 I. ^ There is a form of compromise that is based on a sur- 
 render of vital principle — ^the unqualified denial of the rule 
 of right and the valid obligations of a contract, or such a 
 confounding of conscience as to violate practically every 
 sanction of law — civil or moral. In order to reach a 
 decision in any given case, principle is readily subordinated 
 to policy. This is nothing less than a wilful concession to 
 interest and expediency, a practical collusion between two 
 equally unprincipled parties to secure supposedly desirable 
 ends. This type of conipromise is simply outruled by any 
 righteous standard of personal or general action, though 
 the pages of history are replete with signal illustrations of 
 its- presence. A candid survey of many of the great Inter- 
 national Treaties among the modern states would afford 
 
48 , Timely Topics 
 
 startling examples of this iniquitous form of political con- 
 cession. Doctor Gibbons in his "New Map of^ Asia" writes 
 as follows: "The record of European Diplomacy in the 
 Near East from 1815 to 1919 has no redeeming feature. 
 From the Congress of Vienna to the Conference at Paris it 
 did not change. Heartlessness and selfishness were its char- 
 aicteristics." In a word, policy and not principle has been 
 too often the ruling motive, and as a necessary consequence 
 the results reached were founded on the method of a com- 
 promise that did not hesitate to ignore all moral considera- 
 tions when interest demanded it. , 
 
 2. There is, however, another and a commendable type 
 of compromise that we now have in mind when we speak of 
 the need of it and the value of it in the dealings of men and 
 nations in which no surrender of radical principle is in- 
 volved. It is, first and last, a necessary mediating agent 
 between extremes, where possible and actual errors exist on 
 both sides and where no desirable conclusion can be reached 
 save by mutual concessions in the sphere oif the secondary 
 and non-esseiltial. It is justified by human liability to error 
 and will invariably result in correct conclusions where there 
 is on both sides an ingenuous desire and effort to agree for 
 the common good. It is just here that the valid method 
 of arbitration is marked as a conciliatory agency between 
 conflicting interests, the primary purpose being to secure 
 from each party to the contract enough of a surrender of 
 subordinate matters to make a right solution possible. To 
 make this just and tenable discrimination between the essen- 
 tial and non-essential constitutes the main responsibility of 
 any agent of arbitration. 
 
Justifiable Compronuse 49 
 
 II. The Sphere of Operation of this valid form of compro- 
 mise is unlimited. 
 
 1. In the province of the Civic or Political its illustration 
 is abundant. This is so true that it is questionable whether 
 in the history of states there has been any thoroughly satis- 
 factory Treaty or Civic Contract that has not been reached 
 by partial and justifiable concession. 
 
 Ex-President Taft in a recent address went so far as to 
 say, "The Anglo-Saxon idea of government is founded on 
 the principle of compromise." As is well-known, the Con- 
 stitution of the United States was finally and fully formu- 
 lated on this principle of wise and just concession, Jefferson, 
 Madison, Hamilton and other representative statesmen in- 
 sisting on such, a justifiable surrender of minor conditions. 
 Even in political councils where some of the conclusions 
 reached were the evident outgrowth of the sacrifice of car- 
 dinal principles, others were the expression of righteous con- 
 cession. The recent International Conference at Paris is a 
 case in evidence, where policy and "even-handed justice" 
 alternately prevailed. 
 
 2. In the sphere of Education in all its grades this resort 
 to some legitimate form and measure of concession is ap- 
 parent. As to the exact relation of Higher and Secondary 
 Education, as to the due adjustment in Collegiate centres 
 of Required and Elective Studies, as to the just relation of 
 Graduate to Undergraduate courses, of the Cultural or 
 Classical and the Vocational, of Generalization and Speciali- 
 zation, these and numbers of similar questions have occa- 
 sioned prolonged discussion and a satisfactory result has 
 been secured only by common concession. 
 
50 Timely Topics 
 
 3. So in the province tof the Industries, where the capi- 
 talist, the laborer, and the general public constitute a triple 
 organization for the discussion and settlement of pending 
 problems where respective interests conflict. In this prov- 
 ince, some exercise of the principle of conciliation is essen- 
 tial, as the history of any nation's industrial order will show: 
 The hours of labor, the amount of wages, the possible divi- 
 sion of profits, the inalienable rights of the parties con- 
 cerned, must be the subject of co-operative interest and 
 viewed from the standpoint of common justice. Such a his- 
 tory in this country as that of the Tarifif — ^partly a civic 
 and partly an industrial question, is an example in ppint — 
 mutual niodifications of demands as to Protection and Free 
 Trade being inevitable. In fine, it may be said that social 
 and industrial conditions are based on this principle of 
 allowable and reasonable assent and adjustment. 
 
 4. So in the spheOre of TheolOjgical Controversy, where 
 the letter and the spirit so often are at variance, where the 
 doctrinal and the experimental conflict. All great Religions 
 Reformations have illustrated this class of conceptions, 
 methods and aims and have been driven perforce to legiti- 
 mate yielding of preconceived theories. The great Historic 
 Creeds and Confessions of Christendom, such as the Thirty- 
 
 . Nine Articles of the Church of England arid the Westmin- 
 ster Confession, have taken their final form after prolonged 
 discussion as to where and to what degree the parties to the 
 controversy might make justifiable concession without the 
 sui-render of fundamental truth, and this discussion has 
 never been more pronounced and promising than it is now. 
 Thus it appears that in every province of thought and 
 
Justifiable Compromise 51 
 
 life — personal or general — there is a place and an urgent 
 demand for an order of compromise that is essentially just, 
 and one that has proved itself necessaij^ in the course of 
 history. Some things there are that cannot admit of com- 
 promise, because basic principles of right and justice forbid 
 it. The Ten Commandments are incapable of revision or 
 concession. When Luther at the Diet at Worms said, "Ich 
 kann nicht anders," he was stating a fundamental truth 
 which could hot be modified by Pope or Council. Lincoln, 
 when he issued his Emancipation Prdclamation, did so in 
 terms not debatable. When General Grant demanded un- 
 conditional surrender, he meant just that, no more, no less. 
 There are some things finally formulated and are beyond 
 appeal to any higher court. 
 
 Outside of this sacred enclosure, however, there is a large 
 area of possible repeal and revision, in obedience to the 
 conditions as they arise and are made obligatory for the 
 general good. 
 
 On this principle of legitimate compromise the progress 
 of civilization is largely based. International comity and 
 fraternity are thus enhanced. War with its attendant evils 
 is thus largely prevented, and all forms of bigotry, ecclesi- 
 astical, civic and social, made impossitJle, the duty of wise 
 and safe concession being at times as binding on men and 
 nations as the corresponding dtity of uncompromising loy- 
 alty to truth and faith, when essential interests are at stake. 
 
 There is a valid sense in which present day tendencies call 
 for this generar principle of compromise as never before. 
 Upon no people or Council will the settlement of such prob- 
 lems more acutely and persistently fall than on that League 
 
52 Timely Topics 
 
 of Nations as now constituted, which is to convene from 
 year to year to adjust, nothing less than the conflicting con- 
 ditions of the mo(Jern world. The leading question ever 
 confronting that League, as perplexing problems arise, will 
 be whether to assume in any given case the uncothpromising 
 attitude as demanded by inflexible principle or the attitude 
 of safe and salutary compromise as demanded by existing 
 conditions. 
 
 Herein will international statesmanship be tajfied to the 
 limit, and a new order be instituted in the mutual relation 
 of states and people. 
 
 This is the high vocation to which this Council will be 
 called, and this, indeed, is the personal decision which every 
 man must make as life progresses — ^when to ignore every 
 temptation to compromise and when to assume the attitude 
 of conciliation and concession. By these decisions will the 
 destinies of nations and of individuals be ultimately deter- 
 mined. ' , 
 
 MARTIAL QUALITIES IN CIVIC LIFE 
 
 The immediate and remote effects of the late war, inten- 
 sified by the fact that it was an international war, cannot, 
 at present, at least, be at all correctly estimated. That the 
 effects are and will be as wide and general as the war itself 
 is beyond question, and it will be the part of students of 
 history and government, as the years go on, to study and 
 record these various results as they manifest themselves, and 
 make such deductions therefrom as seem to be logical and . 
 tenable. 
 
 One of the interesting questions thus emerging pertains , 
 
Martial Qudities in Civic Life 53 
 
 to the nature and influence of those qualities of a specifically 
 martial character that express themselves more or less clearly 
 and efficiently in civic life — in the every-day activities of 
 the civilian world. Whatever may be the objectionable 
 features of a military regime as displayed in the active 
 conduct of war, it is clear that from such a radical and 
 strenuous experience there must be some qualities so com- 
 mendable as to make them a desirable factor in periods of 
 peace. It is on this ground that not only leaders of armies 
 but representative leaders in the state insist on the value 
 of universal military training as a civic measure for the 
 nation's best interests ; contending that every aspiring people 
 needs an infusion of the martial temper and a schooling 
 in the martial virtues, if so it may be fully equal to the 
 serious responsibilities of citizenship and be enabled to take 
 its place and hold its place in the family of nations. Nor is 
 it meant that thereby a nation should be militaristic, culti- 
 vating a war-like spirit for the sake of aggressive action ' 
 and vauntingly asserting its readiness for war, but simply 
 that if must cultivate all traits of national character that 
 tend to enrich and strengthen it and fit it fully to meet and 
 discharge all national obligations as they arise, what General 
 Pershing has called "a trained citizen reserve," a citizen 
 reserve as distinct from a specifically soldier reserve, or as 
 it might be called, a citizen soldiery. Whatever may have 
 been true as to our nation's needs decades ago, it is now 
 true that as a world power world conditions must be met 
 and a new regime instituted utterly uncalled for in any 
 earlier era, a nation organized and martially trained in the 
 interests of peace. 
 
'54 Timely Topics 
 
 Some of these martial qualities (studied) may be: 
 
 1. There is, first of all, Physical Vigor — a symmetrical 
 and thorough training of the body so as to make it the 
 efficient instrument of the mind, imparting endurance, what 
 the Scriptures call "hardness," nervous and muscular energy, 
 suppleness and sinewy strength, elasticity and alertness of 
 movement, ability to sufJFer and be strong, 'power to defend 
 against attack and to institute attack — in a word, vitality, 
 the vis vizfida., of the old pagan warrior, -athletic activity 
 such as the wrestler displays in the arena. It is this calis- 
 thenic and gymnastic ordeal through "which the soldier must 
 go that has a place in the ordinaryfunctions of life by virtue 
 of which a man may be physically fit for sacrifice and 
 service. One of the startling disclosures of the late war 
 was the lack of good physical condition on the part of a 
 very large percentage of the young men who were examined 
 for the army and navy. Though young men and supposed 
 to be possessed of the virility of youth large numbers of 
 them were found to be totally or partially unfit for the 
 rigorous demands of the service, due in part, perh?ips,l to 
 inherited defects, but mainly to lamentablfe carelessness as to 
 the care of the body and observance Of the ordinary law^ of 
 health. , 
 
 2. An additional benefit directly derivable from military 
 life and training is that of Discipline, with all which that 
 terKi means in its fullest function, 'including, as it does, self- 
 
 , control, temperate habit, confidence in one's self and ' a 
 deep-seated respect for law and order and rightly constituted 
 authority— the ' obedient and responsive spirit, recognizing 
 one's place as a subject and cordially meeting all obligations 
 
Martial Qualities in Civic Life \ 55 
 
 that issue from such a relation. It need scarcely be stated 
 that just here lies one of the most damaging and unanswer- 
 able indictments against the youth of this an,d other lands- 
 while many careful observers of the life of different peoples 
 maintain that it is an 6spe!cially American defect of char- 
 acter as manifested in its earliest forms in the American 
 household — want of due respect for parental authority, and, 
 as a result, for any ' authority, local or national, and be- 
 getting, if unchecked, all those vaVied forms of unbridled 
 socialism and radicalism so threatening in the modern world. 
 Hence the need of the strictly martial virtue of Discipline, 
 inculcating and demanding reverence for authority, the 
 sacrifice of personal preferences and interests to the gen- 
 eral good, a distinctive power of restraint under adverse 
 conditions and an immediate and unquestioned response 
 to every call of sacrifice and service. Every soldier and 
 sailor, as suCh, is under orders, and every civilian is in a 
 very legitimate sense under orders, bound when necessary 
 to defer his own judgment to that of others and subor- 
 dinate his own will to those who are his rightful supteriors. 
 Discipline is strictly a moral quality of character and finds 
 its proper place among the cardinal virtues. 
 
 3. Closely connected with this characteristic of the soldier 
 is that of Loyalty, which in its very etjmiplogy means obedi- 
 ence to law, including all that is meant by devotion to the 
 flag, by what we term patriotism,, an absolute surrender of 
 person, property, time, and energy to the country's good, a 
 free-will contribution of one's self to the common cause, 
 -the nation's preservation and progress, so that when the 
 soldier leaves the camp and returns to the duties of citizen 
 
S6 Timely Topics 
 
 life, this special quality is supposed to express itself in a 
 patriotic devotion to civic interests as intense and unselfish 
 as when displayed in the trenches or on the field of battle. 
 Patriotism is more than a national sentiment thoroughly 
 evoked only in the stress of war. It is a fundamental factor 
 in days of peace and makes the highest national interest a 
 part of its individual concern. 
 
 4. A further martial contribution to civic life is seen in 
 what may be termed Catholicity — an elimination of all 
 artificial distinctions of clan and creed by which men are 
 rated for what they are as men, quite irrespective of their 
 mental or social antecedents — placed on a common level, 
 organized for a co'mmon purpose, trained along common 
 lines and viewed simply as a unified body in the service of 
 the state. In the late World- War this characteristic was so 
 enlarged in its scope that not only personal and national but 
 international and even racial differences were ignored and 
 men were aggregated under a common Standard in defense 
 of human interests. Never has there been such an efiface- 
 ment of distinctive features of color or language or custom 
 or locality. In this respect and to this extent the military 
 regime is a school of life — a real Common Council of men 
 for the settlement of common interests, and when this 
 feature properly manifests itself in times of peace all arti- 
 ficial barriers are broken down and men meet as men on 
 common ground. 
 
 5. There is a further desirable feature of martial life due 
 primarily to the fact that a nation's soldiery is made up 
 necessarily of young men. We may call it Initiative — the 
 ability and innate tendency to take the path of adventure, 
 
Martial Qualities in Civic Life 57 
 
 with all its risks and dangers and inspiring possibilities. It 
 is just because it is hazardous that it is attractive, and the 
 line of least resistance is ignored because it fails to afford 
 sufficient scope for the exercise of that "sublime audacity 
 of youth" which is as fascinating as it is perilous. It is 
 because young men as young are "buoyant, confident and 
 strong in hope" that nothing seems too formidable, nothing 
 too venturesome. In the actual engagements of the battle- 
 field instances abound when not only individual soldiers 
 have taken the initiative and done deeds of daring that 
 immortalized them, but when an army in its totality has 
 assumed the offensive under the most desperate conditions 
 and in their own way and by extraordinary methods wrested 
 an unwonted victory from the enemy. It is simply the 
 irresistible spirit of youth, intensified and incited by the 
 environment of war and made equal to any emergency, and 
 when this bold abandon expresses itself in days of peace we 
 are made to see its vitalizing influence on national character. 
 If at the close of a war such as that now ended this initia- 
 tive energy would express itself only along right lines, there 
 would ensue such a reformation of the world's life as has 
 never before been seen — a real regeneration of the race. 
 
 If then these are the qualities which may be transferred 
 from the field of battle to the activities of peace, we can see 
 at once what the opportunity is and what the responsibiUty 
 is of a returning soldiery to civic status — nothing less than 
 that of reconstructing and vitalizing a nation's life, a respon- 
 sibility which if ignored or misdirected may work irrep- 
 arable ruin to a state. This is the high vocation to which 
 a people's defenders are called at home — ^to seal and sanctify 
 
5^ Timely Topics 
 
 the science of warfare by a conscientious cultivation of the 
 arts of peace. 
 
 THE VALUE OF MELIORISM 
 
 One of the evidences of the aptness of most men to hold 
 extreme positions on any given subject with which they 
 have to do is seen in the attitude so readily assumed of 
 optimism or pessimism, those assuming it passing back and 
 forth by quick and often violent transition, quite unable or 
 unwilling to rest content midway between the opposite poles 
 of thought and action long enough to comprehend the exist- ~ 
 ing conditions and make a rational decision as to what is 
 best. Such extremes are equally untrue to facts and equally 
 fraught with danger to those maintaining them, over- 
 confidence and lack of confidence working naught but harm. 
 As the late war went on from year to year, these extremes 
 were exemplified and emphasized on both sides of the tragic 
 conflict, while there were some, at least, who entertained a 
 saner and a safer view and insisted on a principle of media-- 
 tion, discarding the maxim — everything for the best or 
 everything for the worst — contending for the theory that 
 ominous as the conditions may be all things are for the 
 better, working slowly but inevitably toward the possible 
 best — the theory of Meliorism. Though they cannot hold 
 with Browning that "All's right with the world," they can 
 still less hold with the dismal philosophy of Schopenhauer 
 and his school, that All's wrong with the world. Through 
 the cloud they always discern the silver lining, and when all 
 others have lost hope and faith persist in believing in the 
 ultimate triumph of truth and right. 
 
The Value of Meliorism 59 
 
 Hence, the duty of Meliorism. Despite all adverse con- 
 ditions, all disappointments and reverses, there is the 
 dominant obligation to harbor the thought that there must 
 be and will be a better day, at the dawning of which present 
 faith may be fully justified. The old biblical exhortation 
 must be heard and heeded — "Be of good cheer." The dark 
 ages of earlier centuries, however, in keeping with the 
 history of the time, must be made to give place to a brighter 
 and better order — an age of progress and promise. Especi- 
 ally in an age such as this, resulting from war conditions, 
 when^all the graces of character have been tested to the 
 limit and men are seeking, as never before, to find some 
 things that are stable, some basis of faith and hope on which 
 to stand, this commanding injunction is to be accepted as 
 finally operative and men are to reinforce themselves against 
 all fear and doubt and express the melioristic temper as 
 never before. This is a type of heroism as signal in its 
 way as that displayed on the field of battle. 
 
 Such a principle of life and state of mind is so thoroughly 
 enjoined by biblical authority that it cannot be ignored, 
 it being true beyond question that a genuine and well- 
 grounded meliorism rests after all on religious foundations. 
 "Rejoice in the Lord always," "Rejoice evermore" is the 
 scriptural order. If Browning, as an optimist, was able to 
 say that "All's right with the world" it was because, as he 
 argues, "God's in his heaven." The melioristic mind is not 
 fatalistic but is distinctly theistic, based upon faith in a 
 divine government of the world. 
 
 Hence, the desirability of this principle. 
 
 I. It leads directly to personal Courage. No man, how- 
 
6o Timely Topics 
 
 ever gifted with a will-power and personal initiative can 
 face the facts of life as they confront him with any degree 
 of confidence in the outcome, save as he is fortified by the 
 thought that despite all reverses and apparent defeat the 
 ultimate issue will be possible. In all misgivings there is an 
 unbroken element of faith and hope which impels him ever 
 forward. There is a military factor in this virtue, so 
 that all opposition is bravely met, and the moral warrior 
 moves out of the trenches at the zero hour and passes over 
 the top to moral victory. 
 
 2. Herein lies, also, the secret of personal Happiness, 
 quickened as it is by the dominant thought of the world's 
 betterment. Such a temperament insists on discovering and 
 emphasizing the better side of human nature, relegating the 
 forbidding features to the background and finds increasing 
 satisfaction therein as the better element records its frequent 
 triumph over the baser. Such natures are possessed of what 
 the Scriptures call "the merry heart that doeth good like a 
 medicine," infusing a real mental and moral tonic by which 
 the recipient of it is heartened. They are happy in the 
 thought that the world, bad as it is, might be far worse, that 
 while here and there there are signs of retrogression, the 
 world, taken as a whole, is moving steadily forward toward 
 the inspiring ideal of betterment. 
 
 3. Personal Usefulness is absolutely dependent on this 
 hopeful state of mind, by which the spirit is quickened and 
 invigorated and finds itself ready and able to meet emer- 
 gencies which otherwise would be formidable. Despond- 
 ency in any of its stages cuts the nerve of all effort and 
 arouses all forms of opposition. At no stage in the world's 
 
The Value of Meliorism 6i 
 
 history and least of all under present conditions, is there 
 any place for the pessimist or the doubter, who would 
 dissipate all energy and hope and throw the soul back on 
 the creed of the fatalist. The tests of life are too tense and 
 the struggle under favorable conditions quite too severe to 
 allow any place whatever for the misanthrope. 
 
 It is only to the meliorist that the world instinctively turns 
 in its time of need for words and deeds of good cheer. It is 
 what we believe and not what we question that counts for 
 stimulus. It is by hope that we are saved and not by fear 
 or dismay, and any such thing as usefulness among our 
 fellows is unattainable save as we insist upon emphasizing 
 the primary features of life. Courage, happiness and use- 
 fulness are the natural fruits of meliorism, so that such a 
 temper is as desirable as h is obligatory and places the world 
 in lasting indebtedness to him who possesses and exem- 
 plifies it. 
 
 In the application of this principle either to individual or 
 national life it must ever be borne in mind that it expresses 
 a tendency or drift rather than a final and completed con- 
 dition fully satisfactory in its influence. It need not and 
 does not guarantee absolute betterment at once or in the 
 near future or at any assignable period of personal or 
 national history, but only the promise that as the years go 
 on conditions reveal improvement, progress in right direc- 
 tions is sufficiently evident to quicken energy and inspire the 
 soul to new endeavor. It is precisely in this modified but 
 steadily incfreasing betterment that meliorism finds its oppor- 
 tunity as contrasted with that unduly ample measure of 
 satisfaction for which the optimist is looking. In view of 
 
62 Timely Topics 
 
 the disciplinary element in human experience and the life. 
 of the world and the obstinate obstructions that lie in the 
 path of every onward movement it is far wiser and safer 
 to rest content with a reasonable degree of success than to 
 aim at an impossible result and suffer acute disappointment 
 in not being able to realize it. It is enough to regard all 
 earnest endeavor if only comparative progress is made, even 
 though life itself may close far this side of fullest fruition. 
 It is the old motto of the Swiss mountaineer as he ascends 
 step by step under the inspiration of Excelsior, even though 
 the summit may never be attained. 
 
 In fine, life will be to every man very much what he is 
 pleased to make of it and will depend largely in its issues 
 upon the view that he takes of it. Accepting the cardinal 
 doctrine of a moral order in the universe, the ultimate 
 success for better or for worse will be determined by him- 
 self. For his personal well being and for his satisfaction 
 in observing the ongoings of the world about him, it will be. 
 well for him if he is able, despite all impediments, to assume 
 the hopeful attitude and insist that, after all, events are so 
 shaping that the course of the world is ever onward and 
 that, whatever the present conditions may be, better con- 
 ditions lie just ahead and are full of promise to him who 
 apprehends and utilizes them. 
 
 If then it be asked on what basis. Meliorism is founded, 
 the sufficient answer is, faith in God and faith in man, an 
 abiding conviction that the world in all its developments is 
 under the gracious guidance of God and that in human 
 nature there is a substantive element of goodness and good 
 will on which to rely. On these divine and human founda- 
 
The Mission of the Middle Classes 63 
 
 tions it is as reasonable as it is encouraging to insist that 
 despite all the fluctuations and revolutions of the world a 
 better order will ultimately emerge, however long deferred, 
 and the kingdom of truth and righteousness will finally and 
 fully prevail. 
 
 More and more clearly is it seen to be true that upon 
 every one there rests the moral obligation to make the world 
 better and brighter, to diffuse the spirit of faith and hope 
 and good cheer wherever one may exert his personal influ- 
 ence, to come to the rescue of every despondent spirit with 
 sympathy and practical aid. The expression of such a 
 melioristic temper should be viewed as a vocation to which 
 every man is solemnly summoned, if so be he may do some- 
 thing to make his life a benediction to himself and to the 
 world. Viewed from any standpoint whatever life is a 
 struggle and a discipline, more or less severe and strenuous 
 and persistent, and no more imperative duty and privilege 
 rests upon any man than to take his place and do his part in 
 the gracious work of meliorating the lives of his fellowmen. 
 
 THE MISSION OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES 
 
 The different divisions and subdivisions under which men 
 may be classified may be said to be as varied as are the 
 points of view that may be assumed or the principle of 
 classification that may be adopted. Accepting a three-fold 
 division as the most widely current and the most conven- 
 ient there may be such classifications as — The Learned or 
 Scholarly, The Intelligent or Enlightened and The Ignorant 
 or Illiterate; The Wealthy, The Competent or Well-to-do 
 
64 Timely Topics 
 
 and The Needy; the Leisure Class, The Industrial or Busi- 
 ness Class and The Laboring Class, — in a Word, The Upper, 
 Middle and Lower Classes, the line of exact difference be- 
 tween any two of them being necessarily difficult to deter- 
 mine. 
 
 Professor Abbott in his interesting work — "The Expan- 
 sion of Europe" — writes: "However much great move- 
 ments like the Reformation had owed to the patronage of 
 those in authority, the secularized middle class had been the 
 prime movers in economic and cultural activities. In con- 
 sequence, the history of the Sixteenth Century concerns 
 itself not only with the ambitions of rulers, but with the 
 achievements of commoners who revolutionize the world 
 of thought and action." So, in the present century and the 
 crisis of to-day, as we note the rise of what is called "The 
 Middle Class Movement" or "The Common Peoples Move- 
 ment," assuming organization, as we are told, "in every 
 quarter of the globe," since its first formal opening in Eng- 
 land in April, 1919, "formed," as has been said, "to obtain 
 protection for those members of the community who could 
 in no other way protect their domestic and political in- 
 terests." They are the people with the "Middle Interests," 
 the trading, professional and administrative classes and 
 those whose income is derived from limited salaries and in- 
 vestments and savings as distinct from the capitalist and the 
 laborer of the day. 
 
 By the Middle Classes, we also mean the plain people so- 
 called, as distinct from those of royal, aristocratic or special 
 social status. They constitute the body politic, the yeo- 
 manry of the land, the great commonalty or general public, 
 
The Mission of the Middje Classes 65 
 
 the rank and file of the people as such, the order of citizetis 
 midway between the higher and the lower levels, excluding 
 thereby, on the one hand, the privileged class and on the 
 other the humbler elements of society — the common people 
 in the best sense of the term, the genuine plebeians of the 
 day, equally distinct from the patricians and the proletariat 
 — the average people of their time. 
 
 If we inquire as to their special missions as thus de- 
 scribed some suggestions of interest may be made. 
 
 I. Their very Number gives them a status and an influ- 
 ence that can scarcely be overestimated, far exceeding that 
 of the upper orders, which in the very nature of the case 
 are exclusive and in the minority, and by reason of their 
 position wielding a power altogether foreign and superior 
 to the menial and lowest sections of the people. Just be- 
 cause they occupy the intermediate ground they are in the 
 best position in which to act as a balancing factor in all 
 extreme and abnormal tendencies. Moreover, their char- 
 acter is such, as to make them immensely potent in all that 
 pertains to the well-being of a state. It is the common 
 people who possess by way of distinction the common" every- 
 day virtues, the ordinary homely and practical elements of 
 character and conduct, as distinct from those special quali- 
 ties that belong to the privileged orders. Cornmon sense is 
 one of their prime possessions — the elemental qualities that 
 underlie and condition all true progress. Mr. Bryce," in his 
 "American Commonwealth" dwells at length on Public 
 Opinion in its nature, its jurisdiction, the organs through 
 which it expresses itself, how it is moulded, its local and 
 
66 Timely Topics 
 
 geographical types, his object being to show what an 
 immense influence it holds, especially in a country such as 
 ours and how it may best be manifested, directed and 
 guarded. It is this Public Opinion that is the outspoken 
 utterance of the middle classes, so pronounced and insistent' 
 that it cannot be suppressed by any device of statecraft. If 
 for a time silenced, it will at length give voice to its senti- 
 ments in terms so unmistakable as to defy all counter diplo- 
 macy, and at times under pressure passing all conventional 
 restrictions will becomte what Mr. Bryce tails "Fatalism of 
 the Multitude." It is because it is the view of the com- 
 monalty that it must be kept withT)ounds, if so be it is to be 
 of lasting benefit to the state. 
 
 2. Hence it is, that it is best expressed in countries where 
 Free Institutions exist — "In no country" says Bryce, "is 
 it so powerful as in the United States, in no country can it 
 be so well studied," while in such countries as England 
 and some of the continental nations it finds illustration just 
 to the degree in which the people may be said to rule. It is 
 the medium through which the democratic instincts and 
 ideals of men are voiced, the spontaneous utterance of "what 
 the people think, desire and demand, however opposed it 
 may be to the plans and purposes of kings and potentates. 
 It is the plain people, after all, who hold the balance of 
 power and will ultimately exert it at their pleasure, let the 
 autocrats do what they may. More the spontaneous expres- 
 sion of general sentiment than the result of reflection and 
 argument, it cannot always be referred to any definite 
 origin and must be accepted as the people's way of indi- 
 cating their minds. It is in this connection that Mr. Bryce 
 
The Mission of the Middle Classes 67 
 
 makes the significant assertion that "nearly all great polit- 
 ical and social causes have made their way first among the 
 middle classes," guided, We may add, by such democratic 
 leaders as John Bright and Lincoln — the great commoners 
 of their respective peoples. "Governments," he adds, "have 
 ^always rested -on the silent acquiescence of the majority," 
 even despotism and iponarchy being no exception. 
 
 So it is in every democratic age and nation, when in the 
 open forum of the people and by the increasing influence 
 of the popular press, the sentiments of the general public 
 are widely circulated and mould the popular will. Journal- 
 ism in free states is nothing more nor less than the organ 
 by which public opinion records its views and by which the 
 common people receive and impart a common-school educa- 
 tion. 
 
 3. The middle classes constitute the chief Support of 
 States, the main -basis on which they stand and on them the 
 main reliance is placed in times of stress. When we are told 
 "that the excellence of popular government lies not so much 
 in its wisdom as in its strength" it is meant that recourse is 
 had in the main to the great body of the common folk — 
 that part of the government which after all does the work 
 of the world, the great professional, commercial and busi- 
 ness class, the industrial order of any state or nation. It 
 is to the hard-headed, clear-headed, level-headed men that 
 a country turns when practical aid is needed either in the 
 form of defensive or aggressive measures. The common 
 sense of the common people is trustworthy — a species of 
 practical wisdom possessed only by the graduates of the 
 great public school of the world. What the historian Lord 
 
68 Timely Topics 
 
 has called "The Beacon Lights of History," what Carlyle 
 calls the "Heroes of History," and what the Airierican 
 critic Whipple describes as "Representative Men," have their 
 place that cannot be filled by members of any other class, 
 but with all their gifts and ability, can never fill the place or 
 do the invaluable work of the so-called middle classes. 
 
 Mr. Emerson has written on "The Uses of Great Men." 
 So he might have written with equal emphasis on The U^s 
 of Ordinary Men — who constitute what might be called 
 The House of Commons in the Parliament of the world — 
 upon whom, after all, a well-ordered government is mainly 
 founded. 
 
 In the world conflict that has recently closed whatever 
 may have been due to the leaders of armies and navies, to 
 generals and admirals, the brunt of the battle by land and 
 by sea was borne by the rank and file of the common sol- 
 diers and sailors, to whom the nations instinctively turned - 
 in the hour of their deepest need. Such is the sphere of 
 service which the great body of the common people may be 
 said to occupy as they stand midway between the upper and 
 lower levels of their time, it being their significant function 
 to mediate between extremes atnd hold the course of events 
 in a steady equilibrium, proof alike against the exclusive 
 authority of the favored few andthe erratic tendencies of 
 the lowest orders of society. 
 
 It is here that Mr. Bryce utters a word of caution, in what 
 he calls "The Tyranny of The Majority," by which the 
 rights of the Minority are either ignored or resisted^ This 
 is a possible result arising from that consciousness of power 
 that is possessed by the Commonalty, by the very fact of 
 
The Mission of the Middle Classes 69* 
 
 their numerical strength. There is a sense in which the 
 people as such may so abuse the prerogative, what is theirs 
 by right of mere majority, that a form of despotism may 
 ensue, fully as injurious as any type of autocratic rule, so 
 that the very ends of free government may be frustrated 
 under the guise of popular privilege. This temptation to 
 the abuse of power is so potent that civil governments the 
 world over, and most especially in democracies, have been 
 obliged on grounds of self-defense to institute a system of 
 checks and balances by which such forms of unjust legisla- 
 tion may be nullified or impaired so as to conserve the 
 interests of good government. It is by reason of this ten- 
 dency of what might be called popular despotism that critics 
 of democracy, such as De Tocqueville, have seemed to 
 find the source of weakness in free states and indulged in 
 dire predictions as to their possible permanence. One of the 
 evident results of the late war lies directly along the line of 
 this dangerous tendency, when the masses are coming more 
 and more into the consciousness of their inherent strength 
 under the guise of some kind of socialistic betterment and 
 are openly declaring their independence and trespassing 
 farther and farther beyond the line of loyalty and civic 
 order. Herein lie alike the peril and the promise of this 
 growing influence of the Commonalty in the modern world, 
 to check it where it is excessive and domineering, and to 
 encourage it when sane and safe. 
 
 One of the greatest perils is found in the readiness with 
 which the intelligent middle classes of the community are 
 inclined to fraternize far too freely with the lowermost 
 levels of the people — the riotous rabble of the streets. No 
 
70 Timely Topics 
 
 greater responsbility rests upon the middle classes of today 
 than to be true to their proper place and function in the 
 modem world as the great stabilizing element in civic and 
 social order, bringing to bear all their intelligence and 
 sanity and sobriety of judgment, to hold a governing hand 
 over all tendencies to lawlessness and so justify their right 
 to be the great mediating agent in the extreme theories and 
 movements of the time. 
 
 We are living in the Golden Age of the average man and 
 it is to him that the eyes of the world are turned, as never 
 before, for "light and leading" if so be that the best national 
 and international interests may be maintained and the world 
 at large come at length under a benign and beneficent de- 
 mocracy — a. great Democratic Commonwealth administered 
 by the people arid for the people's good. 
 
 To this far distant but possible ideal not a few of the 
 world's wisest minds are looking, when all classes will dis- 
 appear and be merged in a universal order, when "children 
 of privilege and children of toil will be united; thinkers 
 and laborers finding a deep union in a common experience 
 and common desire, underlying all intellectual and social 
 differences." To effect such a unification may be the dis- 
 tinctive mission of the Middle Classes. 
 
 THE GROWTH OF LIBERALISM 
 
 One of the most distinctive movements now arresting 
 the attention of every observant mind is that of liberalizing 
 the thought of the world — a real enfranchisement of the 
 human mind, far more wide-reaching and potent than that 
 
The Growth of Liberalism 71 
 
 legacy of freedom which was given to Europe and the mod- 
 em world in the sixteenth century, a Great Charter un- 
 precedented in scope and spirit and which, if rightly utilized 
 and guarded will be an invaluable contribution toward the 
 general good of the race. Nor is this beneficent result 
 merely one of those regular and natural expressions of 
 - what we call the history of peoples, presumably marking an 
 advance from age to age, but a specific providential move- 
 ment, as issuing from that dramatic catastrophe which for 
 the past four years has tested well nigh to the limit the 
 resources and the faith of Christendom. It illustrates what 
 the late Doctor McCosh called. The Method of the Divine 
 Government, confirming the view that above the rule of 
 Kings and of all human agencies there is a superhuman 
 mind and hand controlling the course of events. If we 
 inquire as t6 the scope or province of this liberalizing prin- 
 ciple we find it all-embracing and universal in its applica- 
 tion, aflfecting every human institution and every form and 
 function of human effort and so intense, insistent and 
 potent that nothing cansuccessfuUy or safely resist it. 
 
 I. In Government it takes the form of democratizing 
 every existing political system, breaking down all despotic 
 and restrictive barriers and opening widely the way to civic 
 freedom. There is not a government now existing that is 
 not the subject of this irresistible influence, whereby autoc- 
 racies and monarchies are overturned and the rule of the 
 people as such instituted, so that the world is becoming one 
 great commonwealth and the League of Nations is a league 
 of liberty, a covenant of independence and inter-dependence 
 in unified activity. 
 
72 Timely Topics 
 
 2. So, in the Social and Industrial sphere, where the 
 classes and the masses, capital and labor clash and contend 
 for supremacy, and where the higher principle of community 
 of interest is coming into prominence. The governing tend- 
 ency now evident is to minimize the distance and the differ^ 
 ences between the so-called "privileged classes" and the 
 great social and industrial commonalty, insisting upon an 
 open door to all, a genuine and well ordered socialism, by 
 which the old time declaration "that all men are free and 
 equal" in point' of opportunity shall be confirmed in fact 
 and a real aristocracy arise — the rule of the best, from what- 
 ever order the best may come. 
 
 3. So, in the province of Education, there being no sphere 
 in which this new awakening is more pronounced. Every 
 educational centre in the land may be said to be fairly aflame 
 with interest as to what this new order demands in the way 
 of extension and increased efficiency. These centres of 
 knowledge and mental discipline, though already known as 
 seats of liberal learning, are thoroughly conscious of the 
 fact that a new and broader interpretation of the term 
 liberal must be made, if they are to fall in line with the 
 issues of the hour. Science itself and all technical and pro- 
 fessional studies must be to some extent based on the liberal 
 arts. They are to be liberal not only in the sense of repre- 
 senting classical culture but it is insisted that they widen 
 the area of study and training so as to give a larger place 
 to those branches that lie outside of the strictly classical 
 regime as hitherto obtaining and serve to prepare the 
 student for a more active participation in the imperative - 
 demands of that new world that is now opening. These 
 
The Growth of Liberalism 73 
 
 homes of the higher learhing, so-called, are to be univer- 
 sities in a much- more comprehensive sense than that which 
 has been handed down from the days of the schoolmen 
 and are to adapt more and more closely the old order of 
 
 , study to the wider economy of the times. The Humanities 
 as embodied in collegiate courses are to be far more human 
 than ever, an order of discipline outside the limits of the 
 ancient languages and pagan art and embracing all those 
 forms of intellectual^ training which best prepare the modem 
 man for the modern world. Herein we find a later and 
 wider educational Renaissance — the establishment of a great 
 public school of the new era— the free academy of the 
 
 ' world. 
 
 4. So, in the Christian Church, an institution that offers 
 no exception to the liberalizing process. Indeed there is a 
 sense in which the church must represent this process of 
 enfranchisement more distinctively than any other order, in 
 that it is, of all human organizations, the most important and 
 must by its very nature and purpose be in sympathetic 
 accord with the developing life of the people — a real 
 Catholic Church in its doctrine, worship and spirit and 
 adapted as such to '*all sorts and conditions of men" the 
 world over. , While there is a sense in which the church as 
 a divine institution cannot be expected to modify its prin- 
 ciples and methods in obedience to the requirements of the 
 time, it is also true that as a human institution to meet hu- 
 man needs it must be adaptive to current conditions. Hence, 
 all Creeds and Confessions must be reviewed with reference 
 to possible revision, so as to determine on what common 
 ground of doctrine the church in its various orders may 
 
74 Timely Topics 
 
 stand. Preserving the essential values, the process is one of 
 re-adjustment and shifting of emphasis — of justifiable con- 
 cessions and compromise, if so be something like a-- solid 
 front may be presented to the un-Christian world and all 
 efforts essentially unified by a common purpose. 
 
 It is one of the most heartening signs of the times that 
 such an enfranchising process is at work throughout the 
 Christian world, intensified in its spirit and method hy the 
 issues of the recent struggle, and teachers of theology and 
 the Christian ministry at large are keenly alive to the neces- 
 sity and advisability of bringing the modern pulpit in line, 
 as far as it is possible, with the newly developed spiritual 
 needs Of the modern world. The ecclesiastical polity of the 
 twentieth century is too expansive and virile to be embodied 
 in the restrictive vestments of the age of Richard Hooker. 
 
 When a recent writer in a work entitled "Christianity in 
 The New Age" insists on what he calls "The Great Ad- 
 venture"— The Need of an Adventurous Theology, Disci- 
 pleship and (!!;hurch, he is not contending for any ill-advised 
 and radical revision of Protestant Theology and Polity, but 
 only for a wider outlook over the needs of the Christian 
 world as it exists to-day and a more catholic interpreta- 
 tion of religious truth in the light of such needs, — ;for a 
 church as broad as it can be made within the lines of biblical 
 teaching. Thus it is clear that the growth of liberalism is 
 one of the outstanding facts of the time, manifesting itself 
 in every phase and function of individual and national 
 life — in government and the industries, in social and educa- 
 tional institutions, and in the Christian Church' — a movement 
 as irresistible as it is general and one which must be reck- 
 
The Growth of Liberalism 75 
 
 oned with by every lover of his kind. How to regulate aiid 
 safely utilize it is the dominant question of the hpur, if so, 
 be, it may be fraught with blessing to the world at large. 
 
 In government, civic freedom must not be allowed to 
 pass out of bounds and degenerate into open revolution 
 under the name of democracy. In social and industrial 
 orders, an open door for opportunity to all clashes, must 
 not be so widely opened as to admit the entrance of the 
 lawless and justify the wildest excesses of the proletariat. 
 In education, the well tested traditions of the earlier eras 
 must not be swept aside simply in order to make room for 
 every new demand of the modem school, because it is new, 
 while, above all, in the Christian Qiurch, fundamental truth 
 must be presumed at all hazards, be the call for modification 
 what it may. There is no need; however, for conflict be- 
 tween the old and the new orders, each of which must be 
 heeded in its just demands. What is needed is sanity and 
 impartial judgment— applying restraint when it is needed 
 and giving liberty where needed. What is here empha- 
 sized is this — that in a comparatively new world — made 
 new by the course of history and the order of Providence, 
 new points of view must be assumed, new concessions made, 
 new conditions met by new adaptations and adjustments 
 and a friendly temper be always manifested to that liberal- 
 izing movement which is one of the most distinctive and 
 promising'issues of the hour. 
 
 The present responsibility of the church is so serious as 
 to be almost overwhelming and yet so essential and fraught 
 with such commanding issues as to be positively inspiring. 
 The Hope of the World — as it was in the beginning, is now 
 
76 Timely Topics 
 
 and ever shall be— The Hope of the World is the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 It is not in any governmental systems, however well ad- 
 ministered, nor in any social or industrial order, however 
 iiiipartially established, nor even in any merely educational 
 institution, however essential to the world's need, but it is 
 in the church, primarily and finally that the redemption of 
 the race is guaranteed, an agency which as yet has not been 
 even approximately tested in its divinely endowed potency, 
 but which when fully tested will usher in the Kingdom of 
 God on edrth, the only autocracy justifiable among men, so 
 that after centuries of political experiment as to what order 
 of government is best for the welfare of the \\^orld, we 
 must perforce go directly back to the days of Moses and 
 the prophets and reinstate the old Theocracy, when the 
 kingdom of the world shall recognize but one order — ^the 
 government of Go4 Himself, whose right it is to reign. And 
 thus it is that a true liberalism and a true conservatism will 
 meet and interact and the New Era and the Old Era be 
 unified and sanctified to a common end. \ 
 
Ill 
 
 AMERICA'S NEED OF STATESMEN 
 
 A living American Historian, writing of Congressional 
 Government in our nation, remarks, "Somehow the Ameri- 
 can Congress fails to produce capable statesmen. It at- 
 tracts politicians who display affability and dexterity, but 
 who are lacking in discernment of public needs and in abil- 
 ity to provide iot them, so that power and opportunity are 
 often associated with gross political incompetency" — an or- 
 der and measure of incompetency, we may add, that causes 
 one to wonder how any human government can survive 
 and even approximately succeed under such unfriendly 
 conditions. Mr. Bryce, in his "American Commonwealth," 
 dwells at length on this conspicuous feature in our national 
 life, raising the question, "Why great men are not chosen 
 Presidents" and the further question, "Why the best men 
 do not go into Politics." If any loyal American has any 
 doubt on this subject, a careful observation of the Congress 
 of the country in the recent months of discussion of The 
 League of Nations must have given him all the evidence 
 he needs of an order of mental and administrative ability 
 far below the level of what should be found in a body of 
 men dealing with the most fundamental and far-reaching 
 problems of national and international interest. Thus it 
 is that the very terms. Statesmen and Statesmanship, have 
 become sharply differentiated from the terms, Politician 
 
 77 
 
78 Tifnely Topics , , 
 
 and Politics, with the distinct understanding that they mean 
 an order of mind and mode of action far this side of 
 superiority, one of the astounding facts being that so many 
 of tljese mediocrp officials are so Utterly ignorant of their 
 own limitations as to willingly present themselves before the 
 American Electorate in candidacy for the highest govern- 
 mental position within the suffrage of the people, a posi- 
 tion second to none in its high demands among the civil 
 governments of the world. 
 
 Mr. Bryce, in a chapter, "T3rpes of Ametican Statesmen," 
 submits five separate orders as they obtain in Europe^- 
 men for foreign policy, with a wide outlook over the world's 
 horizon ; men fot social and economic reform, with an apti- 
 tude for constructive legislation; men who can administer 
 a governmental department with skill; men who are mere 
 parliamentary tacticians ; and men who can sway the masses 
 in party appeal, and it is to the fourth and fifth classes, 
 the tacticians and successful party leaders, that he con- 
 signs the rank and file of our representatives, — excluding 
 them summarily from those orders where "wide outlook" 
 and "constructive legislation" are in demand, and here is 
 the damaging indictment at present. When the most im- 
 posing and world-embracing problems are confronting the 
 country and its counsellors and men of vision and mental 
 range are needed as never before^ we must be satisfied 
 with mere "tacticiaris" and "party leaders" and the repute 
 of American legislation suffer untold injury in the light of 
 European diplomacy. It is nothing less than humiliating 
 to see what we have so signally seen of late in Washington, 
 the Senate of the United States togsing questions of con- 
 
America's Need of Statesmen 79 
 
 tinental import back and forth over the floor of Congress 
 with the irresponsibility of children and insisting on treat- 
 ing great international issues from the standpoint of the 
 district school. With but few exceptions they are local 
 legislators and that only, verbal quibblers and that only, 
 mere parochial politicians and not statesmen. 
 
 1. One or two of the explanations of this order of officials 
 may be cited, the decadence of type being especially notice- 
 able since the Civil War, until it has now reached the 
 high water mark of inabiUty. 
 
 I. The first assignable reason is found in the fact that 
 legislation both in the House and Senate is primarily Par- 
 tisan in conception, method and execution. One of our 
 most representative publicists speaks of the Senate as "the 
 home of intrigue and jealousy" — especially out of place in 
 the Upper House of Congress. It is for this reason that 
 when historians attempt to describe the type and spirit 
 of American institutions, they must devote a large part of 
 their time, as Mr. Bi-yce has done, to "The Party System" 
 and with the avowed purpose of revealing and condemning 
 its character and methods, — such topics as "The Spoils," 
 "Rings and Bosses," "Corruption" being stressed as mdst 
 in evidence. Instead of statesmen, we have mere politicians, 
 instead of office executives, mere office seekers, the prime 
 function being what to secure f rpm their office in the way 
 of personal and partisan advantage and not what to give 
 to the office in the way of unselfish service for the nation's 
 weal, presidents themselves being far too, often representa- 
 tives of a party and not of the commonwealth at lairge. 
 
 2. A further reason for this type of legislators is found 
 
°0 Timely Topics 
 
 in the fact that to the great majority of Congressmen leg- 
 islation is a mere Business and not a Vocation of high ideal 
 whereby constitutional government is reduced to the basis 
 of commercialism. Politics is a Trade and not a Trust, 
 or if, indeed, a Trust, only such on economic and not on 
 ethical grounds. Even lower still has the decadence of 
 type gone until we speak of government as a machine, ma- 
 nipulated as such, and thus reduced to the level of the 
 manual arts. The legislative body as a whole resolves itself 
 into a committee of Ways and Means, no close questions 
 being entertained as to what the Ways and Means are, if 
 so be the desired results are reached. The composition of 
 the Congress is largely responsible for this condition, and 
 for this reason the electorate at large is finally responsible 
 for it. "What the People Think of It," as Mr. Bryce asks, is 
 the important query. As to the House, the great majority 
 are either men who have devoted their lives to commerce, 
 or lawyers whose main duties have been far more mer- 
 cantile than juristic, the profession of Law having largely 
 lost its type as a Liberal Calling, and become a commercial 
 function. Even in the Upper House, most of the member^ 
 are mere financiers, sent to Congress by the people to protect 
 and foster the "Interests," so-called, in which policy must 
 take precedence over all conflicting claims. Not until poli- 
 tics ceases to be a handicraft and reverts to the earlier type 
 of a vocation and trusteeship will the demand for states- _ 
 men be heeded, and the memory of the days of Adams and 
 Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson, Clay and Calhoun, and 
 Webster be recalled. 
 
Americ(/s Need of Statesmen 8i 
 
 II. If we inquire for the Essentials of statesmanship, the 
 answer in brief is at hand : 
 
 1. A mental ability above the average. 
 
 2. Administrative function. 
 
 3. Accurate knowledge of civil government — municipal, 
 state and national. 
 
 4. An open mind to ever changing conditions. 
 
 5. Ability to interpret the public mind and need. 
 
 6. An unselfish devotion to the public weal. 
 
 7. Mental breadth so as to be a loyal American with 
 an international outlook. 
 
 These are the essentials and the test which fit a man 
 really to represent the people instead of representing a party 
 or himself. 
 
 III. How is such a type to be secured? 
 
 1. By mental discipline in early life. 
 
 2. By acquaintance with administrative methods. 
 
 3. By a careful study of civil government. Whatever 
 may be the decision as to universal military training, there 
 should be universal civil instruction, training by which all 
 the youth of the' country, whatever their prospective voca- 
 tions, should be indoctrinated in basic govei^nmental prin- 
 ciples and methods, in, the history and purpose of free in- 
 stitutions. The scheme for military training as presented 
 in Congress includes very appropriately an educational 
 clause, thus saving military training from becoming purely 
 militaristic. The establishment recently in New York City 
 of a League of Public Education and the professed erection 
 of a new Town Hall as its instructional centre is clearly in 
 the right direction and full of promise. 
 
82 Timely Topics 
 
 ' ' '. ' ' , ' 
 
 4. By a keen observation of public opinion and events, 
 
 keeping, in touch with the temper of the time. 
 
 , 5. By personal piirticipation in political affairs of a local 
 
 range, so as to be prepared when it is found necessary for 
 
 participation in larger state and national issues. 
 
 6. By making one's self conversant with the best books 
 and authorities on Civil Governtnent, such as Hallam, Bryce, 
 Lowel, Draper, Van Hoist, Wilson and others, witii such 
 compends as The English Statesmen Series, the American 
 Statesmen Series, and similar Collections. 
 
 By one method or another, the rank and file of the Amer- 
 ican Body Politic must acquaint themselves with civic meth- 
 ods and problems in democratic commonwealths, if so be 
 they may be in readiness for civic relations and responsi- 
 bilities. The time has come and fully come when the im- 
 posing issues of the nations must not be committed to the 
 hands of novices and amateurs in statecraft, mere tacticians 
 and manipulators, entering political life for personal profit 
 and not for the general good. To this country the eyes 
 and hopes of the nations struggling for free institutions are 
 turned as never before, as to the greatest democratic cpntre 
 of the world, and to make the great experiment successful 
 and worthy of imitation, statesmen are needed to guide and 
 govern the people aright. 
 
 The stirring lines of the Bishop of Exeter are well in 
 
 point : 
 
 ''Give us men, 
 
 Men of thought and reading, 
 
 Men of h'ght and leading, 
 
 The nation's welfare speeding. 
 
 Men whom highest hope inspires, 
 
 Men whom present honor fires. 
 
The Atngrkan Forum of Today 83 
 
 Men who trample self beneath them, 
 Men who make their country wreathe them, 
 As her noble sons. 
 Give us men," 
 
 real men of State to serve the state with ability and effici- 
 ency. This is one of America's present needs. 
 
 THE AMERICAN FORUM OF TO-DAY 
 
 The old Roman Forum of pagan days where the Latins 
 were wont to assemble in open session for the discussion 
 of pending problems has been more or less reproduced in 
 later times down to the present century. Among English- 
 speaking peoples it dates back to the Old English Folc-Mot, 
 the popular assembly df the Saxon era, which summoned 
 the people when the issues of the state demanded a National 
 Convention, as the great Common Council of the time re- 
 produced in, modern days by the English Hustings, the 
 Town-Meeting of the New England States, and the Plat- 
 form of Public Address, seen most Comprehensively in the 
 Political Conventions of the time for the discussion of 
 Party Issues, but now enlarged in its scope by the discus- 
 sion of all forms of questions pressing for settlement, in- 
 dustrial, economic, educational, social and sanitary. There 
 is a sense in which it may in truth be said that one of the 
 multiform results of the late war has been to flood the 
 country with open questions, demanding for their final 
 settlemeht a great Popular Referendum — the High Court 
 of Appeal as conducted by the Body Politic. The Hastings 
 and the Platform have thus been revived and accentuated 
 and once again as of old the "Vox Populi" is heard in the 
 
84 Timely Topics 
 
 Open Forum of the people. It is a current statement that 
 oratory, as a form of expression, has declined in modern 
 states, partly by reason of the increased diffusion of knowl- 
 edge and also by the ever enlarging influence of the Public 
 Press, it being nearer the truth to say that it is the method 
 of oral address that has declined and not oratory itself. 
 What Mr. Bryce calls the "inflated" order of American 
 oratory, declamatory and vociferous, appealing to senti- 
 ment, and feeling, and merely personal and partisan inter- 
 est, has declined and happily so, and the people in open ses- 
 sion are demanding a deliberative and dispassionate appeal 
 to their reason and judgment and common interest. In this 
 respect, the living voice of the public orator has not been 
 superseded, nor will it ever be, and it only remains for the 
 speaker on the platform to conform to this just require- 
 ment if so be he is to have a hearing and a following. In 
 all departments of oral address, this condition is imperative. 
 The lawyer before the jury and the representative of the 
 people in legislative halls, as well as the speaker out among 
 the people at large, must observe and obey it. These con- 
 ditions met, the way is open for the best efforts of the 
 orator. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle, among the many pertinent passages that 
 he has given us has none more pertinent than this : "Thetie 
 is a word," he says, "which if spoken to men, to the actual 
 generation of men, will stir their inmost souls, but how 
 to find that word, how to speak it when found," which is 
 but another way of saying that if a man has something to 
 say worth saying and knows how to say it in fitting form, 
 he will always be assured of a responsive and appreciative 
 
The American Forum of Today 85 
 
 hearing. What is insisted on by the open assembly con- 
 vened for enlightenment on pending issues is that there 
 shall be real oratory and not mere declamation, real 
 eloquence and not mere vocabulary, real thought and not 
 mere sentiment, a direct appeal to the understanding and 
 not merely to the imagination or the emotions, a vital 
 presentation of vital questions, so that the audience will feel 
 and know that they have listened to a man who has com- 
 mand of the subject and command of himself and the com- 
 mand of his auditors. It is questionable whether the Amer- 
 ican Platform has ever had a more convincing speaker than 
 Wendell Phillips, whose order of oratory was high above 
 the plane of the merely sensational, and was so natural, nor- 
 mal, undemonstrative and persuasive as to be scarcely above 
 the level of the conversational, a quiet and sober and cap- 
 tivating type of address under the influence of which the 
 hearer felt himself mentally quickened and profoundly in- 
 terested. 
 
 The reply of the great Greek orator, Demosthenes, to the 
 question as to what were the essentials of eloquence, that 
 they were, first, action, secondly, action, and again, action, 
 would not be at all adequate to the demands of today, 
 when in and with the elocutionary and semi-dramatic action 
 of the speaker there shall be seen a distinctive intellectual 
 action and always in authority over the imagination and 
 feelings. The orator is more than an elocutionist. He is 
 the conveyor of truth to the human mind, the expounder 
 and interpreter of truth. It is to the credit of the Ameri- 
 can Audience of today, and to the good sense of the Amer- 
 ican Bar, that no man, however fluent of speech, will be 
 
86 Timely Topics 
 
 heeded who substitutes words for thought and becomes 
 more vociferous and vaporous as ideas dimihish. It is in 
 this respect that the mere declaimer is ruled out of order. 
 
 It is recorded of Paul that when he appeared in Athens 
 before the people in defence of Christian doctrine, cer- 
 tain of the philosophers who were present and curiously in- 
 terested in this apostle of the new faith, exclaimed "What 
 will this babbler say?" and it was not until he convinced 
 them that he had something to /say worth saying and that it 
 would be well for them to heed, that they replied, "We 
 will hear thee again of this matter," and this is the atti- 
 tude generally assumed by the people in open audience, 
 "What will this babbler say?" and unless he speaks from 
 the head to the head, and to the point in temperate and rea- 
 sonable terms, they will have none <Jf him. This is what 
 Shakespeare must have meant as Falstaff says to Pistol, "If 
 thou hast anything to say, Prithiee, deliver it like a man of 
 the world," in plain, blunt manner along the lines of com- 
 mon sense as man talks to man in the ordinary intercourse 
 of life. Deliver it in direct and understandable terms, as a 
 business in hand of vital moment and not as a mere speaker 
 who must perforce fill the time allotted to him and in the 
 failure to realize his position, must resort to subterfuge 
 and all the devices of the demagogue. 
 
 The advice of Hamlet to the Players is as essential today 
 as ever, that the speaker should not "saw the air," and "tear 
 a passion all to tatters," that in "the tempest of passion, he 
 must beget temperance," "suit the word to the action, and 
 the action to the word," "hold the mirror up to nature." 
 Shakespeare's main indictment was that these unworthy 
 
The American Forum of Today 87 
 
 Players "strutted and bellowed" to split the ears of the 
 groundlings, and did not "imitate humanity," their violation 
 of naturalness being their chief offence and sure to result 
 in absolute failure. 
 
 An orator is one thing, a mere platform agitator, a 
 mountebank, a town-crier, is quite another. An open advo- 
 cate of truth before the people is one thing, a verbal quib- ' 
 bier, juggling with words, is quite another. It is here that 
 the personality of the speaker is in evidence, the man be- 
 hind the message. "The Style is the man" in oral as in 
 written language, making upon the auditor an impression in 
 and through the message he is delivering and thereby adding 
 immensely to the impression qf the message. The "Vox 
 Humana," however potent, is far less so than the man him- 
 self behind the voice. This is a tjrpe of address imperatively 
 demanded by Popular Government the world over, based 
 as it is on the intelligence of the people at large, to whom 
 ultimately aU public questions must be submitted. "Democ- 
 racy" we are told "is government by discussion" and this 
 discussion is conducted in the Open Forum. A Free Press 
 must be reinforced by Free Speech, if so be the Free In- 
 stitutions of the modem world are to be maintained and 
 perpetuated. Hence it is also clear beyond dispute that 
 the educational centres of the country, our schools and col- 
 leges, must train up a generation of men not only conver- 
 sant with pilblic issues and needs, but also able to defend 
 and interpret them in the presence of the people. A mere ex- 
 amination of these problems in the Study and Library be- 
 hind closed doors will not do in an age such as this, but men 
 must emerge into the open. The modern world has be- 
 
88 Timely Topics 
 
 come, in a sense, a great Out-of-Dodrs Convention, waiting 
 for the man and the message so as intelligently to fulfill their 
 civic function. Discipline in Oral Address along natural 
 and normal lines should find its place in every college sched- 
 ule, so as to prepare the undergraduate to take his place 
 in the Forum of to-day and deliver his message with intelli- 
 gent earnestness, speaking with feeling under mental control 
 and with what Aristotle cajls "persuasive efficacy." 
 
 Such an order of American Oratory is gradually com- 
 ing into its own. The vital issues of the day are so big 
 with possibility and promise and, withal, so comjplex and 
 comprehensive and difficult of settlement, that the best abil- 
 ity is demanded to discuss them aright in open assembly. 
 The American Forum is now established anew in the light 
 of present conditions for the discussion of pending problems 
 in government and education, and the social order, and 
 the call of the country is for speakers having something 
 to say and knowing how to "deliver it like men of the 
 world." 
 
 CONSTRUCTIVE PROCESSES 
 
 There is a sense in which it may be said that all the forces, 
 influences and functions of human activity might be clas- 
 sified as constructive and destructive — tending more or less 
 directly to organization or demolition, — a principle by which 
 all movements in national and international life may be 
 safely tested. 
 
 Moreover, human nature is such the world over, either 
 in nations or individuals, that the discouraging and deterior- 
 
Constructive Processes 89 
 
 ating factors are seen to be most in evidence, requiring 
 strenuous and constant resistance on the part of those who 
 would promote the formative factors. Constituted as the 
 present order of the universe is, all things, by their very 
 nature, tend to decline, decadence and ultimate extinction, 
 and the mission and discipline of life consists mainly in 
 combating the tendencies to declension by instituting a 
 positive tendency in the line of formation. Professor 
 Drummond in his suggestive treatise, "Natural Law in the 
 Spiritual World," has a significant chapter on "Degenera- 
 tion," in which he develops the idea that this practical law 
 is so active and insistent that men and nations alike must 
 be on guard at every moment lest it become dominant and 
 the process of degeneration end at length in atrophy and 
 death. There is a law of gravitation downward in the 
 thought and life of the world as potent as the law of grav- 
 itation in the physical world. 
 
 Another chapter in which "GrowA" is described as a 
 controlling counteracting principle sets forth these two 
 agencies as contending for supremacy — ^those of Destruc- 
 tion and Construction — the progress of the world being de- 
 pendent on the supremacy of the constructive processes 
 over all that tends to destruction. We are living at a time 
 when these constructive processes are demanded as never 
 before, if so be the world is to escape the evils that threat- 
 en it and is to be really rehabilitated on sound and stable 
 foundations. The New Map of the World now in process 
 of making must be a map in which old lines and boundaries 
 are to be redrawn, old methods and principles re-examined, 
 
90 ; Timely To\pics 
 
 and a new and broader basis laid on which the structure of 
 society may securely rest. 
 
 I. In Government, the vital need and demand of the age 
 is Constructive Legislation as opposed to all that is indirect, 
 reactionary and negative — ^a positive and definite establish- 
 ment of civil government as distinct from legislation that 
 is only punitive and prohibitive. The discussions of the 
 American Congress in recent months furnish a convincing 
 commentary on the need of this higher and better method— 
 the major portion of the legislation reyealing but little con- 
 ception of what constitutional government really means. 
 We speak suggestively of the Formation of the Constitu- 
 tion and the Union, of the Founding of the Republic, of - 
 the Organization of States and Laws — ^terms demanding 
 positive processes. We speak of the Building of a Nationr 
 as an English historian writes of "The Making of Eng- 
 land" — ^a kind of architectural method applied to civic inter- 
 ests — synthetic rather than analytic — ^by which the nation 
 is, so to speak, erected, built up by- regular stages from 
 base to capstone. When one of our American historians, 
 in writing of Hamilton, includes him among "the states- 
 men of creative minds who represent great ideas," he im- 
 plies that such civil representatives know what is meant by 
 organized processes in the state. In fact, the political ex- 
 ponents of any country can be correctly classified on this 
 principle — whether or not they are constructive in their, 
 speaking and acting. Writers on constitutional history, 
 such as Stubbs and Hallan, Bryce and Fiske, riglitly em- 
 phasize this principle, insisting that the very terih — consti- 
 tutional — implies this formative process, the shaping of 
 
Constructive Processes 91 
 
 the state, from one degree of betterment to another, until 
 the civil edifice is completed. Civil engineering, which 
 etjrmologically means state engineering, must be construc- 
 tive. 
 
 2. So in the Scientific world, where the Arts of Peace 
 should predominate over the Arts of War, the main prom- 
 ise of science at present lying in the fact that the discovery 
 and invention of the practical and useful arts will take the 
 place of the destructive devices of the late war, by which 
 scientific talent, it must be confessed, was temporarily di- 
 verted from its main and beneficent mission to the lower 
 function of furnishing the opposing armies with the in- 
 struments of destruction — murder in the first degree under 
 the name of advanced science. The sinews of peace must 
 now displace the sinews of war. 
 
 3. So in the Commercial world, where, unfortunately, 
 mere exploitation and shrewd bargaining so often assume 
 the place of primacy. He to whom business in all its form 
 is nothing more nor less than a great organizing function, 
 is the real man of affairs. High Finance, as it is called, 
 thus means an order of monetary method infinitely removed 
 from the dominant object of overdoing and undoing and 
 outwitting a commercial competitor. The great representa- 
 tive men in commerce and trade are, first and last, Con- 
 structionists, and not mere manipulators of goods and sys-- 
 tems at the expense of the public at large, building up the 
 industries of the country even at some sacrifice of personal 
 gain — the promoters of the best interests of their customers 
 and contributing directly to the common good. "Big Bus- 
 iness," so called, should he big in its high ideals. In the 
 
92 Timely Topics 
 
 early history of the country, Alexander Hamilton won the 
 distinction that he did in the sphere of national finance be- 
 cause as United States Treasurer he built up the govern- 
 ment's finances by a constructive method that is as stable 
 to-day as when he established it. 
 
 4. So in the Literary World. An author, by the very 
 meaning of the word, is one who increases the sum total 
 of human knowledge, adding a substantial contribution to 
 the existing content of truths — a producer and not a mere 
 re-producer, a creative mental factor in the realm of liter- 
 ary art and not a mere collector or collaborator of facts and 
 events. Especially in the sphere of criticism is this con- 
 structive principle needed, the very words, critical and crit- 
 icism implying that the function of the literary censor is 
 destructive only, detecting and exposing with a good degree/ 
 of mental arrogance the defects of any book that is exam- 
 ined, thus nullifying what should be the main purpose of 
 critical procedure, the emphasis of excellence and the con- 
 sequent encouragement of authors. Nothing is easier than 
 to sit in judgment on others, and the major sin that lies at 
 the door of much of the literary criticism from the days 
 of the Edinburgh Reviewers to the present is that it has 
 been in the main censorious and not generous, suppressive 
 and not stimulating, undermining and not upbuilding. All 
 great critics, such as Lessing, Sainte Beuve, DeQuincy and 
 Coleridge, have been constructive. 
 
 5. So in the sphere of Philosophy and Theology, depart- 
 ments of study and investigation which in the Middle Ages, 
 tmder the influence of the Schoolmen, were co-ordinated and 
 conducted along similar lines of inquiry. Especially since 
 
Constructive Processes 93 
 
 the Franco-Prussian War have philosophical studies in Ger- 
 many passed from the positive and constructive type to the 
 province of pure speculation, generally ending in the bold 
 denial of all accepted principles, represented in the system 
 of Schopenhauer and Nietszche and less influential authors. 
 There is a need of the revival of the old Common-Sense 
 Philosophy of the Scottish School, a Positive Philosophy 
 which is no misnomer, as was that of Compte, a real 
 philosophy of "The Enlightenment," more confirming still 
 than that of Locke, a presentation to inquiring minds of the 
 salient principles of mental science, a genuine realism as 
 opposed to a purely fanciful idealism. One of the best fea- 
 tures of the recent prominence of pragmatism is that it is 
 a protest against a merely negative philosophy in favor of 
 a concrete and practical system that commends itself as 
 rational and useful. 
 
 In the special sphere of Theology as a distinct department 
 of study, increasing emphasis has been laid not only in Ger- 
 many but in Continental Europe and English-speaking coun- 
 tries on what is known as Apologetics, wherein the attitude 
 is one of defence rather than one of the aggressive asser- 
 tion of fundamental truth. The refutation of abstruse 
 theories has taken largely the place of affirmative argument 
 by which faith may be confirmed and the basis of belief 
 strengthened. In fine, the ultimate purpose has been to 
 disprove an alleged objection and not to prove a definite 
 proposition. Such a positive presentation of doctrine as 
 Balfour gives us in his "Foundations of Belief," McCosh in 
 "Fundamental Truth," expresses the exceptional iand not 
 the prevailing method of discussion, the result being a dis- 
 
94 Timely Topics 
 
 turbance of the convictions of the reader or hearer and an 
 addition to the already suifficiently large amount of Open 
 Questions. Confessions of Faith thus" become Confessions 
 of Doubt, tending to actual unbelief. 
 
 Thus it is that Constructive Processes are in urgent de- 
 mand and must be applied in ever enlarging function, if so 
 be the best results are tp be reached in the way of the world's 
 betterment, a building up of all institutions and agencies 
 that have succumbed to the stress of destructive forces and 
 a building up of new institutions to meet the new demands of 
 the time. The world at large is in process of reorganization, 
 and the special agencies now in qrder in church and state 
 and the world at large are those which are specifically 
 structural. 
 
 One of the most damaging criticisms of the final ac- 
 couhtings of The Versailles Conference lies along this line, 
 that old diplomatic policies of secrecy and double dealing 
 and selfish interests too largely prevailed, thus ensuring 
 future discord and hostility. The imperative demand of 
 the people is for a Covenant of Settlement, at the same time 
 just and generous, impartial and yet conciliatory, righteous 
 and yet beneficent — a real contribution to the harmony of 
 nations, the building up of a great brotherhood of states, 
 in a word, a broadly-based, well-ordered. Constructive Peace. 
 
 NATIONAL RIGHTS AND NATIONAL DUTIES 
 
 Especially since the rise of Modern England and Modern 
 Europe in the Sixteenth Century we have heard the doctrine 
 of the Rights of Men proclaimed from every civilized cen- 
 
National Rights and National Duties 95 
 
 tre. The older historic principle of the Tenure of Kings 
 and their Divine Right, as contested by Milton and Burke 
 and Thomas Paine, has given place to a broader democratic 
 policy, and the Rights of the People, in their capacity as 
 States and Nations, have come to the front with ever in- 
 creasing emphasis. 
 
 1. Source of the Rights. 
 
 If we inquire as to the ground or Source of National 
 Rights, we find it to be two-fold. 
 
 I. Sorne are Natural, Absolute Rights, inherent, in a 
 sense, by the very laws of national existence, and, as such, 
 ihdispensable. It is thus that our Declaration of Independ- 
 ence opens with the assertion that the Colonies are "to as- 
 sume the separate and equal station to which the laws of 
 nature * * * entitle them," and that 'among "self-evident 
 truths," they are "endowed by their Creator with certain 
 inalienable rights, — life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- 
 ness." As such, these Rights are outside the jurisdiction of 
 the Court, independent of the common codes of law, based 
 as they are on principles so fundamental as to be beyond 
 dispute, "To secure these Rights, governments are insti- 
 tuted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed." On these Rights debate is closed, and when 
 disputed or opposed offer just provocation for war, it be- 
 ing "the right and duty" of people to guard and maintain 
 them. Hereby there exists in every properly constituted 
 state a Court of Claims, .conscious of their Rights and in- 
 sistent on their maintenance at all hazards. 
 
 2. Some of these Rights are Relative and C<Mif erred by 
 Civic Statute, and, as such, within the province of discus- 
 
9^ Timely Topics 
 
 sion, modification and possible repeal. "The Bill of Rights." 
 so-called, established in England in 1689, was such a docu- 
 ment — "A Declaration of Rights" by legitimate civil au- 
 thority, determining the proper constitutional relations of 
 the King and the people and his subjects. In no sense nat- 
 ural or absolute, they were the result of governmental agree- 
 ment and open at times to revision. 
 
 Every political constitution, written or unwritten, is such 
 a Bill, fixing the boundaries of civic rule, its prerogatives 
 and its conditions, an order of Rights, therefore, admitting 
 of amendment when the general good demands it. To es- 
 tablish the equitable relations of these two orders of Rights 
 referring each to its proper sphere, has been a matter of con- 
 troversy ever since constitutional government was estab- 
 lished, the line of separation between the two being often so 
 delicate as to be scarcely discernible, a kind of neutral zone 
 over which neither claimant has original jurisdiction. 
 
 As might be supposed, national history is nothing more 
 nor less than a record, on the part of nations, of National 
 Claims. From the days of the Norman Conquest when 
 William the Conqueror claimed the possession of England 
 by the law of indefeasible ownership down to the present 
 these Claims have been asserted. Defying the accepted legal 
 principle that protracted possession constitutes an indis- 
 putable right to ownership, these insistent claimants pro- 
 pose a prior right and proceed at once to secure it. The 
 basis of these Claims is National Greed, the individual sin 
 of selfishness transferred to a whole people and brooking no 
 denial. As it is said, in colloquial language, "everything in 
 sight" is claimed. "No clearer proof of this colossal greed 
 
National Rights "and National Duties 97 
 
 can be furnished than that which is given in the history of 
 Colonial Acquisition, where colonization has so often, and 
 indeed, generally, meant usurpation. 
 
 Exploitation and forcible conquest in the name of coloni- 
 zation and the Rights of Man, a bold and defiant announce- 
 ment of the Right-of-Way across the lands and into the 
 territory of any and every people. The outstanding sin of 
 national history is that of Self-interest, quite athwart the 
 interests of others, the scientific law of the survival of the 
 fittest applied^ in the domain of national life. The recent 
 war has furnished a graphic example, of this bold assertion 
 of Rights in the face of every principle of justice, ignor- 
 ing all distinction between Rights as Natural and Absolute 
 and those that are the righteous result of counsel and legis- 
 lation. Among the Issues of the Hour, as now pending, 
 there is none more pronounced and vital than this. A 
 ^priori, to each nation belongs the national right of Self-de- 
 termination, Self-development, and this cannot be invaded 
 and annulled save by a violent infringement of common law. 
 In what Carlyle would call this "death-birth of a world," 
 this infriilgement is in force and a sufficient warrant of some 
 kind of a League of Nations is found in the fact that this 
 boundary between natural and acquired rights must be defi- 
 nitely fixed and the different peoples of the world know 
 what is legitimately theirs and what is not. It is on the ad- 
 justment of this relation, indeed, that the progress of civili- 
 zation is based, and the prospective peace of the world. 
 
 II. Duties. 
 
 And here we come to the fundamental principle that there 
 are National Duties as well as National Rights — ^that these 
 
9^ Timely Topics. 
 
 are interactive and indissolubly related so that every polit- 
 ical prerogative should be viewed in the light of political 
 duty. There is a Court of Civic Obligations as well as a 
 Court of Civic Claims, the great Appellate Court, that of 
 Final Appeal, an imposing civic referendum, so that what- 
 ever the so-called Absolute Rights pf a people may be, they 
 are so in obedience to the still higher law of civic duty and 
 responsibility. 
 
 In fine. National Rights have their Limitations and Con- 
 ditions. The First is that of National Trusteeship in the 
 light of which National Rights should be at times surren- 
 dered, in part, for the common good of the world. Every 
 nation is a trustee, and that only, of whatever "inalienable 
 rights," so-called, it may have and in the last analysis holds 
 them in trust for mankind at large. Despite the doctrine 
 of the Divine Rights of Kings, the Divine Right of the peo- 
 ple at times takes precedence over it, as in the "Bill of 
 Rights" of 1689, whose chief purpose was to define the 
 King's so-called prerogatives and set the bounds to his^lib- 
 erty. The great English Revolution of 1688 once for all 
 settled the question that Kings should rule under fixed con- 
 ditions, a law that obtains in church and state. No nation, 
 whatever its inhefent authority and privilege, is outside the 
 province of Civic Trusteeship. However undisputed the 
 National Rights may be, there are exigencies in national 
 life when civic obligations override civic claims and what is 
 called the Sovereignty of the State must yield to a higher 
 power. The Political Millennium will never dawn until this 
 principle is acknowledged atld applied. 
 
 A further limitation is that which grows out of what we 
 
National Rights and National Duties 99 
 
 understand by the Law of the Association of States, The 
 World of Nations now, as never before, is a Great Civic 
 Confederation, in which for the first time in history all or- 
 dinary territorial boundaries have been crossed and, in a 
 senses, cancelled, and what Whitman would call "The Open 
 Road" is traversed by all. This is the real Highway of 
 the'Nations, free for the passage of all peoples. In a word, 
 one of the Limitations of National Rights is International 
 Rights, the iqiperative demand that, at times, and for suffi- 
 cient reason, national claims, however just, shall yield to 
 international claims, as those of states yield to the nation at 
 large. As in times of stress a nation may lawfully appro- 
 priate personal property, so may the interests of the world 
 at large at times demand the surrender of national claims. 
 It was John Milton who wrote in his "Tenure of Kings," 
 "Who knows not that there is a national bond of brother- 
 hood between man and man all over the world, neither is 
 it the English sea that can sever us from that duty and rela- 
 tion," which is but another way of stating that English poli- 
 tics could not be insular but must cross the channel to 
 Europe and assume continental function, and cross the 
 oceans to Asia and Africa and assume world-wide function. 
 It is this that Thomas Moore and Swift had in mind as they 
 wrote on "International Relations"; that Richard Hooker 
 had in mind when he declared that the voice of the law, the 
 Law of Nations, was "The Harmony of the World" ; that 
 Milton had in mind as he wrote of the "Brotherhood of 
 Man".; that Shelley must have had in mind as he sang "The 
 World's Great Age Begins Anew"; that Viscount Morley 
 had in mind as he wrote of "The Spirit of Liberalism"; 
 
lOO Timely Topics 
 
 that Washington had in mind as he wrote of "America and 
 the World." We are too far along in the course of his- 
 tory to live by the laws of tradition and precedent, but 
 must break way, as Bacon would express it, into "universal- 
 ity." There is a greater declaration than that of American 
 Independence. It is that of American Interdependence, 
 World Interdependence, and no nation of the modem world 
 can safely ignore and underrate it. The world has become a 
 great Mutual Benefit Society for the transaction of World 
 Business, a great Federated Commonwealth, and he only is 
 a real patriot whose outlook and sympathies and ideals are 
 international 
 
 In fine. National Rights and National Duties are inter- 
 dependent and inseparable, determining each other and to- 
 gether making up the ideal state, and here we come back, as 
 we must always come back, in the study either of individual 
 or corporate life, to the Law of Sacrifice and Service. If 
 men and nations were heard less frequently loudly and de- 
 fiantly asserting their Rights and preparing to defend them, 
 and oftener heard reiterating their duties and obligations, 
 the Golden Age would be at its dawning. We are apt to 
 sum up the Creeds of Christendom in the Dualogue — ^the 
 Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man, as if they 
 were equally firmly established, forgetful that the first and 
 the first only is & fact and the second an ideal far in the 
 future for realization, and the road to its realization lies 
 straight through the open highway of national sacrifice and 
 service for the general good. The Great Commission of 
 the Head of the Church "Go ye into all the world and preach 
 the gospel to every creature" is after all the Great Com- 
 
Level-Headedness loi 
 
 mission to Modem States. "Go ye into all the world and 
 preach the gospel — ^the gospel of Civic Trusteeship and 
 Civic Brotherhood and Civic Sacrifice and Service — ^to every 
 creature" until Civic Rights and Civic Duties interblend 
 to the worM's political salvation. 
 
 LEVEL-HEADEDNESS 
 
 The most startling result, in some respects, of the late 
 world crisis expresses itself in the form of Unrest, in 
 thought and life, in individual and national spheres, in all 
 the phases and forms of human activity. In some respects 
 a natural characteristic, it has become so intensified of late 
 as to arrest the attention and excite the anxiety of all ob- 
 servers of the course of contemporary history. Not only 
 Central Europe but the world at large is in a state of fer- 
 ment, a seething mass, volcanic in its character and liable 
 at any moment to break forth in violent and destructive 
 eruption. Events shift so rapidly from one phase to an- 
 other that the effect is panoramic, spectacular, and even 
 dramatic, as the movement progresses from stage to stage 
 through act and scene toward the final catastrophe. Not 
 only do individuals change from one status to another but 
 entire peoples pass from one function to another with start- 
 ling suddenness, ignoring the natural stage of transition 
 that is supposed to intervene in any transformation. In 
 biblical phrase "the whole head is sick," the heads of the 
 body politic have been turned, so that in the emergency 
 what is most needed is Mental Restoration, the presence 
 and control of what we mean by Level-Headedness. 
 
102 Tvmely Topics 
 
 I. What its elanents are is our main inquiry. 
 
 1. Deliberation, or as the word etymologically means, bal- 
 ance, poise, and equipoise, a weighing of all factors by a 
 just scale, the rule of reason over blind and lawless impulse, 
 reflection as opposed to rash procedure, taking time enough, 
 to examine all the conditions involved for reaching safe con^- 
 elusions. It is the heedless, head-foremost method of ir- 
 rational haste that is the frequent cause of disaster, acting 
 before thinking, with no attempt to deliberate bfefore de- 
 ciding. 
 
 Moderation is the need, an order of action based on a 
 modus, a well-defined method, an avoidance of extreme 
 measures. It is in violation of this cardinal principle that 
 men act in a precipitate manner, obstinately regardless of 
 reason. The Scriptural injunction, "Let your moderation: 
 be known to all men," is as applicable to the affairs of ordi- 
 nary life and in the action of states as in the spiritual sphere. 
 We speak of social order, of the orderly processes of gov- 
 ernment and industry. It is simply another name for de- 
 liberation and moderation as opposed to intemperate action, 
 the assumption of a safe middle ground this side of radical- 
 ism. The rule of restraint within reascaiable limits is here 
 in place. One of the University Examinations at Oxford 
 is called "Moderations," midway in the student's course and 
 betweeil the lower and higher range of studies. It would 
 be well if men and nations were periodically submitted to 
 such a test. 
 
 2. Steadfastness, or as the earlier word expresses it, 
 Standiastness, is a factor, an order of mind and character 
 which Luther exhibited at the Diet of Worms, "Hier stehe 
 
Level-Headedness 103 
 
 ich." Here again the biblical statement is in place. "He 
 that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the 
 wind and tossed." Such men are "double-minded, unstable 
 in all their ways." Their heads, instead of being on the 
 level, are in the air. As we say in pungent phrase, they 
 lose their heads. They are out of their heads, in a sense, 
 delirious, able to execute the gymnastic feat of standing on 
 their heads, with heels over head and do all their thinking 
 in that inverted position, vacillating men whom we never 
 know where to find, volatile men, 'flying rapidly from 
 pole to polejT the sport of every wind that blows. The word 
 of command from the captain of a ship in a storm, or of 
 a general in the stress of battle, is "steady," "keep your 
 heads." It is this order of mind that is an indispensable 
 factor in what we call Level-Headedness, or stability, by vir- 
 tue of which men and nations are to fill their place and do 
 their work. "A wise man's eyes are in his head," we are 
 told in Holy Writ, and not in his feet or abdomen. What 
 he does he does on the level, and it is always known where 
 to find him in any given emergency. 
 
 3. Power of Discrimination is also an essential factor in 
 preserving this mental poise, an ability to distinguish be- 
 tween things that differ, when at first sight they seem to be 
 identical or similar, ability to distinguish between the true 
 and the false, the primary and secondary, the temporary and 
 permanent, the substantial and superficial, the feasible and 
 the impracticable, between principle and mere details, be- 
 tween the general and special, between facts and the infer- 
 ences from the facts, between testimony and mere opinion, 
 between the inherent -and the merely relative, between the 
 
104 Timely Topics 
 
 obligatory and the permissive ; in a word, the faculty of dis- 
 cernment. It is what the diagnosis is to the physician, an 
 order of mind that can detect and interpret symptoms so as 
 to act in the light of them, — Such a man is proof against the 
 multiform phases of deception that arise and o-ef uses to be 
 carried away by mere appearances in the examination of any 
 course of action. 
 
 4. There is a further factor involved, which may be 
 called S)rmmetrical Mental Development, the concomitant 
 culture of the intellect, feelings and will in their organic 
 and vital relations to each other, so as to make what we 
 suggestively style all-round men. 
 
 It is thus that men may be saved from a partial one-sided 
 half ^developed training, by which truth cannot possibly be 
 seen in its many-sidedness and multiform applications, its di- 
 versity in common with its unity. Men but half-educated 
 are the easy prey of distorted and imperfect views of truth, 
 victims of all sorts of vagaries. One of the most dangerous 
 errors to which undue Specialization leads is here, by which 
 a man views every event or proposition from the one stand- 
 point and determines its value or uselessness accordingly; 
 One-sidedness is the flagrant error of the Specialist. In 
 athletic phraseology he is oflf-side and refuses to play in the 
 line where his proper place as a contestant is, and away 
 from which he subjects himself to penalty and failure. 
 
 There is the absolute need of self-control so that a man 
 shall hold himself ever in hand in the constant temptation 
 to swerve from the level and the line. "Let thine eyes look 
 right on, and thine eyelids straight before thee," is the 
 biblical order and the essential order if men are to work and 
 
LeveUHeadedness 105 
 
 walk sanely. In common speech, we use the terms, sanitary 
 and unsanitary, as applicable to physical conditions only, 
 when as a matter of fact, mental conditions are fully as much 
 involved and it becomes the duty of Boards of Health to 
 guard the mind against the abnormal influences that affect it. 
 Deliberatioii, Moderation, Steadfastness, Discrimination 
 and Symmetry of Training, these are the primary constit- 
 uents of the level mind, which is but another name for San- 
 ity, a type of mentality as rare as it is invaluable. How few 
 there are who are absolutely sane in this sense, normal in 
 their thinking and acting, moving along the straight line of 
 duty without deflection right or left, upward or downward 
 as every passing influence may swerve them, but ever on 
 the fevel, rectilinear in their attitude and movements, hold- 
 ing themselves horizontally to the given line. 
 
 The Urgent Need of Level-Headedness in times of crisis 
 such as those now at hand is beyond all question. Even in 
 the course of ordinary events, as the world goes on from 
 day to day, this type and temper of mind are in place. The 
 jurist needs it in complex judicial proceedings. The medi- 
 cal practitioner needs it in determining symptoms and modes 
 of medical aid.' The Christian minister and pastor needs it 
 in the delicate duties of his office. The journalist needs it 
 in dealing with the diverse questions that confront him. 
 Men of affairs need it in the complex commercial situations 
 that arise, and most of all those to whom great national and 
 international interests are committed are in due need of that 
 deliberate and discriminating judgment and that steadifast- 
 ness of thought and purpose by which alone they can hope 
 to meet the high demands of statesmanship. - 
 
io6 Timely To^cs 
 
 It is, however, in the Crises of history that a nation's 
 legislators must stand and act on the level, unmoved by all 
 disturbing influences, characterized, first and last, by sound 
 sense and sanity, as clear-headed, hard-headed and level- 
 headed men. 
 
 Student^ of the world's civic life and the processes of 
 governments as now administered are re-opening the ques- 
 tion raised so long ago as the days of De Tocqueville, 
 whether Democracy, after all, as illustrated in America, is' 
 a successful theoty of Civic Rule based as it is and must he 
 on the character and intelligence of the people at large. Mr. 
 Bryce, despite his optimistic treatment of American politics, 
 starts the question as to "How far American Experience is 
 Available for Europe," and not infrequently strikes a* note 
 of warning as he discusses "The Future of Political Insti- 
 tutions" with his eye fixed on America as an object lesson, 
 on "the clouds that hang on the horizon." 
 
 One thing is clear, and that is, in popular government as 
 nowhere else, just because it is in the hands of the people 
 at large, this indispensable temper of sanity must prevail 
 if so be the ends of democratic rule are to be realized. 
 These ends are based on normal principles, on temperate 
 judgment and midway between all forms of political excess, 
 a safe and steady adherence to the level and the line. If 
 Democracy in America, as De Tocqueville treats it, is to 
 succeed, it can only be brought about by the agency of tievel- 
 Headed Americans, who "think straight" and act accord- 
 ingly. 
 
Rational Reform 107 
 
 RATIONAL REFORM 
 
 In an excellent Historical Series, "Epochs of Modern 
 History," one of the eighteen volumes is entitled, "The 
 Epoch of Reform." In a similar series of eight volumes, 
 "Epochs of English History," one is under the caption 
 "Tudors and the Reformation" (1488- 1603), known as the 
 English Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. So we 
 have a series entitled "American Reformers," while such 
 additional series as "American Religious Leaders," "The 
 Great Educators," "English Radical Leaders," "English 
 Men of ^Action," "The Heroes of the Nations," "The 
 World's Workers Series" and "Makers af Modern 
 Thought," represent in biogjraphical and historical form 
 the great Reform Movements of earlier and later eras, of 
 America and Europe and the civilized world at large. In 
 fact, a careful study of the world's history reveals the pres- 
 ence of what may be called, Periodical Reforms, following 
 contrasted periods of declension and retrogression — the ebb 
 and flow of national and international life, manifest in 
 church and state, in social and industrial life, in the sphere 
 of education, and, indeed, in every phase of human activity 
 of a corporate character. 
 
 We are living in an age when by the phenomenal condi- 
 tions of the time, reformation is and must continue to be a 
 dominant issue, if not, in fact, the most commanding issue 
 at hand. It is, therefore, of the first importance that the 
 method and spirit and ultimate purpose of such reform 
 . should be a right one, and, as such, conducive to the highest 
 ends. That such characteristics have so largely failed to 
 
io8 Timely Topics 
 
 appear in the course of Reformation is one of the most 
 damaging and discouraging facts of history. Some of these 
 essential characteristics may be emphasized. 
 
 I. The Reform must be Demanded. 
 
 There must be a real call for change and betterment, the 
 expression of a natural evolution of events — a call so loud 
 and insistent that it cannot safely remain unheeded, ad- 
 dressed to every separate individual and to the nation at 
 large. The great Reformation of the Sixteenth Century 
 has had in English History its conspicuous place just be- 
 cause it had such a clear and clarion call that no opposing 
 influence could possibly ignore or silence it, and such have 
 been the most Significant Reformation movements of the 
 world. Reformations cannot be initiated at random and for 
 personal ends, but are an inevitable resultant of antecedent 
 and existing conditions. 
 
 II. The Reform must be Feasible. 
 
 It must, at all hazards, be within the province not only of 
 the possible, but the highly probable. Its realization must 
 be so definitely practicable as to make it well worth the 
 effort to compass and complete it. The necessary agencies 
 for its fulfillment must be at hand or known to be accessible 
 and procurable. It is a biblical injunction that he who 
 builds a tower must count the cost beforehand, and that he" 
 Vvho goes to war must estimate to the full the ability of his 
 foe before entering on the field, and it is a natural and 
 common sense injunction that however desirable a reforma- 
 tion may be its feasibility must be attested before future 
 action is initiated. History is replete with gross violations 
 of this cardinal principle, whereby life and treasure have 
 
Rational Reform 109 
 
 been ruthlessly sacrificed and the very ends of reform made 
 impossible. It is by such ill-advised procedure that the 
 course of history has often been retarded and even reversed 
 and the serious burden imposed upon coming generations to 
 make amends for the errors of their predecessors. 
 
 III. The Reform must be Gradational. 
 
 Men and nations cannot pass at once or by rapid stages 
 from one condition to another, from the dominance of evil 
 to the dominance of good. All successful transitions are as 
 such progressive and move steadily on by the law of suc- 
 cession. Long established wrongs are not easily or sud- 
 denly righted, and if the attempt is made forcibly to dis- 
 place them and rectify them, violent reaction will inevitably 
 ensue. It is in the light of this fact that a recent historian 
 writes, "The tjioment of collision between an old and a new 
 principle of human action is a revolution." It is. also in 
 the light of this fact that the historian McCarthy, in de- 
 scribing the change of the English Ministry of Disraeli after 
 the fall of the Gladstone administration, speaks of it as a 
 "conservative change" whereby the ends he was seeking 
 could be best subserved by moderate measures. The same 
 historian gives us chapters under the significant titles "Re- 
 form and Storm" and "Reform in a Flood," "Reform 
 Agitation." When many of the public leaders in England 
 were carried off their feet by the "rush of reforming 
 energy," when some of the most serious problems of English 
 History .were presssing for solution, when temperate judg- 
 ments were demanded and the fate of the nation depended 
 on moderation and sobriety, impulse and fanaticism were 
 in evidence: "Levellers" and the "Root and Branch So- 
 
no Timely Topics 
 
 ciety" were dominant and in the name 6i Reform the demo- 
 lition of all that w^s stable was threatened. Reformation, 
 by its very nature, must be what DeQuincy was wont to 
 call "sequacious," following the law of gradation, from 
 better to better conditions until the final consummation is 
 reached. It is the infraction of this fundamental law that 
 is the bane and peril of movements now occurring under 
 the name of Reform— Anarchism, Communism, Nihilism, 
 rampant Socialism, the primacy of the proletariat, whereby 
 the vision of Solomon is evident, "servants upon horses and 
 princes walking as servants." "Hasten slowly" is still a 
 vital principle. 
 
 IV. The Reform must be Catholic in Spirit, a generous . 
 and disinterested effort to secure the high ends it is seeking. 
 At no point in the Reformation History of the world is the 
 indictment so patent as here. It was this indictment that 
 justified Madame Roland in her exclamation, "O Liberty, 
 how many crimes are committed in thy name !" So it may 
 be said of Reform. The record of civil and religious per- 
 secution from the days of the pagan Emperors to the French 
 Revolution is a startling commentary on this error of 
 Bigoted Reform. Intolerance has been the emphatic evil 
 attendant upon most of the Reformation Movements of the 
 world, and so account for the slow progress they have made 
 in the course of history. It was not till 1689, faf along in 
 English History, that any such thing as a Toleration Act 
 was officially ratified, nor did the intemperate and ungra- 
 cious spirit cease to prevail in church and state at that date, 
 and is at this writing revealing its unwholesome influence. 
 The fepresentatives of every new administration in gov- 
 
Rational Reform 1 1 1 
 
 ernment propose remedial measures which they awow will 
 cure all the maladies of the time. Party platforms bristle 
 with schemes of betterment sure to settle at once all the 
 pending problems of the day. Every industrial, civil and 
 social organization has its absolutely successful solvent for 
 every public wrong. The spectacle, were it not so serious, 
 is nothing less than ludicrous, where purely fanciful pana- 
 ceas are offered in evidence and projects for reform assume 
 the most fantastic and irrational phases. It is well within 
 the truth to say that the method and spirit by which and in 
 which a Reform is initiated and conducted are as vital a 
 factor in its ultimate success as is the Reform itself in its 
 inherent principle. Many a righteous, desirable and feasible 
 Reformation has been nullified or impaired by the objec- 
 tionable spirit in which it has been conducted. As above 
 stated, we are living in an era of Reform. It is imperative 
 that it be temperate in its true and governing spirit. 
 
 Such, in brief, are some of the salient characteristics of 
 Rational as distinct from Irrational Reform — that it should 
 be Demanded, Feasible, Gradational and Catholic in Spirit 
 — a Reform in fact as well as in name, the prophecy and 
 promise of the Golden Age. 
 
 If this be so, it is evident that those on whom the respon- 
 sibility of conducting a Reform rests should be men of 
 ■sound judgment, able to discriminate between things that 
 differ, between the practicable and visionary, correctly to 
 interpret the "signs of the times," familiar with antecedent 
 history and the bearing of past events cm present issues, and 
 of such temper as to attract to their leadership all classes 
 and conditions of men, on the broad basis of unselfish and 
 mutual interest. 
 
^12 Timely Topics 
 
 Despite All that is adverse and alarming, world conditions 
 are, in the main, slowly advancing and as the age now at 
 hand is by necessity an Age of Reform, every man has his 
 place and part in the general movement toward better con- 
 ditions, until there shall be seen the dawning, at least, of 
 that "far off divine event to which the whole creation 
 moves"— the Re-formation of the World. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL LEAGUES 
 
 Some form of The Federation of States, the Confedera- 
 tion of Commonwealths,' is not only conceded to be desir- 
 able, but it is a general world demand as one of the out- 
 growths of the late war. The successive attempts that have 
 been made since the era of the Napoleonic Wars to constitute 
 some such Compact is proof in point of its desirability and 
 necessity. Dual and Triple and Quadruple Alliances, various 
 forms of an Entente among Associated Powers, divers 
 schemes of federation in Church and State, have all been 
 attempts, more or less, ingenuous, to solve this international 
 problem, the main difficulty having been that the old doc- 
 trine of The Balance of Power has been the central prin- 
 ciple and has succeeded in frustrating the ultimate purpose 
 of such Coalitions. , 
 
 The Congress of Westphalia in 1648 is said to have been 
 "the first time the representatives of many states had met 
 for a great general purpose." The Holy Roman Empire, 
 in the time of Henry the Fourth, has also been called "the 
 first of the long series of Projects oiF perpetual peace," fore- 
 runner of a similar Project in 171 3 of The Abbe de St. 
 
International Leagues 113 
 
 Pierre. In 1813 we come to the historic Project of Alex- 
 ander I of Russia, followed by the First Treaty of Paris, 
 the Congress of Vienna, the Second Treaty of Paris, and 
 the Holy Alliance of 1815, a notable series of Covenants 
 and Pacts, more or less comprehensive, by which the attempt 
 at least was made to solve this International Problem, by 
 a great all-inclusive Concordat, assuring the peace of the 
 civilized world. On through the last Century these Projects 
 have been revived, and divers forms of Conventions and 
 Alliances submitted to the same great end of what Abbe de 
 St. Pierre called "perpetual peace," such as A League of 
 North European and South European Peoples, that of all 
 European and all Asiatic Peoples, of all Slavic and all Latin 
 Peoples, or that of a world-wide racial Alliance of all the 
 White Peoples as contrasted with the Colored Populations 
 of Asia and Africa and America, North and South, and so 
 on down to the latest Project, The League of Nations estab- 
 lished at Versailles. 
 
 In any case, the time has come when national isolation 
 even in the most unselfish and legitimate sense can no longer 
 be defended, when every form of nationalism must be suf- 
 ficiently modified as to recognize the rights and privileges of 
 all related nations. The Biblical doctrine that "no man liveth 
 to himself" has been broadened as to apply equally fully 
 to every separate people. 
 
 The primary objects of such an alliance of States may be 
 said to be 
 
 1. To insure and preserve International Peace, and, in- 
 deed, the Peace of the World. 
 
 2. To protect and extend all common international in- 
 
114 Timely Topics 
 
 terests in so far as they are based on justice and the mutual 
 relation of State to State. 
 
 3. To make a substantial contribution to the Progress of 
 Civilization in general, founded as it must be on interna- 
 tional comity. 
 
 These objects conceded as desirable, the problem has been 
 and is now in a special sense what the parlictdar Type of 
 such a Coalition shall be — ^how constituted and how main- 
 tained, so as to secure the well-being of all its members, 
 while still jealously guarding the rights peculiar to each. The 
 League of Nations recently established in Europe, including, 
 with but few exceptions, all the civilized countries of the 
 world, is the most pronounced attetmpt as yet made to solve 
 the problem and to secure these primary objects so strongly 
 desired. Entirely aside from the substantial merits of such 
 a World League, and they are many and weighty, the two 
 leading objections that have been made to it either as a 
 theory or a practical project are 
 
 1. That it infringes too closely upon the Inherent Auton- 
 omy of the separate members, by which their national char- 
 acter and efficiency are compromised. 
 
 2. That it is, in its World-wide Area, too Compirehensive 
 and Complex to make an3rthing like unity and community 
 of action possible- or probable, that the points of view of 
 Northern and Southern Europe, of Asiatic and European, 
 of Teuton, Slav and Latin, of the Orient and Occident, are 
 too diverse and distant to admit of a common understanding 
 and absolute concordance of action. 
 
 "That East is West," it is agreed, may be admissible by 
 poetic license, but not in actual political relations. These 
 
International Leagues 115 
 
 objections, it may be conceded, have a degree of solidity, 
 especially that of complexity, arising from so wide an area 
 as the world itself and in the light of radical difference of 
 race and place. It is just here, therefore, where the question 
 naturally arises whether there are no other forms of Inter- 
 national Leagues that may secure the main benefits, at least, 
 of a world-wide Alliance and yet be free from some of the 
 difficulties that necessarily attach themselves td so compre- 
 hensive a compact. 
 
 Two of these are well worth consideration : 
 I. A League of all English-speaking peoples, including 
 the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and 
 other states, a large and organically coherent group of 
 peoples. If it be asked what the Grounds are of such an 
 Alliance, the answer is obvious and significant. 
 
 1. These States have a Common Historic Origin and De- 
 velopment, by- which they are undeniably unified and of 
 necessity sharers in a common destiny. It has been truth- 
 fully said "that England and America are united by a com- 
 mon tradition, extending back through centuries, that Amer- 
 ican Free Institutions took form from the institutions of 
 England." This is well-called "The Great Tradition" which 
 it well behooves the people to preserve. When Gladstone 
 spoke of "our kin beyond the sea" he had this blood rela- 
 tionship in mind. 
 
 2. These States have a Common Language and Litera- 
 ture, the vital import of which it is impossible to exaggerate. 
 It is an element so deep and all pervasive as to rank right 
 next to blood kinship itself in its practical potency. That 
 these peoples all speak "the tongue that Shakespeare spoke" 
 
1^6 Timely Topics 
 
 knits their corporate lives with bands of steel and makes it 
 as unsafe as it is unwise to ignore or underrate it. 
 
 3. These States have a Common Protestant Faith, — "The 
 Faith and Morals hold that Milton held," the great re- 
 ligious legacy of Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. 
 The Puritan spirit of the Commonwealth is theirs in essence. 
 It is when Milton writes "Of Reformation in England" that 
 he unifies the Protestant interests of England and America, 
 and in his "Areopagitica" contends for a Free EngUsh Press 
 in all English States, as Burke before the British Parliament 
 was contending for nothing less than an Anglo-American 
 unity. 
 
 4. These States have Common Interests and Ideals. The 
 English Historians, Green and Freeman, press the point of 
 the destiny of England and America as one, for the reali- 
 zation of which concordant action is needed. These Com- 
 mon Interests are as varied as the functions of a state- 
 political, economic, industrial and social — ^affecting every 
 phase of national life. 
 
 Such is the English League of an international order, that 
 as yet has never been tested in all its inherent potency, by 
 which the evils of separate functions might be avoided and 
 all the benefits of corporate action secured. It is clear to 
 any careful observer of the course of events that this co- 
 fraternity among all of English name is more of a fact than 
 a theory at present, and is forcing itself upon the attention 
 of the modern world as one of the signs of the times and 
 full of promise to the nations. 
 
 II. There is another International League with which it is 
 well worth the while of modern statesmen to reckon, The 
 
International Leagues 117 
 
 League of all Teutonic peoples, in which larger and more 
 varied Alliance all English-speaking peoples are included 
 and such other States as Germany and the Scandinavian peo- 
 ples of Northern Europe, Norway and Sweden and Iceland, 
 and still further south the States of Holland and Denmark, 
 such countries as Austria and Switzerland, possessing in a 
 mixed population a distinct and large Teutonic element. 
 That these peoples should not all be unified to the common 
 ends of civilization is -well nigh a crime. It is nothing less 
 than tragic to see, as we have seen of late, two such great 
 Teutonic nations as England and Germany, foreordained to 
 amity and common function, arrayed against each other on 
 the battlefields of Continental Europe, nor will this problem 
 of Internationalism be rightly settled until such Titanic 
 Teutons as these combine and interact for the same great 
 ends. " 
 
 Here again if we inquire for the Grounds or Reasons for 
 such a League, we may answer in practically the same terms 
 as those presented in the union of English Peoples. 
 
 1. These Teutonic States have a Common Historic An- 
 cestry, traced back directly to the great Teutonic tribes of 
 Northern Continental Europe, where Angles and Saxons 
 lived before the great migrations of the Fifth century. Mr. 
 Freeman, in his suggestive book "The Three English 
 Homes," locates the first of these English homes on the 
 shores of the Continent midway between the Scandinavian 
 countries and Denmark, while all distinction between Ger- 
 manic peoples and English were merged in one great Teu- 
 tonic stock. 
 
 2. These Teutonic States have a Common Linguistic 
 
1 18 Timely'Topics 
 
 History, the main distinction being that the English stock 
 i§ of the Low Germanic order rather than that of the High 
 German, closely akin to the Dutch Peoples of Holland. 
 The linguistic basis and background, however, are one and 
 the same, diverging only in subsequent years as the Ger- 
 manic peoples retained their continental home and the 
 migrating Angles and Saxons became a transcontinental or 
 insular people, so that it might in truth be said that we speak 
 the tongue that Goethe spoke. 
 
 3. These States have a Common Protestant Faith, as- 
 suming in Germany a specifically Lutheran t3rpe as distinct 
 from the Anglican and Genevan, but still a veritable Protes- 
 tant faith as' distinct from that of Rome. The great dis- 
 tinctive doctrines of the English Reformation were those of 
 Martin Luther, it being a significant fact that Luther's 
 version of the Scriptures and the King James' English ver- 
 sion are practically contemporaneous, the basis, respectively, 
 of modern German and modern English as they are now 
 developing. 
 
 4. Moreover, it may in truth be added that these Teutonic 
 States may now be said to have Common Political Ideals, 
 despite any secondary differences of civic order and admin- 
 istration, whatever hitherto may. have been the difference 
 of civic polity between the German Monarchy and the Lim- 
 ited Monarchy of England and the Representative Govern- 
 ment of America. One of the phenomenal results of the 
 late war has been to minimize and indeed to eliminate these 
 differences and place these Teutonic Peoples wherever found 
 on a common democratic plane, based, as to their govern- 
 ments, on the final rule of the people and seeking as their 
 ultimate aim the common weal. 
 
International Leagues 119 
 
 Such are the Grounds on which this Teutonic Alliance is 
 based, and when this compact is finally formed, modern 
 civilization will feel the vital and beneficent effect of it in 
 every phase and function of its being, an Alliance broad 
 enough to include every desirable civic interest and potent 
 enough to hold in check every agency hostile to the world's 
 good. 
 
 Such are the two International and Interracial Leagues 
 yet to be constituted and applied, feasible by reason of their 
 natural and national relationship, free from those complexi- 
 ties and essential differences that obtain in other types of 
 alliance, each member able to retain its political individu- 
 ality, while also able to combine with its colleagues for the 
 attainment of great international ends. With a complete 
 understanding as to where they agree and where they differ, 
 willing on behalf of the general good to surrender all that 
 is non-essential, they can unify their energies in fullest 
 measure, being on friendly terms with any other Inter- 
 national Alliance, Asiatic, Slavic or Latinic, it being clearly 
 understood that no compact whatsoever, however normal or 
 potent, can effect its ends, save on the basis of international 
 honor, faith and good will. It is by reason of the absence 
 of these cardinal conditions that the pages of history are 
 xeplete with Political Pacts, doomed from the outset to 
 failure, and, once again, as ever, we come "back to the indis- 
 pensable condition of any alliance, national or international 
 — Trust in God and Faith in Man, Virtue and Honor and 
 Grood-will. 
 
 For some such League of Nations this war-stricken world 
 is waiting with tragic interest and impatience. It was this 
 
120 Timely Topics 
 
 ■that old Walt Whitman had in mind as he penned in his 
 own way "The Prophecy of a New Era." 
 
 "I see tremendous entrances and exits, new combinations, the solidarity 
 
 of nations, 
 I see that force advancing with irresistible power on the world's stage, 
 I see men marching and countermarching by swift millions, 
 I see the landmark of European kings removed, 
 I see this day the People beginning their landmarks (all others give 
 
 way) : 
 Never were such sharp questions ask'd as this day. 
 Never was average man, his soul, more energetic, more like a God_; 
 What whispers are these, O lands, running ahead of you, passing 
 
 under the seas? 
 Are all nations communing? is there going to be but one heart to the 
 
 globe? 
 Is humanity forming en masse? for, lo, tyrants tremble, crowns grow 
 
 dim. 
 The earth, restive, confronts a new era.'' 
 
 This is the great world movement that is now under way. 
 The bugle is sounding, the ranks are fast forming, and woe 
 will it be for that nation that under the plea of a selfish 
 nationalism fails to fall in line with this imposing proces- 
 sion of peoples organized to preserve the peace and promote 
 the progress of the world. 
 
IV 
 
 THE PURITAN LEGACY TO AMERICA 
 
 In view of the recent Tercentenary Celebration of the 
 Landing of the Pilgrims on the shores of New England,' it 
 is fitting that this epochal event be commemorated by em- 
 phasizing the contributions that have been made by this 
 pioneer people to modern civilization in America. 
 
 As America was discovered by Spaniards in the fifteenth 
 century, it may be said to have been re-discovered by Eng- 
 lishmen in the seventeenth, and so established on firm foun- 
 dations that Plymouth assumes a significance that cannot 
 be claimed by San Salvador, and the year 1620 signally 
 surpasses that of 1492. 
 
 It is not necessary in this connection to draw close distinc- 
 tions between Pilgrim and Puritan as to their respective 
 numbers, dates of colonization, points of departure and of 
 settlement, and ecclesiastical relations to the Anglican 
 Church. Whether few or many, settling earlier or later in 
 the century, in Southern or Northern Massachusetts, whether 
 Presbyterians or Congregationalists, absolute Separatists 
 from the English Church or Non-conformists within its 
 nominal jurisdiction, they all were a body of colonists, leav- 
 ing the shores of the Mother Country for common reasons 
 and for the same great ends, and finally fused into one 
 corporate New England family, the First Americans in 
 name and mission. These Colonists, it must never be for- 
 
 I2X 
 
^22 Timely Topics 
 
 gotten, were the nation's founders — claying the basis of it 
 and building the first superstructure, as best they could, and 
 building better than they knew. As the historian Green 
 speaks of, "The Making of England," these pioneers, were 
 the Makers of America, settlers indeed, constructionists 
 in the strictest sense, so that the anniversary of their settle- 
 ment well might be called. Founders' Day, "the sigiiificant 
 symbol of their building being a rock. 
 
 I. Their specific Contributions to modem -American his- 
 ' tory and life may be studied. 
 
 I. Their first Contribution was clearly within the province 
 of Religion. It was by reason of long continued and in- 
 creasingly rigorous religious persecutions that both Pil- 
 grims and Puritans left, their native land. Never before 
 or since-has there been a people more completely under the 
 supremacy of the Supernatural. In their view, any govern-^ 
 ment entitled to call itself such was, first and last, theocratic,: 
 under the direct guidance of God, whatever its special ap- 
 pellation might be in the political usage of the day. These 
 colonists were the direct descendants of the English Refor- 
 mation of the Sixteenth Century, believed in the Bible as 
 the Book of all Books, and brought the historic King James 
 Version of 1607-11 with them as they set sail from 
 Plymouth in 1620. True, indeed, some of them were mere 
 "adventurers," as we are so often reminded by their critics, 
 men "broken in purse and principles," but the great majority 
 of them were God-fearing, leaving their homes to "escape 
 the pressing danger to godliness."^ -As we are told by the 
 historian Hurst, "To enjoy the exercise of conscience was 
 the Pilgrims' one passion.** So potent and pervasive was 
 
The Puritan Legacy to America 123 
 
 this religious element, that not only officials in the com- 
 munity but all others must be in personal connection with 
 the church, if so be good government might be assured. 
 Here it is that the historian Green makes the significant 
 statement "that the history of English progress ... on 
 its moral.and spiritual sides has been the history of Puritan- 
 ism." The Church was the central institution of the colony, 
 where these sturdy Covenanters convened in acknowledg- 
 ment of their allegiance to Grod as the one supreme Ruler 
 of all peoples. 
 
 2. Closely connected with this initial Contribution was 
 that of Education, the Church and the School being coor- 
 dinated so closely that they were regarded as contemplating 
 the same great ends, no real educational regime being pos- 
 sible, as they concluded, apart from its vital relation to 
 religious needs. It would require some stretch of the his- 
 toric imagination to conceive of a colonial controversy at 
 that time over the question of the Bible and the School.- 
 These were interchangeable terms, common agents of educa- 
 tion. Nor was this educational system confined exclusiyely 
 to what we call, the Common School, for the rank and file 
 of the children of the community in the early stages- of their 
 training, but soon developed a higher and broader func' 
 tion — a collegiate and even university type, the foundation 
 of Harvard in 1636 being but a 'decade and a half after 
 the founding of the colony. It is not to be forgotten that 
 not a few of these "common people," so-called, were from 
 Oxford and Cambridge, and that, as we are told, "At the 
 close of Elizabeth's reign (1603) the tone of the univer- 
 sities was hotly puritan." It was these ardent advocates of 
 
124 Timely To\pics 
 
 education, higher and lower, who set the form for all phases 
 of Colonial education, even though, in accordance with the 
 general character and needs of the time, it was elementary 
 training that was most in demand, the preparation for the 
 everyday life of a pioneer people. 
 
 Indeed, it may be said that, in the early years of settle- 
 ment, all education was, in a sense, elementary, the univer- 
 sity, so-called, expressing itself, as at Harvard, in the neces- 
 sarily modest type of the school or academy, having in it, 
 however, by definite intention, the "Promise and Potency" 
 of advanced teaching. These pioneers in all they did had 
 an eye on the future and legislated for its possible needs. 
 
 3. The Political Contribution of the Puritans was, also, 
 a vital part of their religious and educational aims. It was, 
 indeed, the desire for civil freedom and the resultant de- 
 termination to secure it that was the original occasion of 
 their emigration. What they called, Popular Rights, which 
 meant, first of all, political rights, was their primary pur- 
 pose and need as a struggling colony, the escape from that 
 civic oppression which they had so long and patiently suf-. 
 fered. "The Petition of Rights" which they presented to 
 the Parliament of Charles the First in 1628, and which the 
 King reluctantly granted, was 'anticipated in 1620. These 
 sturdy settlers were called "Independents" in every sense and 
 sphere of activity, and were the forerunners of the heroes 
 of 1776, in issuing a Declaration of Independence, insist- 
 ing on liberty as one of their "inalienable rights," that all 
 men were created "free." Nor was their freedom purely 
 political, but an essential part of their religious belief and 
 life. As Mrs. Hemans tells us, "Freedom to worship God" 
 
The Puritan Legacy to America 125 
 
 was what they sought, "faith's pure shrine," at the foot 
 of which they might safely kneel. Though the Pilgrims 
 believed in no ecclesiastical connection of Church and State, 
 as it obtained in England, they did believe in the real and 
 vital relation of Christianity and Civics, so that modern 
 historians, in treating of the Puritan state, are obliged to 
 treat it in terms of a strictly religious relationship. The 
 liberty they sought was, after all, a religious liberty, whether 
 expressed in strictly religious thought and life or in the 
 practical province of politics. The English Reformation 
 meant to them, as it historically, meant, a civil as well as 
 a relig ious reformation, and no close distinctions were to 
 be pressed between the two spheres of human activity. It 
 is from this point of view that the Puritan state was a 
 Protestant state, as opposed to the civil tyranny of Roman- 
 ism, and it is here, also, that the dominant influence of Cal- 
 vinism is evident. 
 
 It was, as the historian Green states it, "with the belief 
 of the Calvinist that there went necessarily a high and higher 
 sense of political order," "a devotion to an authority higher 
 and more sacred than that of kings." In Augustinian 
 phrase, the state was a "Civitas Dei," a city of God, on 
 earth, where laws were to be administered on Christian prin- 
 ciples for Christian ends. 
 
 4. The Industrial and Social Contribution of the Puritans 
 must also be acknowledged. Social Equality has been called 
 "the gift of Puritanism to English Politics," a sense of 
 brotherhood, of civic fellowship and mutual interest here- 
 tofore unknown, in the expression of which all classes stand 
 on a common plane in the eye of God and man. It was the 
 
126 , Timety Topics 
 
 Common Law and a Commonwealth under which they 
 lived, by which a man was measured by his manhood and 
 all rulers of the. state were understood to be the servants of 
 the people. Moreover, the age was signally the age of thrift, 
 altogether unacquainted with the conflict of Labor and 
 Capital, an age in which every man was a common laborer 
 and no provision was made for the idler and the vagrant. 
 It is just here that we find the explanation of the simple life 
 of the time, the Golden Age of Household Economy, of 
 old-fashioned domesticity, when sobriety, frugality, plain 
 living and stability were the characteristics of the time. " 
 "As we conceive it," says an English historian, "home wasj^ 
 the creation of the Puritan," and it is the home-Jy virtues, { 
 I as we signally call them, that were the controlling virtues 
 ' of the time. It is fitting, indeed, that what is called, "Old 
 Home Week," as celebrated in New England, dates its 
 origin from the colonial days. The laws of the colony were, 
 most of all, what Wordsworth calls "Household Laws." 
 
 II. In the light of these Contributions, attention must be 
 called to the Alleged Defects and Limitations of the Puri- 
 tans. One of the most interesting features of modern his- 
 torical criticism is that seen in the wide diversity of view 
 that is taken by different historians as to what were the 
 salient merits and defects of the Puritan character and mode 
 of life, the views of such writers as Fiske and Freeman 
 and Neale and Green being at such variance with those of 
 Grey and Washington and others, while in the pages of 
 Macaulay we note an apparently honest attempt to give them 
 merited praise, even though interspersed with caustic and 
 cynical comment. The biography of Bunyan by Froude is 
 
The Puritan Legacy to America 127 
 
 of special interest as we mark how that anti-Puritan and 
 liberal thinker of his day deals with such a type of char- 
 acter as that of Bunyan, and his contributions to Puritan 
 literature, that "victim of grace" as he satirically calls him, 
 while such inimical critics as Matthew Arnold and Mr. Taine 
 make no concealment of their antipathy and resort for the 
 ; expression of.it to the full vocabulary of ridicule. 
 
 1. As to their Religious Type, we are told that its most 
 prominent features are fanaticism and bigotry, that, as the 
 Athenians of old, they are too religious, good to the limit 
 of repulsion, intolerant and persecuting, the advocates of 
 witchcraft, Hebraic in the severity of their morals, at war 
 with the pleasantries of life, revealing, in a word, what have 
 been called, "the evils of dissent." 
 
 2. In the sphere pf Education, it is alleged, as Mr. Taine 
 I phrases it, "that the Puritan destroys the artist," that in his 
 I devotion to the material elements of training, there is no 
 
 room for the aesthetic, for that Hellenistic type of culture 
 which, according to Arnold, is the final purpose of till edu- 
 cation. Devoid of anything like a literary spirit, the writ- 
 ings of these colonists, it is said, evince the primacy of the 
 commonplace, and exalt mediocrity to a virtue. 
 
 3. In the sphere of Politics, their lack of deference to 
 kings and prelates, it is added, evinced itself in the persecu- 
 tion of all who differed from them and simply changed one 
 form of tyranny for another, their political intolerance being 
 the natural outgrowth- of their religious bigotry, merging 
 the state into the Church and making the civil code but a 
 revised edition of the Decalogue. 
 
 ■ 4. So in the Social Sphere, jt is alleged, we find an utter 
 
128 Timely Topics 
 
 lack of the Amenities, a rough and crude expression af 
 character suited, perhaps, to the cabin and the frontier Hfe 
 of the pioneer, but quite out of keeping with an)rthing like 
 a standard of civiUzation. Their habit, we are toM, was 
 mediaeval and ascetic, that of the monastery and cloister, 
 and within the presence of domestic life they so stressed 
 the principle of self-denial and restraint as to make a virtue 
 of plainness and pride themselves on their privations and 
 struggles. 
 
 Such are the Allegations and Indictments against the 
 Puritan. Be it so. Granted that some degree of intoler- 
 ance was evident in their religious beliefs and life, that their 
 educational system was singularly free from the cultural 
 character of today ; that civic freedom was, at times, stressed 
 to the burden of oppression; that they pushed sobriety to 
 the limit of asceticism and were economic and frugal to a 
 fault. Be it so, and still we may insist with emphasis that 
 the greatest moral need of the time is the Puritanic sense 
 of the supernatural; the conviction that education, in any 
 true interpretation of it, postulates the Puritan incorpora- 
 tion of Christianity; that in all the functions of the state, 
 the dominant factor should he the Puritan type of a civic 
 conscience; and that American domestic and social life 
 should reinstate and express, as never before, the household 
 virtues of the Puritan home. 
 
 With all acknowledged progress in every sphere of 
 thought and service, in a more liberal type of religious be- 
 lief, in a broader educational system, in the widening of the 
 bounds of civil freedom, and the varied advances in the 
 industrial arts and social order, it is still true, as Mr.' 
 
Demotracy on Trial 129' 
 
 Whipple tells us, "that the debt of gratitude which the 
 world owes to the Puritans has never been fully paid," 
 while we are far too apt to endorse those carping critics who 
 find their keenest pleasure at the expeiise of these early 
 colonists. Their faults were the faults of their age, as ours 
 are those of our age, while no body of American citizens 
 has since lived who were better fitted for the needs of their 
 time than were they for their generation. 
 
 In these days of reconstruction in all the spheres of life, 
 nothing would be fraught with richer results than the recog- 
 nition, as never before, of this legacy of the Puritans to 
 their successors, and the reinforcement of those Essential 
 Virtues and Verities which they have transmitted and which, 
 it must be conceded, constitute the basis of Society. 
 
 The principles that produced such men as John Robin- 
 son and Governor Winthrop, Governor Bradford and Roger 
 Williams, Cotton Mather and Thomas Hooker and Howe, 
 and the later generation of Hampden and Cromwell, Selden 
 and Pym, Baxter and Bunyan and Milton, are principles 
 with which every age must reckon, if indeed, it is to fill the 
 place and do the work to which Providence has called it. 
 
 DEMOCRACY ON TRIAL 
 
 In a recent thoughtful article of a popular American 
 monthly, the somewhat startling question is opened, "Is 
 Europe Crumbling?" in which the author summons all the 
 civilized forces of the modern world to mobilize for all 
 contingencies, if so be the tragic catastrophe ever emerges. 
 A similar form of question might be opened. Is representa- 
 
1 30 Timely- Topics 
 
 live government crumbling? Is democracy crumbling? We 
 are told that there is a world-wide movement, a "tidal" 
 movement, toward democratic rule, that it is as irresistible 
 as the tides, the "out-working of certain causes," which 
 cannot be successfully nullified or even for any length of 
 time be retarded. This is a question that confronts every 
 thinking man and people and demands deliberate discyssion, 
 a question forced upon us as never before by the dramatic 
 developments of the time. 
 
 I. The Elements of Democratic Goverliment. 
 
 1. It means, first and last, the Sovereignty of the People, 
 or of Public Opinion, m whatever legitimate^ form it is ex- 
 pressed. It means the rightful rule of the majority, what- 
 ever the type of that majority in any given nation or era 
 may be. Popular government as that is understood means 
 that with the masses rests the final court of appeal Even 
 though there may result what Bryce: calls, "The Fatalism of 
 the Multitude," the multitude is on the throne. It is a gov- 
 ernment "of the people, by the people, for the people." 
 
 2. It means Equality of Privilege-^equal status, rights 
 and recompenses, in the eyes of the law, an open forum and 
 a fair field for all disputants. It is here, if nowhere else, 
 that a real opportunism obtains, the same fortune for all 
 in the great lottery of life, "a form of society," as Lowell , 
 tells us, "in which every man has a chance and knows that 
 he has it." 
 
 3. It means Freedoin, in the well understood sense of 
 that term, of speech, and of the pen, of thought, of assembly 
 and of action within the well-established conditions of civil- 
 ized life. Though all government as such is under law, 
 
Democracy on Trial 131 
 
 Democracy is distinctive as under "the royal law of liberty," 
 of civil and social privilege. 
 
 II. Hence a related question emerges, as to Primary 
 Postulates or Antecedent Conditions of democracy — on 
 which it is based and by which it is governed,, in all the 
 possible forms of its expression. 
 
 I. First of all, is General National Morale, a possession 
 on the part of any free commonwealth of what are known 
 as the public virtues, as distinct from those that obtain in 
 personal character. It assumes a common civic conscience, 
 amenable to generally accepted moral dictates, by which ex- 
 ternal civic conduct is determined and controlled, revealing 
 itself in national honor, national integrity, a sense of civic 
 justice, and righteousness in public life, a recognition of the 
 presence and potency o'f kw, in fine, atheistic attitude of 
 mind as distinct from an absolutely irreligious, or non-re- 
 ligious attitude. It is in this sense that we speak of a 
 Christian civilization. 
 
 2. Next in order as to Postulates is General National In- 
 telligence — the possession of what might be called, in the 
 language of Locke, human understanding — ah ordinary de- 
 gree of mental life, an average, everyday measure of knowl- 
 edge. At the basis &f a commonwealth is the common mind 
 — sufficiently intelligent and well-informed to comprehend 
 in some degree the kind of world in which it lives, and the 
 kind of government to which it owes respect and allegiance. 
 Common sense by its very name is a mental possession sup- 
 posedly in possession of the common people, the rank and 
 file of the body politic and social. 
 
 3. A further Postulate is found in the Preservation of a 
 
132 Timely Topics 
 
 distinct National Type, in any given nation and, as such, 
 proof against loss or substantial impairment. Every state 
 to be consistently called democratic must have individuality, 
 civic personality, a specific corporate character all its own, 
 and safely above the influence of denationalizing elements. 
 In sufch a complex assemblage of discordant elements, as th,e 
 old Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, any such order as 
 a democratic regime would have been impossible. Its very 
 duality made it undemocratic and incapable of national 
 fusion. One of the most difficult^ problems confronting 
 the reorganization of Central Europe on anything like a 
 democratic basis is just here, in the persistent presence, in 
 any separate nation, of antagonistic and divergent factors. 
 
 The so-called Proletariat Democracy of Russia is any- 
 thing but democratic, by reaison of the complex and utterly 
 discordant elements that are represented in it and by the 
 disintegrating influence by which it is doomed to downfall. 
 
 4. An additional Postulate of democracy and as vital as 
 any, is found in the Surrender of Individual Interests for 
 the Public Good. We speak advisedly of Democracies as 
 Commonwealths, in which, as such, the common weal is the 
 avowed purpose of the system, whereby the sacrifice of per- 
 sonal privilege is so often demanded. It is a great national 
 Commune, where mutual interests control any private in- 
 terests and national prosperity is based on the surrender 
 of rightful personal claims. This is the only Communism 
 that can be rightfully sustained. 
 
 Such are the Primary Postulates of a democratic order 
 so absolutely essential to its existence- as to make any at- 
 tempt without them to constitute a free commonwealth 
 doomed to failure. 
 
Democracy on Trial 133 
 
 III. Opposing Forces. 
 
 No sooner do these fundamental Postulates assert them- 
 selves as such than antagonistic factors are found to be at 
 work to nullify or impair them, these undemocratic agencies 
 being more potent in the modern world than at any previous 
 period of the world's history. Here in reality is a battle- 
 ground where the contest is to be as severe as on the fields of 
 Flanders and on the outcome of which the future of democ- 
 racy rests. 
 
 1. What we have called the General Morale is strictly op- 
 posed by all the Immoral Forces of the day which seek so to 
 diminish and debase it as to make it practically inoperative 
 in national life. 
 
 2. The presence and extension of General Intelligence are 
 confronted at every turn by the Ignorant and Illiterate 
 Agencies that strangely find so hospitable a home and so 
 friendly a field in the so-called civiUzed countries, the reve- 
 lations of the late war exposing startling facts as to the 
 presence of this anomaly. 
 
 3. The preservation of a National Type finds a formida- 
 ble foe in the Indiscriminate Mingling of Races and Lan- 
 guages possessed of diverse traditions and so diverse as to 
 make federation well-nigh impossible. It is of this peril 
 that Mr. Lowell spoke in his "Inaugural Address at Bir- 
 mingham," as he statied that the democratic principle would 
 be more likely to prevail could it be made with a people 
 "homogeneous in race, language and tradition." It is here, 
 as nowhere else, in so far as this country is concerned, that 
 the interests of democracy are in jeopardy. It is no trifling 
 problem before any people to mould a heterogeneous mass 
 
1 34 Timely Topics 
 
 into anytWng like civic unity and yet such unity must at 
 least be approximately reached. There must be a real civic 
 Concordat. 
 
 4. So as to the Subordination of Individual Interests to 
 the Common Good. Here the titanic enemy is human self- 
 ishness, the capital sin of the world, whereby vested in- 
 terests, so-called, usurp the place of general interests; special 
 privileges, that of the people's needs, and what may be called 
 personal profiteering lies straight athwart the country's 
 need. 
 
 It is here that the supposed prerogatives of birth and 
 rank assert themselves, the distinctive aristocratic type and 
 temper. It is here that what a modern writer calls "ram- 
 pant commercialism" insists on riding over and crushing 
 all that lies in its way. "Unless democracy," says Ross, 
 "mends the distribution of wealth, the mal-administration 
 of wealth will end democracy." It is this peril of which Mr. 
 Lowell speaks as especially threatening our institutions. 
 Plutocracy as opposed to Democracy, the absolute refusal 
 to make any great sacrifice for the general purpose, but an 
 avowed purpose to exploit the national resources for private 
 ends. We are in the era of special privilege. 
 
 5. There is a further enemy at the door, claiming admit- 
 tance and control. It is the Abuse of Freedom, a pressing 
 of the principle of democracy fa.r beyond its legitimate fron- 
 tiers out into the open era of lawless liberty, the worst 
 form of anarchy. This is the gigantic and ominous problem 
 before the civilized world today, to show newly enfranchised 
 pebples how to use the legacy of national freedom without 
 abusing it, and even the older democracies are in need of 
 
Democracy on Trial 135 
 
 warning. From the Baltic to the Black Sea, peoples un- 
 accustomed to national liberty and practically unfit for it 
 are playing fast and loose with this problem of civic re- 
 organization on a democratic basis. Rejoicing in a free- 
 dom of whose meaning they are ignorant, and yet a free- 
 dom for the possession of which they are willing to struggle 
 and suffer and die, they have set the world fairly aflame 
 and who can tell what a fatal sweep the fires may have 
 before they are all quenched. 
 
 These are some of the Undemocratic Factors in opposi- 
 tion to a true freedom of the state and the dominant duty 
 of civilized Christendom is to address itself to the task of 
 bringing civic order out of this civic chaos. 
 
 IV. If we inquire as to the Methods by which this result 
 is to be reached, despite all opposing forces, some sug- 
 gestions may be made. 
 
 1. First of all, the quickening of the National Conscience, 
 the elevation of the national morale, a duty of the Christian 
 Church as well as the nation. It is in this connection that 
 an American historian speaks of "the missionary educators" 
 in the Orient, mining and undermining the despotisms of 
 the East and nothing short of the principles of Christianity 
 will induce a moral order. East and West, as indispensable 
 to civic stability. 
 
 2. The spread of General Intelligence, the education of 
 the people in the mass. It is here that the question of the 
 Common School, the People's University, comes just now 
 to the front — well called by MacAdam "The crisis in our 
 schools," the existing need in this direction being so critical 
 that every available agency must be used to meet and supply 
 
136 Timely Topics 
 
 it. If, as the poet declares, " 'Tis education forms the 
 common mind," this formative factor must be utilized 
 and applied so as to make any such system as "democracy 
 possible. 
 
 3. As to the Corporate Unity and Integrity of National 
 Life, its preservation would seem to be dependent upon the 
 -ability of any separate nation so to control the incoming of 
 alien elements as to keep them within safe limitations. ' Just 
 as a language may safely admit foreign factors up to the 
 point of possible assimilation and no further so a people's 
 civic individuality may safely admit foreign factors only 
 within its capability to mould and fuse them organically into 
 the national life. National Personality in a democracy can- 
 not be secured and preserved apart from the country's con- 
 trol of the process of immigration. 
 
 4. So as to the Altruistic Factor in democracy. Greater 
 emphasis must be laid upon the principle that a common- 
 wealth in its very conception includes the virtue of personal 
 sacrifice. It is the general welfare that constitutes its pre- 
 eminent purpose, so that all the subdivisions of civic rule, 
 local, municipal and state, must be subordinate to the na- 
 tional weal. It must in truth be affirmed that democracy, 
 as other forms of government, must be based on a gen- 
 erous concession to Common Interests so that the realiza- 
 tion of the democratic ideal is to be secured only by a strict 
 resistance to every form of merely individual good. At 
 no point does free government meet with stronger opposi- 
 tion than just here, and at no point, thereforeTfe -a more 
 courageous altruistic attitude demanded to meet it 
 
 5. So must the Abuse of Political Freedom be met by a 
 
Democracy on Trial- 137 
 
 legitimate use of it. When we are told by Mr. Lowell that 
 "England is a monarchy with democratic tendencies," he is 
 quick to add that "Amefica is a democracy with conserva- 
 tive instincts," which is but another method of insisting 
 that there can be no such result as a safe and stable free 
 state, in which the principle of freedom is not limited by 
 law. Democracy just because it includes the element of 
 liberty in emphatic form and measure becomes the most 
 dangerous species of civic rule, unless it is kept within 
 bounds. Such as we conceive them are the Elements and 
 Postulates of Democracy, such its Opposing Forces and the 
 Method^ of meeting and overcoming them, and once again, 
 the question confronts us, If democracy is still on trial, is 
 the Testing to be successful. To this, we are assured, there 
 can be but one answer ancj that in the affirmative, even 
 though it may yet be viewed, the world over, as in its 
 experimental stage. The ground of this conclusion lies in 
 the fact of the Universality of The Democratic Instinct, 
 which beyond all question as such will work its way in and 
 out past all obstructions whatever to the final issue. Its 
 triumph is assured because "the world over certain uni- 
 versal causes are undermining arbitrary and anti-social gov- 
 ernment." It is as Patrick Henry phrased it, "Liberty or 
 Death." As the poet Wordsworth phrased it, "We must 
 be free or die." 
 
 From the opening of recorded history it is seen to be 
 true that it is toward the free rule of the people that the 
 world has been facing and will not and cannot beat a retreat, 
 or even call a halt. Political liberty is the ultimate ideal 
 and goal of every people — apart from which civic existence 
 
138 Timely Tapics "^ 
 
 is useless. ' In that final federation of the world to whieh 
 all signs are pointing and to which all policies are shaping, 
 the only legislative chamber will be the House of Commons. 
 
 Herein lie the responsibility and opportunity of our own 
 country, to make what De Tdcqueville called, "Democracy in 
 America," the inspiring model and standard for a struggling 
 world. There is, to our mihd, nothing more pathetic and 
 promising th^n what we are witnessing at the moment 
 among the hitherto oppressed peoples of the world, in their 
 desperate efforts to realize this political ideal. 
 
 Rarely, we may venture to say, has a more inspiring 
 scene been witnessed in the English Parliament than when 
 Lloyd George in the most impassioned terms he could com- 
 mand, spught to depict what was transpiring, as he spoke, 
 in Central Europe, in the life and death struggles for civic 
 freedom, and with an earnestness suffused with pathos was 
 pleading with Parliament to have patience and forbearance 
 with these peoples, suddenly called upon without prepara- 
 tion to undertake the functions of nationhood, to begin a 
 "new life without training and discipline," making mistakes 
 indeed, but "the mistakes of inexperience," and he appeals 
 with pathetic passion to Parliament to be sympathetic and 
 forgiving toward these heroic peoples, who have been "tram- 
 pled upon for ages and who have had no chance to learn to 
 govern," but who still hold themselves in readiness- for any 
 sacrifice whatsoever, if so be they may secure the right to 
 live as the free citizens of a free state. 
 
 It is to this Republic of the West that these pieoples are 
 looking for "light and leading." Here is the call for an 
 international outlook and service on the part of every 
 
National Loyalty 139 
 
 genuine American, and he who fails to recognize and 
 realize it is an unworthy citizen of this country and is in- 
 excusably blind to the most inspiring movement of modern 
 times. 
 
 There is an Americanism, so-called, that belies its own 
 true character and defeats its own highest ends under the 
 plausible principle of national loyalty — refusing to enter 
 the open door to all peoples that Providence and the course 
 of history and Human Brotherhood have enjoined it to 
 enter, and deaf to the peoples across the seas that implore 
 it to recognize the impending perils and needs of the world 
 at large. Democracy in its very conception contains witfiin 
 it the principle of universality and will never fulfill its native 
 function until it compasses the civic unity of the world. 
 
 NATIONAL LOYALTY 
 
 This is a subject interesting at all times in the course of 
 a people's history, but especially prominent under present- 
 day conditions as modified and emphasized by the late war. 
 The pertinent -question is as to just what National Loyalty 
 means, what it involves, and what it prohibits, what its 
 salient elements are and what its limitations and guarantees. 
 The study of this expression of civic life through what has 
 been aptly called "the T)rocesses of history" is as attractive 
 as it is significant and confronts the civilized world with an 
 urgency heretofore unknown. 
 
 If we inquire at the outset as to what its Characteristics 
 are, we note two or three of primary import: 
 
 I. Devotion to the nation's Traditions — its antecedents 
 
140 Timely Topics 
 
 and successive stages of historical development from its 
 earliest immature forms to its present status. Every nation, 
 older or younger, superior or inferior, may be said to have 
 its well understood traditions of which it is zealously and 
 naturally jealous and which it feels under solemn obligation 
 to preserve intact against all attempts to underrate or ignore 
 them. Civic writers have called our attention to "the in- 
 spirations of history," well aware of the fact that the basis 
 of such "inspirations" may be found in the successive epochs 
 of the nation's corporate life. There is a definite some- 
 thing in every country's history which it visibly represents, 
 for which it stands and which gives it national place and 
 function. Thus Greece represents culture, and Rome, power. 
 There is a national as well as an individual personality, and 
 this, in its essential factors, must be maintained if so be the 
 nation is to have any place and part in the world's develop- 
 ment. An American author has recently called our atten- 
 tion to "The Spiritual Tradition of American Life," as 
 manifested not only in the strictly religious sphere, but in 
 education, literature and social order. There are spiritual 
 traditions and secular traditions in every nation's life that 
 •make it what it is in the view of the world. National 
 loyalty demands that the nation be true to these Traditions 
 — to its historic status and function, ever reluctant to sur- 
 render or disown them. As historic, they are- presumed to 
 be fixed factors in the nation's life, constitute the very basis 
 of its existence and must, in their essential elements subsist 
 and persist in the face of all attempts to discard them. The 
 recent Tercentenary Celebration: of the landing of the Pil- 
 grims is a signal example of America's fidelity to her 
 
Natioml Loyaity 141 
 
 founders and to the institutions which they established. To 
 fail to recognize them would be disloyal. 
 
 2. Devotion to the Nation's Ideals — civic, educational, 
 social and religious. As every nation has a history and a 
 body of traditions, so it is supposed to have, and in reality 
 must have what may be called a definite national Objective, 
 a civic Aspiration, a future as well as a past, an Ideal which 
 it aims by successive efforts to realize and enjoy. When 
 it is said that every country has a specific mission which 
 it is its prerogative to prosecute and fulfill this is simply 
 to state that it has an ultimate goal toward which it is mov- 
 ing and concentrating all its energies. Aristocracy, Mon- 
 archy or Democracy, whatever the form of government 
 may be, its controlling desire is to realize this type more and 
 more completely as national life develops. To realize it is, 
 indeed, the primary justification of its being as a nation 
 and differentiates it from all other nations with which it is 
 connected. When it is known what these ideals are, in 
 themselves, and their influence, then it is known what the 
 nation's true character is and how it stands related to the 
 world's betterment. 
 
 In this sphere of ideals it is pertinent to notice that we 
 are on a much higher plane than that of the merely historic, 
 in the realm of the purely imaginative, wherein we can give 
 free play to the thought as to what may be realized as the 
 years go on in the region of the purely possible. In the 
 distinctly materialistic aims of states and peoples, now so 
 potent, it is this idealistic impulse which may act as a coun- 
 ter-agency and keep the nation well in line with all the 
 higher factors of a nation's progress. 
 
1 42 Timely Topics 
 
 Such are the two basic Characteristics of national loyalty 
 —devotion tcLthe nation's Traditions and its Ideals, — in fine^ 
 devjotion to the nation's best interests as the citizens of the 
 respective nations conceive them, involving obedience to the 
 la'wjs of the land, as the very word Loy-al-ty means, defence 
 of its rights and institutions and every- possible promotion 
 of its civic welfare. Just here, however, there are certain 
 Limitations or Conditions that must be observed as consti- 
 tuting a genuine loyalty. Some of these may be cited and 
 interpreted as fundamental requisites: 
 
 I. Fidelity to the nation's history and ideals is to be 
 maintained iti so far as such history and ideals are Com- 
 mendable. Herein lies the test of every separate people 
 and the most serious problem of all related peoples as to 
 what historic traditions and what specific ideals shall be pre- 
 served and what sacrificed for the general good. Differ- 
 ence of opinion and clashing of interests at this point are 
 the sufficient explanation of national struggles and one of 
 the problems of the future is to harmonize conflicting in- 
 terests and by mutual concessions secure the best interests 
 of the world at large. 
 
 "Our country right or wrong" is a national creed that 
 in the light of this limitation must be absolutely discarded. 
 There is scarcely a nation, if indeed any, portions of whose 
 historic record and cherished ideals should not be disowned 
 on behalf of the world's good and in the name of loyalty. 
 To insist that loyalty to American history must still include 
 the sanction of the earlier institution of slavery as a legiti- 
 mate and desirable part of its national being, or that loyalty 
 to Teutonic ideals must include the sanction of world- 
 
National Loyalty 143 
 
 domination, as the manifest aim of the Central Powers in 
 the late war, is not only to invalidate all moral distinctions, 
 but to make any such result as the world's betterment prac- 
 tically impossible. -If, as is said, history repeats itself, the 
 repetition to be beneficial, must be that of desirable features 
 and elements. When a recent writer tells us that "most of 
 the ideals which guided the politics of Continental Europe 
 in the last century could give no good account of them- 
 selves to our unprejudiced sense of right" and "that at 
 every step America has boldly thrown oflf traditions which 
 could not account for themselves to reason," he has in 
 mind the presence of such necessary limitation as that we 
 are now demanding — that national history and national 
 ideals shall be sanctioned and preserved in so far and only 
 in so far as they conform to national equity. "Every na- 
 tion," he states, "must be willing to amend its purposes." 
 It is just such an amendment of purposes and of historic 
 antecedents that is, at this moment, engaging the best 
 thought of the modem world. States and nations, the world 
 over, are reviewing and revising their traditions and ideals, 
 and instituting by the necessities of the hour, a new national 
 order. This is what is meant, in the main, by the New Era 
 — an era in which national history is re-written and national 
 ideals are re-examined. An interesting volume by Fried- 
 man, "America and The New Era," is but one contribution 
 among scores of treatises as to this demand for the reopen- 
 ing of the question as to just what fidelity to a nation's 
 good involves and as to what it demands in the line of 
 national revision. 
 
 II. A devotion to the nation's Traditions and Ideals in 
 
144 Timely Topics- 
 
 the light of International Relations and Responsibilities. 
 Here we come to one of the most significant developments 
 of the late war, the new and vigorous emphasis of inter- 
 nationalism and the consequent emphatic protest against 
 national isolation as out of keeping with the exigencies of 
 t}ie hour and primary interests of the world at large. Hence, 
 the expression as never before of The International Mind, 
 the discussion of local issues in the light of the common 
 good, the insistence that no state can determine its func- 
 tions and live its life apart from the study of the interests 
 of border states. If this requires the practical renunciation 
 of some of a nation's cherished antecedents and aims, then 
 the renunciation must be made, and this in fullest keeping 
 with a consistent national loyalty. From the forgetfulness 
 of this demand the civilized world has suffered untold evil 
 and one of the costly lessons of the late tragedy has been 
 in the line of a justifiable national concession for interna- 
 tional ends. 
 
 There is a true and a false loyalty, and while every de- 
 voted citizen is bound to give the benefit of the doubt to his 
 own land, there are times when a positive surrender of 
 long cherished views must be made in the spirit of altruism. 
 This is the "New Nationalism" now in evidence for which 
 the modern world has long been waiting, a real League of 
 Nations, constituted by the inevitable "processes of history" 
 and which cannot be successfully resisted by any human 
 agency. 
 
 III. A further essential condition of National Loyalty is 
 found in the surrender of Partisan Preference to the Na- 
 tion's good. Political parties are a necessity and in their 
 
National Loyalty i4S 
 
 place and way maybe made contributive to the welfare of 
 the people, but their place and way must be subordinate to 
 general interests whenever these interests conflict. This is 
 another patent outcome of the late war — a breaking down 
 of long established political alliances, the realignment of 
 civic orders, and an insistence that national interests shall 
 not be ultimately determined from the standpoint of party 
 principle. Party Loyalty is one thing. National Loyalty 
 is a far different and a higher function, and in the case of 
 conflict, no right-minded citizen should be in doubt where 
 he stands. The party system has been pushed to an extreme 
 and is now the bane of American politics, as it has been of 
 the politics of Europe, and has been erroneously defended 
 on the ground of national well-being. If in the exigencies 
 of war or some impending national disaster, all partisan 
 distinctions must be ignored and are willingly ignored as an 
 expression of civic loyalty, such a surrender of partisan 
 principles and prejudices is surely in demand in the every- 
 day development of a nation's life. 
 
 From this discussion certain Inferences follow: 
 I. National Loyalty as thus characterized and conditioned 
 is a principle especially applicable to Free Governments, 
 where the utmost liberty of opinion and self-determination 
 prevail, independent of the necessary restrictions of absolu- 
 tion. What may be called the great Democratic Ideal as 
 more and more realized among modern representative states 
 essentially involves this order of national loyalty, a most sig- 
 nificant and promising trend of the times being the increas- 
 ing surrender on the part of- monarchies of anything like 
 arbitrary rule in favor of a more liberal civic order. 
 
146 Timely Topics 
 
 2. It may be further suggested that*this conception of 
 national loyalty clearly indicates the duty of Adopted Cit- 
 izens, that when adopted by voluntary preferences into the 
 constitutional and corporate body of another state, they are 
 thereby under legal and moral obligation to give to such 
 an adopted nation an absolutely undivided allegiance. Never 
 has there been a time when the insistence upon this order 
 of allegiance should be more' pronounced than now, so that 
 newly accepted citizens from foreign lands should be ex- 
 pected and required to renounce the status of^double citizen- 
 ship, or return at once to the land of their nativity. 
 
 No self-respecting nation can be expected to recognize 
 two distinct orders of citizens and deliberately admit an alien 
 element into its national life. Untold evil has followed in 
 the late war from the, neglect of this civic requirement and 
 separate nations have been obliged to restate and reafifirm 
 the absolute necessity of a single allegiance. Alien peoples 
 should not only be naturalized, they should be nationalized 
 and by solemn adjuration declare their unqualified. devotion 
 to their adopted land, nor is there any country where the 
 application of this order of loyalty is more important than in 
 our own. 
 
 We speak of loyalty as a devotion, and rightly so. It is 
 more than a merely political allegiance to a particular gov- 
 ernment. It is a relation of affectionate and personal in- 
 terest — a real fellowship and cordial fraternity, — a civic 
 brotherhood. Professor Royce in his suggestive book on 
 "Loyalty," treats it from this psychologic point of view, 
 as involving the nature of a real friendship. It is thus that 
 Charles Francis Adams asserts "that the basis of every 
 
Great Historic Movements 147 
 
 government must be the loyalty and love of its people." 
 This is what is meant by Patriotism — ^the love of country, 
 a devotion far depeer and stronger than a merely political 
 relation can be. 
 
 In the recent war we have had a conspicuous example of 
 nationaFloyalty on its military side when citizens by the 
 millions proffered themselves to the defense of their native 
 land. What the world now needs is national loyalty on its 
 civic side. As has been well said by an American writer, 
 "We have yet to learn as a people that the peace-time duties 
 of government are even more critical than its duties in 
 war." In the natural reaction from the strenuous demands 
 of war the tendency in all governments has been far too 
 manifest to modify and impair that unqualified devotion 
 to the nation's interests that characterized the years of 
 struggle. What is now needed more than ever is an order 
 of civic allegiance and affection that does not depend on 
 any exceptional event threatening the very life of the nation 
 and justified on the ground of self-defense, but a patriotism 
 that is alert and active at all times, suited as well to the 
 ordinary activities of the nation as to the eras of emergency, 
 — a permanent state of the public mind, unaffected by pass- 
 ing' influences and thereby directly contributive to civic 
 stability and progress. The urgent need of the hour is a 
 Patriotism of Peace, supplementing and sanctifying the 
 Patriotism of War. 
 
 GREAT HISTORIC MOVEMENTS 
 
 In such instructive historic serials as. Epochs of Modern 
 History, and. Epochs of English History, we have signal 
 
148 Timely Topics 
 
 examples of great historic movements in England and Con- 
 tinental Europe, in Asia and the civilized world over, these 
 epochar movements having received special emphasis in the 
 recent world-wide struggle. Such representative events as 
 the Dissolution of the Roman Empire, the Rise, Develpp- 
 ment and Disappearance of Mediaevalism, the successive 
 Crusades to recover the Holy Land from the Saracens, the 
 Great Migrations of Peoples from the East, spreading from 
 Asia steadily westward into Europe and the New Western 
 World, the Opening of the East to Western Civilization, 
 the Beginning of the Modern Era in the Sixteenth Century, 
 involving the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry the 
 Eighth, the Critical Battles of the Thirty Years War, the 
 Great Revolutions, such as those of 1688, 1789, 1776, the 
 Norman Conquest of the Eleventh Century, the Great Char- 
 ter of 1215, the Rise of Internationalism, the Democratic 
 Development of the Modern Era, the New Era in Indus- 
 trialism and, by way of historical climax, the recent World 
 War. All these and similar Historic Movements, arrest 
 the attention of students of history and the thought of the 
 modern world and afford material for ever new investiga- 
 tion and instruction. Forming, as they do, but a part of 
 those complex historical phenoniiena which have been in 
 evidence since the dawn of history, they are ever appearing 
 in other and equally significant forms and will so appear 
 until the final record of the world's events is registered. 
 
 A study of the Salient Characteristics of these Move- 
 ments will be of interest, i. They are, in the main. Silent 
 and Invisible, "the final result," as has been said "of a long 
 process of organic development." Historians have ad- 
 
Great Historic Movements 149 
 
 dressed themselves with praiseworthy assiduity to the solu- 
 tion of the problem of the Origin or Causes of these Move- 
 ments, which have constantly evaded explanation. What, 
 after, all, were the determining Causes of the Thirty Years 
 War, of the Norman Conquest, of the Westward Migra- 
 tions, of the Revolutions of 1688 and 1789, of the Opening 
 of the Orient? No more signal example of this fruitless 
 quest can be found than that furnished by the late war. 
 Causes direct and indirect, distant and proximate, national 
 and international, racial, social, political and economic,^— 
 each has had its ardent advocates, all of whom have been 
 baffled by what may be called the Invisibility of the Causes 
 —reaching far back in current history, and deeply down to 
 the inmost centre of events, expressing, as they do, the 
 final and visible result of a long and involved and hidden 
 series of causal agency. As Professor Munro has stated it 
 — "In history it is seldom possible to attribute any great 
 change to a single cause." 
 
 2. They are Irresistible, baffling all human endeavors 
 either to stay their progress or divert their chosen courses. 
 These "Processes of History" are as inevitable and unyield- 
 ing as the daily recurrence of the tides, or the rotation of 
 the seasons, in a kind of predestined procession they rise 
 and develop in momentum and advance from stage to stage 
 in proud defiance of all obstructions. At times, moving 
 with significant slowness and, at times, breaking out in 
 startling suddenness and volume,' at times, expressing 
 themselves in a direct forward movement, and, at times, 
 reaching their final and fullest form by circuitous courses; 
 at times, apparently within the area of human control, but 
 
^ 50 Timely Topics 
 
 soon evincing independent- freedom, they refuse to be fore- 
 stalled or deflected as they move steadily on toward their 
 destined end. 
 
 A glance at the Great Events of History is sufficient to 
 evince the impotence of any attempt to prevent them. While 
 there is a limited sense in which man may be said to make 
 history and shape the course of human events, such events, 
 in so far as they are epochal and pivolal, are practically 
 outside the sphere of his prevention. 
 
 Here, also,^ in the World War appears a pertinent illustta- 
 tion, in that as it occurred the time would seem to have 
 come when its occurrence was unavoidable, the necessary 
 culmination of a series of events, dating far back of Aus- 
 trian and Serbian history, and quite assi^abte to this or 
 that King or people, whatever may have been their sub- 
 ordinate relation thereto. These Historic Movements are 
 irresistible because they are subterranean and tidal, moving 
 as the Gulf Stream moves, as the Alpine Glaciers move, 
 steadily forward to their climacteric. 
 
 3. They are Comprehensive Movements. They affect all 
 sections and functions of the World-Order. 
 
 In the Political Province, we see Dynasties and Empires 
 overturned, the best laid schemes of designing men brought 
 to sudden and often violent confusion, the uniform course 
 of history apparently checked or abruptly changed. As the 
 Scriptures state it, "the devices of the people are made of 
 none effect." What is called. Political Sagacity,- is exposed 
 as the veriest foolishness and a new civic order emerges, 
 altogether outside the policies of what are strangely called, 
 the Powers. 
 
Great Historic Movements 151 
 
 So in the Social and Industrial World, these Historic 
 Movements have fairly overturned the existing order and, 
 as Mr. Kidd states it, "all the people are brought into the 
 rivalry of life on conditions of equal social opportunities." 
 Modem Socialism, so-called, in all its multiform phases is 
 but one of the many evidences of the comprehensive ex- 
 pression of these Movements, by which the doctrine of the 
 Open Door has become a dominant one in all the relations 
 of Capital and Labor. The Social Evolution of the Masses 
 is in active formation. 
 
 So, in the sphere of Mind and Educational Systems, illus- 
 trated in such a survey as Draper's "Intellectual Develop- 
 ment of Europe" — a development moving in the face of all 
 opposing influences, so as to secure the offer of educational 
 privilege to all classes of the people, a world-wide Uni- 
 versity Extension. Courthope, in his suggestive treatise, 
 "The Liberal Movement in English Literature," applies this 
 all-embracing agency to the special spheres of letters — the 
 expression of mental and educational ability in authorship. 
 
 The stimulating effect of the World War along this 
 special line of effort is clearly manifest in that real Revival 
 of Learning that marks the second decade of; the Twentieth 
 Century. So, in the higher sphere of Religious Thought 
 and Life, these Historic Movements are equally conspicuous, 
 insisting on the primacy of the essential truths of Christian- 
 ity as distinct from everything secondary and irrelevant, on 
 the restatement of all Creeds and Confessions in terms of 
 everyday needs, and on the fuller recognition of a safe and 
 wholesome Liberalism. 
 
 4. These movements are, in the main. Beneficent. Indeed, 
 
1 52 Timely- To pics 
 
 it may be said, that what is called, The Progress of Civiliza- 
 tion, is based on this fact. They are what the historian 
 Lord has called, "The Beacon Lights of History." Even 
 in such apparently adverse Movements as the great Me- 
 diaeval Period between the Fall of the Roman Empire and 
 the opening of the Modern Era, influences are seen to be 
 closely operating by which human progress is advanced and 
 beneficent ends ultimately reached. 
 
 It is significant in this connection to note that modern 
 historians are already at work directing and interpreting the 
 benefits, direct and indirect, that are seen already to be issu- 
 ing from the tragic conflict of the last few years. They 
 are emphasizing what are known as the Compensations of 
 history, the almost miraculous manner in which portentous 
 events assume a beneficent meaning and make a distinctive 
 contribution in due time to the general good of the race, 
 at times retarded or reversed, but never permanently 
 thwarted. 
 
 5. Hence it may be further stated that these Movements 
 are under Divine Direction. This doctrine is the keynote of 
 Mr. Kidd's volume on "Social Evolution," in which he sums 
 up all his suggestions in the comprehensive conclusion—^ 
 "The Evolution which is slowly proceeding in human so- 
 ciety is religious in character" under the ultimate direction, 
 he would say, of a superintending Providence. In the 
 Shakespearian phrase : "There's a divinity that shapes the 
 ends" of human history, or as the poet Tennyson expresses 
 it : "the event to which the whole creation moves" is a "far- 
 oE divine event," ordered and controlled under divine 
 agency. The attempt made by Mr. Buckle to write the His- 
 
Great Historic Movements I53 
 
 tory of European Civilization without recognizing this prin- 
 ciple, doomed his project to failure. There is no such thing 
 as the Philosophy of History apart from the presence of this 
 principle which once again has been so clearly confirmed 
 by the late war as to make its denial impossible, a struggle in 
 which all contestants alike claimed divine sanction and sup- 
 port. 
 
 Such are some of the manifest Characteristics of these 
 Great Historic Movements as Invisible, Irresistible, Com- 
 prehensive, in the main, Beneficent and,- in their final issues, 
 under the government of God. It is the presence of these 
 features that makes the study of these World-Wide Move- 
 ments as complex and difficult as it is stimulating and im- 
 pressive. Nothing could be more imposing than the silent, 
 secret and solemn advance of these "Processes of History." 
 Nothing could more stir the historic imagination than such 
 movements, as for example, the Great Migrations of his- 
 tory, while it is questionable whether in the course of human 
 events there has ever been a more signal illustration of this 
 imposing spectacle than that afforded by the late titanic 
 struggle, in which the civilized nations of the world at large 
 were seen in actual movement toward what a modern his- 
 torian has well called "The Mandate of Destiny." It is 
 this historic movement toward the realization of "Manifest 
 Destiny" that is now engrossing the attention of the think- 
 ing world and who can tell what are to be the issues thereof. 
 
 One or two suggestions are in place : 
 
 First of all, there is here involved a distinctive Human 
 Factor, responsible in its place and way for the results that 
 are finally reached. It is the part of Human Agency to 
 
^54 , Timely Topics 
 
 "discover the signs of the times," to interpret aright and 
 utilize those epochal historic events that are passing in sol- 
 emn succession before it, which unless correctly interpreted 
 and utilized may be fraught with- untold disaster to the 
 world at large. Here, it is that Constructive Statesmanship 
 is needed, as, also, intelligent and Q^scientious Judgment 
 on the part of the body ^Hjlitic, one of the many crucial 
 tests of democratic government lying just here. The fact 
 that ultimate world issues are in the hands of a controlling 
 Providence in no sense absolves the nations from thdr 
 specific obhgations as cooperating agents in the evolution 
 of history. Here, as everywhere else, divine and human 
 factors must be coordinated if so be the highest ends are to 
 be secured. Nations as individuals are to work out their 
 own salvation just because a superhuman aid is guaranteed 
 as a condition of success. 
 
 2. The attitude of the modern world in the light of these 
 movements should be a Hopeful one. "Great and trans- 
 forming as the coming changes in all probability will be,"- 
 writes Mr. Kidd, "no overturning of society is to be ex- 
 pected. We are moving and shall continue to move by or- 
 derly stages to the goal toward which the face of society'has 
 in reality been set from the beginning of our civilization." 
 It is the privilege and duty of the world's citizenship to take 
 part in this historic advance toward ever better issues, even 
 though these "orderly stages" may at times be arrested and 
 diverted and even reversed by the influence of unexpected 
 counter agencies. If the movement is not always directly 
 upward, it may be spiral in its progress, but still will mark 
 an advance. In fine, the world's equilibrium is at this mo- 
 
The Recent Revival of Learning 155 
 
 ment more unstable than at any previous period, and stabil- 
 izing it is the supreme obligation and opportunity of the 
 hour. 
 
 All Movements, just because they are Movements, are 
 attended with possible perils, but it is also true that as 
 Movements they escape the evils of stagnation and inert- 
 ness, have in them the principle of life and are, as such, in 
 the direct line of progress, and will, if the nations are faith- 
 ful to their trust, bring to this weary and waiting world 
 what Tennyson hopefully calls "The closing cycle rich in 
 good." 
 
 THE RECENT REVIVAL OF LEARNING 
 
 Students of educational history are aware of the fact that 
 since the distinctively classical period of the older peoples of 
 Europe there have been periodical awakenings of educa- 
 tional interest and activity, notably in the Eighth, Eleventh 
 and Sixteenth Centuries. The first, in the reign of Charle- 
 magne, was the beginning of a new order, under the special 
 influence of Alcuin. The second is of special significance as 
 marking the rise of Universities, with all which that im- 
 plies in the development of European civilization. The third 
 derives its chief importance from the fact that, occurring 
 in the Sixteenth Century in the reign of Henry the Eighth, 
 it opened the Modern Educational Era, as it indeed opened 
 the modern era in its widest functions, known as the English 
 Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. It was far more 
 than English in its promise, a real European awakening all 
 along the line of educational interests — the Golden Age of 
 Humanism. 
 
156 Timely Topics 
 
 At the opening of the Twentieth Century there begins the 
 fourth and latest Revival of Learning, which at the close of 
 the second decade of the century is in the full tide of its ex- 
 pression. Embracing all the best elements of preceding 
 awakenings and including additional elements of its own, 
 it already gives promise of surpassing all antecedent move- 
 ments in the area of its operation, in the value and utility of 
 the interests at stake, and especially within the province of 
 modern education. 
 
 I. If we inquire as to its Scope, it is nothing less than 
 world-wide, afifecting all modern states and peoples, a ver- 
 itable International Renaissance. All grades of institutions 
 — ^primary, secondary, collegiate and university, larger and 
 smaller institutions, privately endowed and state 'supported 
 institutions, denominational and undenominational, for men 
 and for women, liberal and technical, are included in this 
 comprehensive movement, a movement particularly pro- 
 nounced in America. It is a significant fact that this new 
 departure is quite independent of the late war as a deter- 
 mining factor in its origin, its inception dating well back to 
 the first years of the century, gathering momentum as 
 the century advanced, only accentuated in its progress and 
 character by the late international struggle. Statistics re- 
 cently compiled by the Institute of Public Service in 
 America, including a period of six years and more than 
 two hundred colleges and universities, reveal the unprece- 
 dented growth of this movement and its ante-war record 
 as fully equal to later growth. Prophecies as to what a 
 quarter o^f a century hence may reveal as to this expansion 
 are nothing less than startling, and issue the summons to 
 
The Recent Revival of Leairnmg 157 
 
 all educational agencies to prepare the way for this phenom- 
 enal revival. It is a sign of the times as serious as it is 
 promising, as rich in its responsibilities as in its recom- 
 penses, an opportunity rarely offered to any generation,- and 
 one which if fully met and utilized will make a hitherto 
 unknown contribution to what Bacon called "The Advance- 
 ment of Learning." 
 
 II. It is now in place to inquire as to what are the De- 
 mands of this Revival, which, indeed, will require "educa- 
 tional statesmanship" to meet. 
 
 I. First of all, a New Alignment of Educational Forces 
 and Methods, — a real educational reconstruction, as impera- 
 tively heeded as the reconstruction of the state, so as to har- 
 monize with new conditions. More specifically, what is 
 needed is a preparation of the people for the world of to- 
 day. If, as we are told, "education seeks to adjust the 
 individual to life," it is the life of today — "keeping ahead 
 of the forward movement of civilization" — ^the establish- 
 ment of a School of Life for the twentieth century as dis- 
 tinct from the eighth and sixteenth. Hence a substantive 
 modification of educational rhethods and aims must be made, 
 as fully in keeping with the time as the methods of Alcuin 
 and Erasmus were in keeping with the ages of Charlemagne 
 and Elizabeth. The demand is for educational review 
 and revision in the light of contemporary history, by which 
 the varied steps of educational progress may be acknowl- 
 edged and provision made for their expression. This will 
 involve not only a re-examination and readjustment of edu- 
 cational schedules, but a far closer relationship than now 
 exists among all grades of schools — secondary, collegiate 
 
158 Timely Topics 
 
 and graduate, so that the public schools of the country, the 
 People's University, shall have a vital connection through 
 a regular gradation, with the university proper, a connection 
 such as that already existing in countries such as Germany, 
 in which the educational institutions are under, the juris- 
 diction of the state and responsible thereto for their ef- 
 ficiency. 
 
 2.\ The Concomitant Development of Culture and Charac- 
 ter, such as that which obtained in the early history of the 
 country, when the Puritans and Pilgrims erected the school 
 and the meeting house in close proximity, as necessary to 
 each other, as interactive agencies in the building of the 
 state. A Christian education in the well understood sense 
 of that term is one of the imperative demands of this 
 Revival. It is a significant fact that what is known in Eng- 
 lish History as the Revival of Learning in the sixteenth, 
 century and the opening of the modem world was a dis- 
 tinctively religious movement as well as educational, under, 
 the unified title of the English Reformation, in which the 
 great leaders of the time, such as Erasmus and Cheke dif- 
 fused the study of the Greek language as Hooker and 
 Knox were infusing new vigor into all the functions of 
 the church. 
 
 Apart from this co-operation of the secular and religious, 
 this great Revival of Learning as Archbishop Trench asserts, 
 might have been a questionable blessing. Education, if truly 
 interpreted, must be s)mimetrical— a development and disci- 
 pline of the whole mind,— mind and heart and will and con- 
 science, so as fully to meet the complex responsibilities to 
 which educated men will be called. Education is far more 
 
The Recent Revival of Learning 1 59 
 
 than mere knowledge. It is a formation of character and 
 conduct, a preparation for life in all its variety of duty, in- 
 dividual and social. The "New Education" so-called, must 
 justify itself before a new world as a Christian education, 
 unsectarian and vital,. based on the great fundamental facts 
 and truths of revealed religion and as such contributive to 
 the best interests of the race. 
 
 III. The beneficent Results of such a Revival of Learn- 
 ing are evident. 
 
 1. First of all. Education as a Calling is at once lifted 
 to its normal level of honour and appreciation, taking its 
 place among the great professional activities of the world, 
 bringing' into play the best faculties of the mind and 
 acknowledged on all sides as a necessary factor in compas- 
 sing the high ends of modern life. Teaching thus inter- 
 preted is more than a mere pedagogic employment for im- 
 perfectly prepared incumbents and assumed only as a tem- 
 porary expedient, subordinate to some higher function. The 
 recent establishment at Yale University of a Graduate De- 
 partment of Education is in the right direction, whereby 
 its dignity as a vocation is realized and adequate provision 
 made for a supply of qualified educators. 
 
 In the higher grades of instruction, it is, in all particulars, 
 one of the liberal professions and demanding correspond- 
 ing ability. No valid Revival of Learning can be instituted 
 apart from such a conception of its requirements. 
 
 2. Such an educational awakening will diffuse a new In- 
 tellectual Spirit through all the functions of modern life, and 
 will prove the best antidote against those forms of gross 
 materialism which have become so conspicuous in contempo- 
 
i6o Timely Topics 
 
 rary history. Just here it is interesting to note what the 
 effect of the World War has been in opening the eyes of 
 multitudes of men to the necessity of educational equipment, 
 if so be they are at all adequately to meet the new demands 
 of a new and serious age. The startling deficiency of the 
 American soldiery along these lines as evinced in the various 
 cantonments and schools of the army has called the atten- 
 tion of the government and the nation at large to the need 
 of an immediate reformation and has stimulated the rank 
 and file of the army to compass this needed result. So 
 emphatic is this awakening that the War Department is now 
 inaugurating a movementby which the colleges of the country 
 may make full or partial provision for the education of 
 soldiers chosen on the ground of their special ability and 
 aptitude. While this, at first, must be limited in its scope, 
 the educational fervor will deepen and widen until it per- 
 meates the military body as a whole and leads to most de- ' 
 sirable results in the proper mental training of the soldiery. 
 Outside the army, however, and over the land at large, this 
 new desire will express itself In varied forms of educational 
 effort and the body politic and social will feel at once the 
 influence of the stimulus and rise to ever higher levels. 
 
 This general intellectual quickening is one of the dominant 
 demands of the day, by which America will no longer be 
 open to the charge of national well-being along merely ma- 
 terial lines and will assume a mental type of leadership thor- 
 oughly in accordance with its origin and destiny as a people. 
 Among American ideals none is more insistent and prom- 
 ising than those of the subordination of a purely material 
 civilization to a higher and nobler type, in which the intel- 
 
The Recent Revival of Learning i6i 
 
 lectual demands of the age shall be more and more fully 
 met. 
 
 3. A further result of this Revival of Learning will ap- 
 pear in the fact that it will form the best Basis of American 
 Democracy. As has been said, "An Illiterate Democracy" 
 is a contradiction in terms. General Intelligence is a demo- 
 cratic postulate, without which free governments cannot long 
 subsist. The government "of the people and by the people 
 and for the people" must be broadly based on an enlightened 
 public, on the education of the masses at large, so that their 
 expressed will shall be for the best interests of the nation. 
 
 The mediaeval adage that "Ignorance is the mother of 
 devotion" has long since been displaced by the adage that 
 "Knowledge is power" — power in the best sense and exer- 
 cise of it — ^power to think and act intelligently. Here is one 
 of the dominant and serious problems of the American world 
 and wherever government is wholly representative, an un- 
 educated electorate being a constant danger to the state. 
 One of the most encouraging signs of the times, is the 
 awakening of all classes of the people to this necessity, if 
 so be Democracy is to justify itself as the ideal form of 
 government. 
 
 It is thus clear that educators and most especially in col- 
 legiate circles, have an inspiring mission to fulfill, whereby 
 the American Commonwealth may be conspicuous in modern 
 history for the excellence and efficiency of its educational 
 system, for the character and general culture of its citizen- 
 ship and thus be an evermore potential factor in the world's 
 advancement. It is a heartening thought that in our own 
 land and the world over, the "Schoolmaster is abroad" as 
 never before. 
 
1 62 - Timely Topics - 
 
 THE EMPHASIS OF PRINCIPLES IN 
 LIBERAL EDUCATION 
 
 The topic of interest now bef ore'us has direct reference to 
 the vocation of teaching, its primary method and purpose 
 in Higher Education, in order to secure the best results. 
 -This is one of those open questions with which the educator 
 of today is confronted and which presses more and more 
 urgently for solution. -^ 
 
 I. To our mind the answer is quite beyond tenable doubt, 
 the primary method being "The Discovery and Expositioti 
 of Principles" as distinct from the emphzlsis of any form 
 of detailed or pedagogical data. Whatever may be the 
 rightful place of facts and detailed knowledge in the prov- 
 ince of elementary and secondary instruction this is but sub- 
 ordinate and relative within the domain of Liberal Educa- 
 tion, a type of teaching far in advance of anything below it 
 and in thorough accord with the advanced stages if the 
 student's progress. Liberal Education, as illustrated in our 
 colleges and universities, is liberal not merely in the sense 
 of being general and comprehensive in the diversity of sub- 
 jects included, but liberal in its method, purpose and spirit, 
 a real education and enfranchisement of the intellect ^o as 
 to make it equal to the high behests of scholarly life as they 
 will unavoidably arise as the years pass on. This higher 
 method tnay be amply illustrated in every separate depart- 
 ment of collegiate study. 
 
 In Philosophy, the great fundamental principles of mental 
 life and action are stressed, as distinct from metaphysical 
 facts and data. Philosophy, as such, is viewed and elucir 
 
Emphasis of Principles in Liberal Education 163 
 
 dated in its primal postulates quite distinct from the mere 
 History of Philosophy, however important in its place that 
 may be. What Herbert Spencer called "First Principles" 
 are here mainly in evidence as distinct from any possible. or 
 desirable application of such principles to specific and con- 
 crete phenomena. What Balfour terms, "The Foundations 
 of Knowledge," are studied as superior to any type of supef- 
 , structure imposed thereon. 
 
 So, in History, the governing question at this point of 
 view is — ^What are the great vital and vitalizing principles 
 that lie at the basis of all those external events and incidents 
 that we call History and which serve to justify and explain 
 them, and without which they are but an incoherent assem- 
 blage of daily occurrences. We speak, and speak rightly, 
 of the "Philosophy of History" — a profound and searching 
 inquiry into the great formative causes of national events 
 and progress, an order of inquiry so clearly evinced in such 
 historians as Schlegel, Guizot, Hallam and Buckle. 
 
 So, in Social and Political studies, as evinced in Spencer's 
 "Principles of Sociology" or Kidd's "Social Evolution" and 
 in Aristotle's "Politik," a study of the first principles of 
 social and political organization, an interpretation of civic 
 phenomena far below any visible expression of them. 
 
 So, in the domain of Ethics, of Religious Thought and 
 Life, from the Ethics of Aristotle to Spencer's "Principles 
 of Ethics" and Balfour's "Foundations of Belief," where- 
 in an investigation of first causes is instituted, the determin- 
 ing factors of all written creeds and external conduct — the 
 Philosophy of Religion as presented by Caird. It is a sig- 
 nificant fact that in the Christian Scriptures this is the 
 
164 Timely Topics 
 
 dominant method— the fundamental principles of human 
 conduct being laid down with no attempt whatever to apply 
 them concretely to the daily developing life of the individual. 
 
 So, in the sphere of Literature, a province of education 
 in which right methods are especially needed — ^the conten- 
 tion -being that what DeQuincy calls. The Literature of 
 Power, should supersede and control the Literature of 
 Knowledge. Such treatises as Courthope's "Liberal Move- 
 ment in English Literature," Hugo's Literature and 
 Philosophy," Knight's "Studies in Philosophy and Litera- 
 ture," Posnett's "Comparative Literature," Winchester's 
 "Principles of Literary Criticism," amply illustrate this 
 higher and better method by which the student is encour- 
 aged to look beneath all visible literary phenomena to the 
 causes and conditions that underlie and explain them, to 
 make what Mtiller calls the Science of Thought dominate 
 what Schopenhauer calls the Art of Literature, the verbal 
 expression of thought. 
 
 In fine, there is scarcely any department of educational 
 function in which this primacy of principle should not be 
 the controlling factor. Though there is a sense in which 
 in the teaching of Experimental Science and the Liberal 
 Professions of Law and Medicine, concrete facts and data 
 would seem to be mainly in evidence, even here the great 
 principles of the subjects discussed may find appropriate 
 emphasis. The recent discussion in this country as to the 
 comparative merits in juristic teaching of emphasizing 
 specific legal cases as concrete illustrations of law, or that 
 of insisting upon the priority of the great juristic principles 
 underlying them, reveals the importance of this open ques- 
 
Emphasis of Principles in Liberal Education 165 
 
 tion and has served to confirm the superiority of the lattfer 
 method. In Science, such representative educators as Agas- 
 siz, and Guyot, and in Law, such authorities as Rufus 
 Choate and John Marshall, stressed the value of funda- 
 miental principles back of all external data, while even in 
 Schools of Divinity, behind and below all verbal embodi- 
 ments of doctrine,- the supreme validity of Fundamental 
 Truth is taught. It is scarcely too much to say that edu- 
 cators and authors, the world over, in all departments of in- 
 struction and expression, can be classified at this point, as 
 Bacon and Thomas Arnold, Coleridge and Emerson, far sur- 
 pass such authors as Macaulay, Matthew Arnold, Pater and 
 Addison. Such great educators in our own country as 
 Mark Hopkins, Arnold Guyot, Theodore Dwight, Wayland, 
 and Whitney, were great in that generic and germinal prin- 
 ciples were stressed in philosophy, science, jurisprudence, 
 and language as superior to any collection of facts and data, 
 teachers whose primary purpose it was to give to the stu- 
 dent, first of all, the great generalizations that were de- 
 ducible from all the facts in evidence. 
 
 Modern Higher Education is in no greater need of refor- 
 mation than in this special sphere of Principles, the prevail- 
 ing method of instruction reversing the natural order and 
 viewing the examination of details as first in evidence and 
 value. The method is historical, biographical, textual and 
 critical, rather than philosophic, and the student is left at the 
 end with a mass of ill-assorted facts and conclusions, un- 
 related to any cardinal printiples by which they might be 
 unified, coordinated and made applicable to all contingent 
 needs. No sphere of instruction has suffered more at this 
 
i66 Timely Topics / ■■ ^ 
 
 point than Literature, so largely studied and taught by a 
 kind of piecemeal, fragmentary process, informing the 
 mind of the student at the expense of any logical process- 
 The Plays of Shakespeare and the verse of Milton are 
 minutely examined in line and letter and artistic construc- 
 tion, textually and philologically, quite aside from an exam- 
 ination of those fundamental laws, that lie at the basis of 
 the drama and epic Literary Criticism is the dominant 
 subject and on the side of verbal technique and of literature 
 as an art. _ In the sphere of English Composition this error 
 of method is conspicuous, a requisition qf themes and essays, 
 quite irrespective of those generic principles of written ex- 
 pression which Herbert Spencer emphasizes in his "Philoso- 
 phy of Style." The great laws of expression laid down by 
 Aristotle, Bain and sWhately, are subordinated to an unin- 
 telligent practice in the art of composition, forgetful of what 
 DeQuincy in his "Rhetoric and Style" shows us as to how 
 to write effectively. 
 
 In the sphere of Philosophy, hair-splitting distinctions 
 between this and that author, or system, a purely speculative 
 treatment of philosophic theories made in Germany is given 
 the student in the place of those primary metaphysical laws 
 that lie behind all forms of mental process. The main 
 danger in the modern system, known as Pragmatism, lies in 
 the fact that as pragmatic the purely practical side of psycho- 
 logic study will be emphasized at the expense of the intel- 
 lectual and fundamental. It is sometimes asked whether 
 Modern Higher Education has made any perceptible ad- 
 vance over the methods and results of a half -century ago. 
 Whatever the answer to this question may be, and conced- 
 
Emphasis of Principles in Liberal Education 167 
 
 ing that, taking education in its widest sense and scope, a 
 decided progress has been made, this much is clear, that 
 the subordination of principles to facts and theories in con- 
 temporary teaching has in so far marked a real decadence 
 and is training a generation of students possessed of a less 
 distinctive philosophic order of mind than the graduates 
 of fifty years ago. They know far more, but do far less 
 profound and profitable thinking. 
 
 Some of the benefits of this Higher Method may be cited : 
 
 1. Mental Discipline is first in order — a real intellectual 
 gymnastic as distinct from a mere acquisition of educational 
 data. Mental training is, after all, the ultimate end of edu- 
 cation quite irrespective of this or that acquisition or attain- 
 ment. What Muller calls the Science of Thought, is the 
 dominant factor, so that, as Huxley phrases it, "the intel- 
 lect is a clear logic engine with all the parts of equal strength 
 and in working order." The making of thinkers is the ideal 
 of education. 
 
 2. A further benefit is that of Initiative and Independence 
 -of Judgment, by which the student is encouraged and en- 
 abled, in any case that may arise, to apply basic principles in 
 his own way. There is nothing here of a kind of educa- 
 tion made to order and warranted to produce specific results 
 when applied, but an order of training that simply builds the 
 basis for the superstructure, furnishes the necessary guid- 
 ance to the student in his personal researches, develops and 
 preserves individual freedom and thus ensures the best pos- 
 sible mental results. 
 
 3. It is at once apparent that such a method awakens and 
 sustains Interest, whereby all educational processes are at 
 
1 68 Timely Topics 
 
 once freed from all that is indifferent, mechanical and 
 unprofitable and the student is incited to his best mental 
 endeavor. Nothing less than Inspiration is the direct result, 
 the emancipation and broadening of every intellectual fac- 
 ulty and function. It is only such a type of training, basic 
 and not superficial, that is enduring and compensating. 
 Education is essentially griindlich, as the Germans term it. 
 We are living in an era of unwonted educational activity. 
 The intellectual world at large is afl^ame with interest as to 
 what the best methods and aims of mental training are and 
 real thinkers are in demand to discuss and decide the pend- 
 ing problems that have recently emerged out of the turmoil 
 of the time. Upon the centres of Liberal Learning, as never 
 before, the eyes of- a waiting world are fixed and the solemn 
 obligation rests upon them to furnish year by year a body 
 of men who are really educated, mentally "trained in the 
 fundamental processes of thought and able to bring to bear 
 on any issue presented to them an intellectual type of treat- 
 ment. Never were world conditions so unsettled, and what 
 is now in demand above all else is the stabilizing of all 
 htiman functions and forces — the actual settlemait of 
 the mental and moral and social order of the world. To 
 further such an end as this is the high privilege' and duty 
 of every real educator. 
 
 THE MODERN AGE OF UNREST 
 
 Every age may be said tS have its individuality, its special 
 historic type, which it is the business of the historian to ob- 
 serve and describe.' This twentieth century in which we are 
 living is notably an Age of Unrest, of action and reaction, of , 
 
The Modern Age of Umrest 169 
 
 ebb and flow, of cross-currents and acute conflicting inter- 
 ests, so as to bafile, at times, all attempts to study and com- 
 prehend them. The events of one day are no criterion as 
 to what may issue on the morrow and the observer must 
 content himself with what he can catch by hasty glances at 
 this ceaseless shifting of actor and scene. The occurrences 
 are nothing less than dramatic. 
 
 If we inquire into the Causes of such an era of agitation, 
 a partial explanation may be found. 
 
 1. In the Constitution of Human Nature, in obedience to 
 which a certain degree of unrest is not only possible but 
 unavoidable and desirable in the line of a legitimate aspira- 
 tion toward better and better conditions, a dissatisfaction 
 with any result hitherto secured, with any conditions now 
 existing. Apart from such discontent there could be no 
 real advance along the lines of civic and social order. It 
 is an infallible indication of vigor and vitality. But the 
 present era of unrest must be accounted for on other 
 grounds, by reason of its extreme type and expression, run- 
 ning quite athwart all precedent, ignoring or violating all 
 the ordinary processes of progress and conspicuous by its 
 very irregularity and excess. It is thus that we are forced 
 to observe a different origin so as to account for universal 
 conditions, 
 
 2. Thus we find in the recent World War, in its distinctive 
 and disintegrating effects, — ^breaking down all barriers, 
 testing all accepted standards, shaking all foundations, 
 questioning all facts and formulas, and insisting that the 
 civilized world must build all over again the established 
 order and usher in a new and presumably a better age. If 
 
^70 Timely Topics 
 
 every war is in reality a Revolution, this international con- 
 flict has been emphaticaHy so, volcanic in its violence, so as 
 to institute a condition of constant eruption. In every 
 sphere and phase of national life, the time has been "out 
 of joint." So extraordinary are the issues, that what we 
 call Crises have become events of common occurrence and 
 men and nations live in daily expectation of the incredible. 
 The only result that is sure to happen is the unexpected. 
 The outcome of all this irregularity, it is clear to see, is 
 Unrest, of the most pronounced type, a state of mental and 
 emotive tension, altogether abnormal and excessive, so that 
 life is passed, for the time being, in a kind of bewilderment 
 and nothing serves to admit of solution and settled form. 
 
 The most lamentable legacy of the late war is this Era 
 of Unrest. It is a significant comment on this condition 
 that as the late Mr. Howells conducted for years a literary 
 department in Harper's under the title "The Easy Chair," 
 it is now one of the functions of The Forum to give us a 
 monthly record under the title "The Uneasy Chair." It is 
 this uneasiness that has become the prevailing temper of the 
 time, — a veritable World Dis-Ease, — a. genuine neurasthen- 
 ic disorder — a shattering of the world's nerves, and attended, 
 unless checked, with dire distress. 
 
 Some of the Characteristics of this. Unrest may be cited : 
 I. Change, for the mere sake of change, be the conse- 
 quences what they may. Anything, it is plausibly argued, 
 would be an improvement over that which is. The call 
 is for Re-adjustment, a beginning all over again. The 
 Old Order must give way, even though succeeded by an in- 
 ferior one. It is, in fine, the rampant spirit of Radicalism 
 
The Modem Age of Unrest 171 
 
 at all costs, the levelling of all distinction, the erasure of 
 all landmarks, a re-drawing of the world's map, — a turn- 
 ing the world upside down, with no specific plan whatso- 
 ever to set it right. In church and state, in politics and 
 social order, in the industries, in education, and the church 
 itself, standards count for nothing, and the Roman motto 
 is in force — "The times are changing and we must change 
 with them." 
 
 2. A further Characteristic is seen in The Desire for Im- 
 mediate Results, by the operation of which all intermediate 
 stages are ignored. No allowance is made for the thor- 
 oughly normal and hitherto accepted process of transition, 
 but a violent leap must be made over all intervening spaces, 
 between the past and the future, if so be tangible and prac- 
 tical results may be readily reached. In direct contravention 
 of the order of Providence in the government of the world, 
 or the order of nature and history in its best developments, 
 it stoutly denies the validity of the gradational and adopts 
 the violent regime of revolution and reaction. Under the 
 laudable principle of Reform it insists upon its own method 
 of reformation, by which a slow and safe advance must 
 yield to rapid movement and moderate measures to a kind 
 of lawless liberalism. This is a form of procedure that 
 at this moment is begetting chaotic conditions, the final issue 
 of which may be attended by untold evils. 
 
 3. An additional feature of this Unrest is seen in The 
 Supremacy of Selfish Interests over all benevolent and gen- 
 erous impulses. Whenever personal profit and the general 
 good conflict, there is no hesitation in subordinating the 
 latter to the former. It is theautocra(gr of avarice over all 
 
172 Timely Topics 
 
 competing and counter claims. It is this colossal evil as 
 expressed in national and international relations that is the 
 sufficient explanation of most of the wars which in the 
 course of history have devastated the world. Back of the 
 so-called defence of national honor and the maintenance 
 of national integrity, there has almost invariably been the 
 economic factor, so prevalently and perniciousljr potent as 
 to make the nation's purely financial and industrial inter- 
 ests the contrblling principle. It is this tyranny of trade 
 that has so often forced the final issue of war, the intolerant 
 demand that an open door must be made for any particular 
 people's commerce, let the consequences be what they may 
 to other peoples. Despite high-sounding phrases as to na- 
 tional and international reciprocity, special corporate inter- 
 ests finally prevail and the philanthropic doctrine of Al- 
 truism is permanently ignored. Much of the Chronic Rest- 
 lessness of modern life, personal and general, is the Rest- 
 lessness of Greed, a state of mind in ceaseless agitation and 
 ferment lest it may be thwarted in its inordinate ambition 
 to advance at any cost its' selfish and sordid interests. 
 
 The Consequences of such Unrest are not far to find. 
 
 I. It is directly conducive to the Pessimistic Temper. 
 Nothing as it now exists is of value. Any possible good 
 lies in the future, and even there the outlook is dim and 
 forbidding. Instead of Browning's assertion that the world 
 "means intensely and means good," evil is the dominant 
 factor, and the devil is on the throne. No individual and 
 general optimism can possibly obtain, as long as this feverish 
 Unrest remains the bitter foe of anything like faith and 
 courage and hope and peace. 
 
The Modern Age of Unrest 173 
 
 2. Mental and Moral Decadence is a further consequence 
 of Unrest, a gradual disintegration of wholesome tissue, 
 until the subject of it becomes incapable of any high order 
 of effort. It is this deteriorating factor in men and nations 
 that, unless checked in its harmful influence, will sound what 
 Little calls "The Doom of Modern Civilization" and some 
 Gibbon will arise to write its Decline and Fall. The multi- 
 plication of what may be called. Mental Infirmaries, is con- 
 clusive and ominous evidence of this growing discontent 
 which tends to disorganize both body and mind. 
 
 3. Such Unrest is the- natural and inevitable parent of 
 Uncertainty, so that there can be no such desirable result 
 as Settled Conditions. Nothing can be taken for granted 
 as finally adjusted and consequent plans to be adopted based 
 on fixed and permanent results. Instead of the positive, 
 there is the negative; instead of confidence, only doubt; in- 
 stead of stability, instability; and it cannot be known where 
 to find, at any given time, persons or peoples. The modern 
 world, at large, is at the moment in this perilpus mood of 
 vacillation, midway between extremes, the easy prey of any 
 destructive agency. 
 
 The favorite song of the soldiers in the late war, "Where 
 do we go from here" is a fitting medley for the world at 
 large. Where we are now and whither bound, who of us 
 can tell, so variant are the voices that we hear, so diverse 
 the signals that we see. The nations are indeed at the Cross- 
 Roads, and not until conditions are stabilized, will it be 
 known, whither we are bound and the words of Clough 
 are confirmed: 
 
174 Timely Topics - 
 
 "Where lies the land to 'which the ship would go? 
 Far, far ahead is all her seamen know. 
 Where lies the land she travels from? Away 
 Far, far behind is all that 'they can say." 
 
 What are the Correctives of this disastrous temper of the 
 world today? 
 
 1. First of all, a Valid Conservatism, a full appreciation 
 and utilization of existing factors of progress, a stout and, 
 if need be, stubborn resistance against changing the present 
 order, until a new and better order is seen to be possible. 
 There is such a thing as The Essential Values— a real and 
 abiding ground-work far below all that is transient. There 
 are some truths that are still true, some realities that are still 
 real, and on which therefore men and nations may safely 
 count and rely. 
 
 2. An additional corrective may be found in Recognition 
 of The Law of Gradational Progress as opposed to sudden 
 and violent transition. This is the divinely appointed and 
 natural law. The orderly movements of the planets and the 
 seasons, the gradual growth of all organisms from their 
 feeblest beginnings to full maturity, the principle of sequence 
 in the moral government of the world, all confirm the 
 essential importance of development by regular stages. As 
 has been said "Continuity is as essential to law, society and 
 institutions as progress itself." Indeed, it may be said that 
 all permanent progress is based upon it. The unreasonable 
 demand for rapid results so characteristic of" the age is thus 
 rebuked and men and nations are enjoined to exercise the 
 saving grace of patience if so be the desirable ends are to 
 be secured. 
 
 3. Still another Corrective of Unrest is seen in the exer- 
 
The Modern Age of Unrest 175 
 
 cise of the Altruistic Spii-it, as distinct from that of Self- 
 Seeking, a real Communism fraught with untold blessing 
 to the world. Instead, of a heartless and lawless monopoly 
 under the baneful influence of which all the finer feelings 
 of a people are stifled, the best elements of human nature 
 assert themselves in the establishment of what may be called 
 a world-wide Fraternity or Comradeship, — a veritable 
 League of Nations, quite independent of merely diplomatic 
 or official character, but broadly based on the principle of 
 individual aims and comity, whereby the common interest is 
 exalted above special interest, the weaker peoples protected 
 and enriched by the stronger peoples, cooperation exalted 
 above mere competition and a new era qf a genuine Social- 
 ism ushered in. 
 
 4. To all which Correctives might be added the Revival 
 and Invigoration of the Moral Forces of the World, of faith 
 and hope and love and conscience, of the cardinal virtues 
 af the soul, of all that goes to constitute personal and na- 
 tional character, a restoration of the primitive and basal 
 elements of a revealed religion. 
 
 Nothing will do more to relieve the restlessness of the 
 time, than a restatement and reinforcement of those moral 
 qualities whose possession is the surest guarantee of peace. 
 
 Such, as we conceive them, are the Causes, Character- 
 istics, Consequences and Correctives of that spirit of Unrest 
 which is a dominant feature of the modem world, and in 
 no nation more dominant than in our own, — a conspicuous 
 American type, not confined to any one class, rich or poor, 
 high or low, but representative of all orders of the people 
 and expressing itself in multiform phases, the Malady of 
 
176 Timely Topics 
 
 Unrest, a real social epidemic, that must be radically cor- 
 rected if the nation is to have a healthy corporate life and 
 exercise a healthful influence over a restless world. 
 
 The greatest need of the world today is Rest. — Rest from 
 the ravages of war and rest from the ravages of worry, na- 
 tional and individual — Quietude under the benign effects 
 of which the orderly and beneficent procession of life will 
 go on with ever increasing efficiency and the biblical 
 prophecy be fulfilled when "Knowledge and wisdom will be 
 the stability of the time." It is this stabilizing of an un- 
 stable world on which the future of civilization depends 
 and to this desired end it is the duty of all peoples to con- 
 tribute. 
 
 As Mi-. Sumner in his memorable address "On The True 
 Grandeur of Nations" eloquently stated it— "Let the bugles 
 sound the Truce of God." It is this Truce of God for 
 which this restless world is waiting, for that peace which, 
 as Professor Sloane has stated it, "is the Test of Our 
 Democracy." 
 
V 
 
 THE ACADEMIC POINT OF VIEW 
 
 The words, Academy and Academic, reveal in their verbal 
 history a wide variety of usage and meaning. Back in the 
 days of Greek philosophy they were significant of Plato and 
 his School, discussing the great problems of metaphysics. 
 In France, at the time of Cardinal P.ichelieu, the Academy 
 was the centre of. the titled scholars of the country — the 
 Academicians as they were called, whose main business, at 
 first, was the preservation of the purity of the French lan- 
 guage. 
 
 In later educational usage, the Academy is an institution 
 midway between the primary school and the college, prac- 
 tically synonymous with the secondary school of our day. 
 In modern collegiate usage, Academic Courses of study are 
 those that are contrasted with the scientific and technical, 
 the classical studies by way of distinction, leading to the 
 A.B. degree. 
 
 In the phrase, the Academic Mind, a new significance is 
 noted, a type of mind unique in its nature, method of work- 
 ing and governing end, and which, as siich, calls for a care- 
 ful examination as to its characteristics and causes. In com- 
 mon usage, it indicates a point of view peculiar to scholars 
 and so peculiar as to be jn large part, it is said, out of line 
 with the prevailing and popular currents of thought. 
 
 This popular meaning assigned to the word academic may 
 
 177 
 
178 Timely Topics 
 
 be amply illustrated. Thus, a modern author (Freedman) 
 writes : "The fear of those promoting the improvement of 
 public administration has been that the theorizing and book- 
 ishness of the academic school would be carried over into 
 this field. We should then produce mere doctrinaires, 
 theorists, dreamers. 
 
 "We are asked," he adds "to interpret the life around us 
 out of books which are antiquated before their ink is dry." 
 
 "In December, 1918," we are told, "Mr.; Wilson said in 
 London that while at first he had been accused of being aca- 
 demic in his interest in the League now we find the prac- 
 tical minds of the world determined to have it." Mr. 
 Lowell, in his paper on "Democracy," writes, "The great 
 question of suffrage is no longer the academic but -rather 
 the practical one." The celebrated consensus of German 
 scholars and professors relative to the World War affords 
 a signal illustration of this reactionary and pedantic state of 
 mind — this strictly academic point of view. 
 
 Some of the alleged Characteristics of this Academic 
 Point of View may be cited : 
 
 1. It is called Traditional, as distinct from being Pro- 
 gressive and Modern, the mediaeval order of mind, quite 
 out of touch and S3mipathy with the ever changing and 
 advancing movements of history. Its point of view remains 
 fixed, unaffected by passing events and processes. It insists 
 on the primacy of the older eras as older and approaches" 
 and discusses pending problems from the past as the essential 
 background and basis of argument. 
 
 2. It is called VHsionary, as distinct from being Practical 
 and Efficient, a purely speculative or theoretical order of 
 
The Academic Point af View 179 
 
 mind, dwelling and working in the area of the imaginative 
 and fanciful, quite unconcerned as to what may or may not 
 be the outcome of it all. It is the romantic and not the 
 realistic type of mental action, in full sympathy with the 
 Kantian philosophy in the domain of "Pure Reason," but 
 not in that of the "Practical Reason." In this particular, 
 as nowhere else, have scholars been the subject of emphatic 
 criticism, the demand being that they emerge from their 
 chosen world of the ideal and come out into the open and 
 down to the lower levels of the actual and deal with the 
 facts and verities of modern life. As Durant expresses it, 
 "They suffer from Academitis — overfondness for themes." 
 
 3. It is said to be Dogmatic, as distinct from being Tol- 
 erant, an order of mind practically closed to the incoming 
 and influence of new ideas or of any class of ideas not in 
 harmony with its accepted tenets. It has long since, we are 
 told, and once for all reached and tabulated its conclusions 
 on fundamental questions, and practically refuses, in the 
 light of new evidence, to reconsider its position and take 
 new ground when demanded. What is called the progress 
 of thought is dependent upon and subordinate to the ac- 
 cepted deliverances of the past and cannot be safely or even 
 consistently modified. This is the Ipse Dixit of the Schools, 
 — a final decision of the Court which precludes the re-open- 
 ing of the question. 
 
 4. It is styled a Local mind, as distinct from being Com- 
 prehensive, quite opposed to making the bounds of truth 
 and knowledge wider yet as'the years go on. Its vision, it 
 is said, is one-eyed and its field of operation limited by the 
 narrow range of the present and the visible environment. 
 
iBo Timely Topics 
 
 Hence its action is always circumscribed, committed to keep- 
 ing within its definitely marked boundaries, lest it diverge 
 into dangerous extremes. The rational doctrine of neces- 
 sary mental limitations is pressed to an extreme and thought 
 is made a prisoner for life. 
 
 Such are the alleged salient Characteristics .of the Aca- 
 demic Mind, as we hear them cited. It is Traditionary, 
 Visionary, Dogmatic and Local, and, as such, receives the 
 pronounced protest of the outside world. To express its 
 various features in a single word of current use, it is the 
 Pedantic mind, an order of mind out of sympathy with the 
 modern, the practical, the tolerant and comprehensive type. 
 Rightly or wrongly, the world of scholars has suffered im- 
 mensely hitherto from this prevailing view as to their status 
 and mental habit, in the light of the world's rapidly varying 
 thought and life, especially pronounced, we are told, in the 
 sphere of historical, political and economic studies, where 
 the conclusions reached, it is said, are purely "academic," 
 that is to say, purely theoretical and inapplicable to existing 
 needs and as such to be ignored by the outside world as 
 useless. Furthermore, it is alleged, its presence and influence 
 are far too potent in the spheres of literature and philoso- 
 phy. One of the most frequent objections to the retention 
 of classical studies in their original measure is found in the 
 assertion that as such they serve to foster the mediaeval 
 point of view, to the detriment of that later and wider out- 
 look which is supposed to accompany the development of 
 history. • 
 
 If we seek for Causes of this order of mind, in so 
 far as it has hitherto obtained, one or two may be cited. 
 
The Academic Point of View i8i 
 
 1. It is quite conceivable that it is due, in part, to what 
 may be called the Isolated Life of the scholar, shut in as he 
 is, within the confines of thp study and the library. As a 
 man of books, by way of distinction, he is perforce, by the 
 very nature of his calling, mainly confined to the inside area 
 of the student's life, as contemplative rather thdn active, 
 subjective rather than objective, dealing with the inner pro- 
 cesses of thought and the solution of mental and educa- 
 tional problems rather than with the pressing questions of 
 the outside work-a-day world. His very vocation demands 
 seclusion, and any emergence therefrom by way of a per- 
 sonal participation in the shifting currents of the world's 
 daily life would seem to be a deviation from his normal 
 and natural duties. 
 
 2. Moreover, a partial explanation of this type of mind 
 may be found in the Unchallenged Deliverances of the study 
 and classroom, where the scholar as an educator speaks in an 
 ex-cathedra manner giving to his students what are assumed 
 tq be final judgments on subjects at issue. The educator by 
 his very position and calling is supposed to speak with un- 
 questioned authority, his conclusions as reached in his study, 
 being outside the province of appeal and debate. It is the 
 supposed duty of those sitting at his feet to receive and en- 
 dorse his instructions without gainsaying, x^ At no point in 
 an educator's life, or a student's life, is there greater danger 
 than just here, by which the teacher as an official guide is 
 supposed to speak without a word of challenge and the 
 student is supposed to listen without the privilege of chal- 
 lenge. It is not strange, therefore, that the Academic Mind 
 has been so often interpreted in the sense we have indicated. 
 
1 82 Timely Topics 
 
 A significant fact now clearly evident is that of a Pro- 
 nounced Modification of this Point of View in the linie of a 
 more modern, practical, catholic and comprehensive outlook, 
 in a word, the recognition on the part of the Academic 
 Mind as hitherto expressed of the new conditions now pre- 
 vailing, and the necessary adjustment to these conditions. 
 
 1. This" radical and desirable change has been induced, in 
 part, by What may be called the Progress of Thought-^the 
 gradual departure from antecedent standards and conditions 
 to the rapidly developing processes of contemporary thought, 
 in fine, by the enfranchisement of the mind and the widen-, 
 ing of all its functions. This is in no sense a discarding of 
 anything in the past which is fundamental, and, as such, 
 worthy of retention but simply an insistence that there is 
 such a phenomenon as progress in the course of history, that 
 such progress must be acknowledged, and that existing needs 
 cannot be met by traditional agencies, methods and aims. 
 
 2. Here again, as an underlying agency we are bound to 
 recognize the definite influence of the recent World War, 
 in the line of liberalizing all mental and social processes. In 
 no sphere has this been more apparent than in that of the 
 scholarly world, whereby, as never before, and indeed for 
 the first time, men of letters and men of affairs have been 
 brought into sympathetic and effective union, resulting in 
 an increasingly intelligent commercial constituency and an 
 increasingly practical educational constituency. There is, 
 to our mind, no more promising result of the late tragic 
 catastrophe than this liberation of that academic mind which 
 for generations has opposed all such widening of function, 
 and by which it is vitally coordinated with all the other 
 
 \ 
 
Sitccessfvi Teaching 183 
 
 wholesome processes of civilization and the everyday life 
 of the modern world. 
 
 Its special promise lies in the fact that this change of out- 
 look, and activity is thoroughly in keeping with that world- 
 wide movement toward the combination and co-operation of 
 all helpful agencies which is the dominant tendency of the 
 time. It is simply another form of evolution, only applied 
 within the sphere of the intellectual and educational. Higher 
 Education, so-called, has needed no modifying factor more 
 than this, by which the cloister has given place to the open 
 forum of free discussion, by which the study and exchange 
 have come to a mutual understanding and will cooperate for 
 common ends. Henceforth the academic point of view is 
 nation-wide and world-wide, catholic and comprehensive 
 enough to embrace every human interest and thus minister 
 to the daily progress of the race. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL TEACHING 
 
 It must readily be conceded by those who have carefully 
 observed the history and status of education that in propor- 
 tion to the number of persons engaged in the special vocation 
 of teaching there are comparatively few who may be said 
 to be masters of the art, and this is true in all grades of 
 institutions from the village school to the college and uni- 
 versity, though less distinctly marked in technical and pro- 
 fessional centres. In the lower grade of schools the ex- 
 planation of so large a percentage of unsuccessful work is 
 due partly to the fact that so many instructors are lacking 
 in general intellectual fitness and so many are compelled on 
 
1 84 Timely Topics 
 
 purely economic grounds to commit themselves to an order 
 of service for which either by nature or training they have 
 no particular qualifications. Their adoption of teaching as a 
 life-work is mainly with reference to a livelihood, the de- 
 mand for teachers being so insistent that boards of exam- 
 iners are apt to be far too lenient in pressing the claims 
 of adequate preparation on the part of those who offer 
 themselves for pedagogic positions. In the upper grades 
 of educational work — ^the colleges and universities, this lack 
 of capable instructors is far too pronounced, much of the 
 explanation lying in the fact that the temptations to scholarly 
 research and publication rather than teaching itself, are too 
 appealing to be resisted. To this research or productive 
 work all else is sacrificed and the college student must per- 
 force content himself with securing from the instructor 
 what may be called his secondary service, his primary in- 
 terests lying elsewhere in the retiracy of his study and 
 library. If it is said that such scholarly investigations 
 ought to tend directly toward successful service in the class- 
 room, the facts of the case do not confirm it, many pro- 
 fessors, strange to say, being too erudite to be helpful to the 
 average student, not being able to utilize their mental ability 
 and possession of extensive knowledge to the practical 
 profit of the pupil, while it must be conceded that many 
 college instructors underrate the value and need of the 
 purely teaching art and resort to no special pains to being 
 successful behind the teacher's desk. They are at their best 
 only when alone among their books and manuscripts. Some 
 few men, adepts in scholastic research, however unfitted for 
 pedagogic service, there must be in every seat of liberal 
 
Successful Teaching 185 
 
 learning. The great body of professors, however, should 
 be first and last efficient teachers, giving this art primacy 
 over all else in their college work and making it apparent 
 to the students under their instruction that all their mental 
 vigor and acquisitions are placed, first and last, at their 
 disposal, their main purpose being so to practicalize their 
 scholarship as to subserve the student's most imperative 
 needs. 
 
 One reason why in technical and professional schools, in 
 law, medicine and divinity, the ratio of successful teachers is 
 much larger than in the non-professional, is found in the 
 fact that the student body in such cases is more mature and 
 receptive and more deeply interested in that they are work- 
 ing for a specific vocational end — the preparation for a pro- 
 fession. Such an order of teaching must be direct, per- 
 sonal and practical. The professor must get close to the 
 ground floor of the pupils' needs and interests and subor- 
 dinate all his scholarship to vocational ends. It is clearly 
 evident and full of promise that in higher education, trustees 
 and patrons and scholars themselves are insisting more 
 and more, that the first function of a teacher is that of teach- 
 ing, pure and Simple, whose place cannot be taken by any 
 other form of educational service. 
 
 I. Some of the requisites may be cited: Most funda- 
 mental is that of Knowledge. The teacher must have the 
 facts and truths of his particular subject well in hand, must 
 be thoroughly grounded in his special field, a master of it 
 in all its parts and phases, thoroughly at home therein and 
 thus making on the mind of the student the invaluable and 
 indispensable impression of an unqualified familiarity with 
 
i°6 Timely Topics 
 
 his department, as being in no sense an amateur therein. 
 In no particular is a body of students more critical and, 
 justly so, than at this point, where they may be said to take 
 the measure of a man, to ascertain his fitness to assume the 
 role of an educator' and, alas for him who is discovered by 
 them to be simply a novice, using them only by way of ex- 
 periment. Nor is this knowledge of one's subject sufficient, 
 but it demands a comprehensive acquaintance with all other 
 knowledge that is vitally related to it and contributive to its 
 clear understandtng, a teacher of the English language or 
 literature, for example, being necessarily conversant with all 
 those closely related languages and literatures that serve to 
 explain the English itself and throw iight upon its vocabu- 
 lary, structure and literary uses. There is a sense in which 
 every successful teacher must be well informed outside his 
 specialty so as to interpret it in the light of its educational 
 environment. 
 
 2. A further requisite is that of Presentation-^an ability 
 inherent or acquired, for the communication of knowledge. 
 
 a. First of all, in terms of Clearness. This is a funda- 
 mental qualification, for which naught else can be substi- 
 tuted, and quite distinct from the mere possession of neces- 
 sary teaching material. It Js a matter of expression, impar- 
 tation and adaptation, in which so many instructors, capable^ 
 elsewhere, partially or completely fail. -As" the old adage 
 phrased it — "It is better to be dumb than not to be under- 
 stood." Intelligibility as well as intelligence is needed, a 
 faculty of utterance so conspicuously clear as to make itself 
 immediately understood by the attentive mind, a power of 
 discrimination and inteupretation, -enlisting at once the re- 
 
Successful Teaching 187 
 
 speet and cooperation of the student. The very word Teach,, 
 which we get from Old English, means to explain, to set 
 -forth a' truth so that it is fully apprehended and compre- 
 hended, the indispensable condition of clear expression being 
 clear thinking, it holding true, with few exceptions, that 
 he who has thought a subject through and through until it 
 stands out clearly before his own mind, can thereby render 
 it clear to others. < 
 
 b. Moreover, this Presentation must be given with Im- 
 pressiveness. As Richard Baxter once stated it — "We mis- 
 take men's diseases when we think there needeth nothing to 
 cure them of their errors but the evidence of truth." That 
 something more, he ,would say, is impressiveness, a deliver- 
 ance of the truth with convincing and persuasive cogency, 
 so that it penetrates through all obstructions into the mind 
 of the listener. All true teaching must have what Aristotle 
 called "persuasive efficacy," so that what is made clear to 
 the understanding shall appeal also to the heart and con- 
 science and will. 
 
 In fine, it may be said that teaching must have not only 
 a didactic quality, but an oratorical quality — a distinctively 
 impressive and inspiring element. The thought must have, 
 as an old writer stated it, "an impulse in it"— must project 
 itself upon the mind and inject itself into the mind of the 
 student. Instruction must not only be imparted, but im-- 
 bedded, and this will require on the part of the instructor a 
 corresponding aptness of presentation and representation, 
 so that students as they listen will not only be enlightened 
 but influenced and incited to mental action. 
 
 c. Still again the knowledge must be presented so as to 
 
1 88 Timely Topics 
 
 awaken Interest. Instruction and impression, though funda- 
 mentally essential must be reinforced by an added qualifica- . 
 tion,— that of securing and holding the attention of the stu- 
 ments to the subject in hand, until they are made to feel 
 that it is to their personal and permanent interest to give 
 heed to it and as far as ppssible, to utilize it in all their 
 thinking. The very etymology of the word inter-est from 
 the Latin — ^that which concerns us, confirms this interpreta- 
 tion. Nor is it meant here that the instructor must be 
 merely entertaining, aiming only at the mental pleasure of 
 the student. He must be positively stimulating and inspir- 
 ing, so presenting his teachings that the student is incited 
 thereby, yields assent thereto and feels that the knowledge 
 presented appeals directly to his personal intellectual ad- 
 vantage, so that he cannot afford to ignore or underrate it. 
 It interests him. It concerns him. Such are the essentials 
 of teaching — a thorough mastery of the subject taught in 
 itself and its relation to closely kindred subjects and a power 
 of presentation in terms of clearness, impressiveness and 
 interest. Knowledge and the ability to impart it are so 
 requisite that nothing can be substituted for them, if any- 
 thing like the education of the student is secured. To this 
 there must be added the practical suggestion that in and 
 through all these factors of success there must be the pres- 
 ence of the teacher's personality. Schools of pedagogy have 
 a place and in their way give their pupils a kind of fitness 
 for their work, but they can never take the place of the man 
 himself behind the desk. The greatetst teachers are bom 
 such as well as made such and despite all forms of training 
 must after all fall back on their own individuality. 
 
The Office and the Mem 189 
 
 The civilized world is looking as never before, to centres 
 of learning to clarify the situation and save civilization it- 
 self from disaster. Military prowess has been tried and has 
 failed. All forms of industrial and social theories have been 
 tested in vain and it is in sheer desperation that the eyes of 
 the nation are turned to the Christian church and the seats 
 of learning for the enlightenment and aid that they need. 
 Upon the teachers of the day the solemn responsibility is 
 laid to respond to this appeal and justify the faith that is 
 thus reposed in them. 
 
 THE OFFICE AND THE MAN 
 
 -^'The fact is," says Mr. Bryce, "that Americans have ig- 
 ' nored in all their legislation, as in many of their adminis- 
 trative arrangements, the differences of capacity between 
 man and man." Mr. Fosdick, in his book "American Police 
 Systems," writes to the same effect and with special refer- 
 ence to our Municipal Offices, as he says, "Another contrib- 
 Titing factor in the failure of our administration of justice 
 lies in the poor quality of our magistrates and prosecuting 
 officers," by which, as he contends, the very ends of justice 
 are thwarted and direct encouragement given to the lawless 
 classes. Mr. Vanderlip, the American fmancier, emphasizes 
 this defect in our administration, as applied to foreign legis- 
 lation, and goes so far as to advocate the formation of what 
 he calls, a Super-Senate, which shall have jurisdiction over 
 diplomatic appointments, and act as a check on the Presi- 
 dent and Secretary of State and the Committee on Foreign 
 Relations. 
 
ipo Timely Topics 
 
 The repeated suggestions that were offered to President 
 Harding as to the composition of his cabinet, if so Jbe it 
 might be equal to the critical demands of the time, evince 
 the unwonted interest taken by the American public in 
 securing suitable public functionaries, — men adapted men- 
 tally and administratively to the respective vocations to 
 which they are appointed. One of the most vital and re- 
 sponsible duties incident to the late war was in this matter 
 of official aptitude and is a duty no less dominant in present 
 post-war conditions. There is a formal and fundamental 
 law of fitness in all provinces — material and moral— a pre- 
 established harmony that must be observed in order to 
 secure the best results, important in all administrative func- 
 tions, but most especially in those now so manifest, where 
 the most vital interests of the nation are involved and where 
 faulty measures jeopardize the very life of the state. It is 
 of these high offices that we now speak". 
 
 For the sacred office of the ministry, it is held, that a can- 
 didate should be the recipient of a special divine call— a 
 direct summons from Heaven to an earthly vocation, the call 
 of the church being but the ratification of the preceding and 
 higher call. The Biblical injunctioji is that such a man 
 should show himself to be "approved of God, a workman 
 that needeth not to be ashamed," not a "novice," but a man 
 suited to so sublime a service. In the secular professions of 
 Law and Medicine and Education, no less than in the Min- 
 istry, there should be a clear and convincing call to save 
 those high vocations from the incompetent incumbent- 
 mere "novices," pettifoggers rather than jurists, charlatans 
 and mere practitioners rather than physicians proper, peda- 
 
The Office and The Man 191 
 
 gogues and pedants rather than real educators, experiment- 
 ing at the expense of clients and patients and pupils, instead 
 of ministering to their personal needs, while even in the 
 lower level of the non-professional activities — in business 
 and the industries, this original law of fitness between the 
 man and his work may be fully applied. 
 
 If it be asked, what the qualifications are by which a man 
 is fitted for high official function in any department of serv- 
 ice — some qualities may be cited. 
 
 1. Special ability -for the duty assigned. Something more 
 is needed than general mental or official fitness, mere average 
 capability for the work in hand. The Biblical injunction 
 "To every man his work" means his particular work for 
 which he is particularly qualified. That he is enjoined "to 
 abide in the calling to which he is called" implies specific 
 ability to fulfill the calling. "Surely," writes Plato, "men 
 should not rule whose aptitude is for digging ditches, and 
 men fit to legislate should not live out their lives as cob- 
 lers." It was a'high tribute to the character and judgment 
 of Governor Lowden when offered the Secretaryship of 
 the Navy, that he should have declined it on the ground of 
 lack of knowledge and naval inexperience and consequent 
 unfitness for the special duties involved. Such a conception 
 of official function if practically applied, would reduce the 
 official population of our national and civic centres by the 
 thousands. The name of the Misfits is Legiorr. "Prepared 
 Places are for Prepared People" is a principle applicable to 
 all spheres of life. 
 
 2. Personal Aptitude is an essential. This is what is 
 really meant by the conjunction — The Office and The Man 
 
192 Timely Topics 
 
 — the man in his entire personality, for more is meant 
 here than mere men,tal abjlity or even administrative ability. 
 It refers to innate qualities of temperament stnd habit — ^that 
 peculiar product that we call individuality, by which one man 
 is differentiated from all others, and initiates and applies his 
 independent methods. It involves an accurate and a com- 
 prehensive acquaintance at first hand with human nature, 
 good judgment, common sense, as well as educated sense, 
 what we commonly call, tact, a real instinctive estimate of 
 man and conditions. It iricludes the possession of an adapta- 
 bility of means to ends, a willingness at times to act when 
 no special reason can be given, and where the timid spirit 
 would fail to act. Not a little of the well-known criticism 
 of chaplains and Christian workers in the late war lay just 
 here, in the absolute lack of personal fitness by, which official 
 fitness was nullified in its working, a lack of that degree of 
 good sense which indicates without mistake the best line of 
 procedure under given circumstances. 
 
 To the minister of religion, the jurist, and the physician, 
 and the man of affairs, such a requisite is indispensable to 
 success. The average man is all too quick to discern in any 
 official incumbent the lack of such a characteristic and re- 
 fuses, thereby, to follow his leading. Such a knowledge 
 of men in the aggregate and of human nature in its indi- 
 vidual types is so essential that representative officials, in 
 whose hands such appointments rest, are chosen by govern- 
 ments and business corporations mainly on the ground of 
 their instinctive capability in this direction — ^suiting the 
 man to the office and the office to the man. Signal instances 
 of success and failure were manifest in the late war, and in 
 
The Office and The Man I93 
 
 the present trying period of peace and consequent readjust- 
 ment of the world's activities similar results are likely to 
 issue. 
 
 3. A sense of Accountability. When Webster was asked 
 what impressed him most in his personal experience, rela- 
 tion and duties, he replied — ^the Sense of Responsibility — 
 the fact that he must be held strictly accountable for the 
 fulfillment of any function to which he might be called. 
 Much of his signal success as a jurist in the prosecution of 
 vast and vital issues was due to this vivid realization of 
 moral obligation, of his duty to his clients and to the 
 public at large. 
 
 It is the lack of this ethical conviction that characterizes 
 so large a percentage of office-holders in the various spheres 
 ^f official diity — ^professional and non-professional, sacred 
 and secular, civic and commercial, by reason of which vital 
 functions on which the destinies of states may depend are 
 lightly apprehended and indifferently executed. Mere time- 
 serving takes the place of worthy and unselfish service, 
 and little heed is taken by the incumbent as to what the 
 dire effects of hisindifference may be. A man cannot obey 
 the biblical injunction and "walk worthily of the vocation 
 to which he is called," save as he has a close conception of 
 what the vocation is and what it involves. Irresponsible of- 
 ficials are unfortunately too much in evidence. One of the 
 urgent duties of the hour is to awaken, if possible, in such 
 functionaries this sense of accountability, if so be the merely 
 personal and mercenary motive in official service may give 
 place to a really disinterested devotion to its claims and thus 
 ensure these beneficent results which the very idea of service 
 involves. 
 
154 Timely Topics 
 
 4. A final qualification is Fidelity. There is something 
 more than a mere conviction of the importance of any. 
 given/ function. It is the purpose faithfully and fully to 
 realize it, let the <iifficulties be what they may, so that in 
 season and out of season, the incumbent is at his post, 
 wholly committed to the work at hand. Such a temper in 
 the discharge of official duty is immeasurably above that 
 of one who is accomplishing a mission simply as a wage- 
 earner with his eye mainly on the rewards of ofiEce and not 
 on the office itself. So common is this selfish spirit that the 
 good words, function and functionary, have given us the 
 unfortunate word — ^perfunctory, indicative of an absolutely . 
 mechanical and half-hearted prosecution of any given call- 
 ing, — rendering the least service possible and regardful of 
 merely individual interest. Much of the friction and antag- 
 onism between labor and capital would disappear if per- 
 functory service should give place to disinterested service. 
 "It is required oi stewards," says the Scripture, "that a 
 man be found faithful." This is the divine and human 
 requisition and essential to good results. 
 
 Herein may be said to be found a test of personal char- 
 acter by which self-knowledge shall be so thorough and im- 
 partial as to be a competent judge of personal aptitude for 
 any given^ function, inducing the acceptance of it, or its 
 rejection as outside the limits of one's ability and experience. 
 Though arguing a degree of modesty and humility quite be- 
 yond the prevailing measure, it is an order of personal 
 estimate that would, if realized, be fraught with untold 
 blessing to the world 'at large. This is the spirit of Paul 
 as he asked "who is sufficient for these things" ; of Moses 
 
The Office and The Man 195 
 
 when he said, "I am not eloquent but sIoav of speech" ; of 
 Jeremiah as he replied when summoned to high service, "I 
 cannot speak, for I am a child," and it is often to these 
 very men, conscious to a fault of their own defects, that 
 the summons comes as it came to Paul and the prophets to 
 fill the place and do the work assigned them,— The office 
 seeks the man. It is often just such worthies, the unassum- 
 ing possessors of real merit, for whom the world is waiting 
 and upon whom it lays its authoritative hand and bids 
 them obey the call that comes to them unsought. 
 
 The application of this principle reveals one of the most 
 characteristic. features and weaknesses of Heredity Govern- 
 ment, especially when it assumes the form of Absolute 
 Monarchy, in that the recipients of the throne come into 
 power by the claims of heredity — ^claimants by birth to 
 royal place, privilege and power, altogether irrespective of 
 ^mental or administrative fitness. One of the most dis- 
 treissing chapters in Continental and" even in English history 
 is seen in the long list of emperors and kings who have 
 been conspicuously deficient in governmental functions and 
 have prostituted their office to the basest ends. It is this 
 feature as much as any one factor that has made European 
 History so much a record of unsuccessful administration — 
 when the most vital interests of kingdoms and peoples have 
 been committed to mere amateurs in state-craft^ — who have 
 played fast and loose with their responsibilities. 
 
 In a limited monarchy, such as England, where abso- 
 lutism is held in check by a degree of liberalism in govern- 
 ment, this eviris materially modified, and the King is prac- 
 tically subordinate to the Commons. Herein lies ihe grave 
 
196 Timely Topics 
 
 responsibility of Popular Government, just because it ' is 
 popular and not hereditary — ^the people themselves consti- 
 tuting the great electorate to whose hands are committed 
 the choice of their rulers. Officials in a democratic com- 
 monwealth are precisely what the body politic desire them 
 and elect them to be. In no respect is Popular Government 
 the subject of criticism more dearly than here, in view of 
 the appalling number of incompetent and unprincipled of- 
 ficials who are chosen directly by the people to the highest 
 places of public service. It is just here that Democracy 
 is even yet regarded by many as a mere experiment, yet to be 
 proved as the best possible form of civic rule, the only and 
 sufficient answer being that the theory or principle on which 
 it is based is a sound one, and that it is incumbent ori the 
 great voting body to see that it is properly and fully applied. 
 Suiting the action to the word is the Shakespearian for- 
 mula for dramatic success. 
 
 "The right word in the right place" has been said to be 
 the secret of a good style. The right man in the right 
 place is the open secret of successful results in any province, 
 a fact that has been fully realized by those in whose hands 
 the power of appointment rests. Presidents of Republic^, 
 such as our own, Presidents -of colleges and of great cor- 
 porations and representative religious orders must be fully 
 aware of this fact and aim to act accordingly. It is with 
 the failure along this line in mind that Shakespeare wrote: 
 
 "O that estates, degrees and dignities 
 Were not derived unjustly, 
 How many that command would be commanded." 
 
 And we might add — 
 
 How many that are commanded would command. 
 
Eras of Reaction 197 
 
 A radical and startling reversion of existing relations 
 would ensue until something like a normal adaptability of 
 the man to the office would be secured. Upon no principle 
 is the progress of civilization more dependent than on this 
 adjustment of office and officials, so that in government 
 and the professions, in business and the social orders the 
 formal law of fitness shall be ,observed. 
 
 Not "arms and the man," but the Office and the Man 
 is the key-note of the Modern Aeneid. 
 
 ERAS OF REACTION 
 
 What is known in Natural Science as Action and Reac- 
 tion is the expression of a universal and an unalterable law, 
 manifesting itself in every sphere — physical, mental and 
 moral. Hence, the presence of Normal Reactions, which as 
 universal are marked by the possession of certain charac- 
 teristics. They are Gradual, occurring in the regular on- 
 ward movement of the activities and functions of life, both 
 in persons and peoples. They are Temperate, always exist- 
 ing in a modified form and measure and thus obedient to 
 natural laws. They are Beneficent in their working, and 
 thus welcomed as a sign and surety of common benefit. 
 
 1. In the Natural World, they are expressed in the ebb 
 and flow of the tides, and in Ihe orderly procession of the 
 seasons on whose regular recurrence men may depend with 
 absolute confidence. 
 
 2. In Personal Experience, the alternation of joy and 
 sorrow, of success and failure, of satisfaction and disap- 
 pointment, is as common a succession as the rise and fall 
 
198 Timely Topics 
 
 of the tides and constitutes what we call human experience, 
 practically the same the world over. 
 
 3. In Government, it is seen in the undemonstrative and 
 orderly passage of absolute i;nqnarchy into limited monarchy 
 and thereby into a representative democracy, as seen in 
 English and to some extent in Continental History, as in 
 France. In American History the election of Senators by . 
 the people at large, instead of their election by the states, 
 has been a quiet and radical reform, as, indeed the great 
 suffrage movements of contemporary history may be said to 
 have been accomplished through the orderly processes oi 
 popular expressions. 
 
 In the Commercial World this law of Reaction in its 
 healthful form has been manifested in the periodical modifi- 
 cations of the Tariff, in the noiseless and unexcited passages 
 from a dull to an active market, in the recent modification of 
 American finance, as seen in the Federal Reserve System, 
 and in the peaceable transfer of thousands of our soldiers- 
 from the activities of the camp to those of the counting^;' 
 room. 
 
 In the Literary World, every great nation evinces these 
 movements from the creative Jo the critical, from the real- 
 istic to the romantic, so signally illustrated in English Let- 
 ters. What is called the Golden Age as distinct from in- 
 ferior epochs is but one example of this rational reaction, 
 from one type of condition to another. It is but one of the 
 evidences of the law of ^ange to which everything human 
 is subject. 
 
 In the Religious World, this law is manifested in the 
 deliberate passage from doubt to certitude, from intense 
 
Eras of Reaction 199 
 
 emotive states to regulated feeling, in a word from an ill- 
 defined faith to a rational system of belief and method of 
 life. 
 
 -These expressions of Reaction are characteristically nor- 
 mal, fall into line with all other normal processes of life 
 and are directly contributive to personal well-being and the 
 development of natural life. 
 
 There is, however, the province of Abnormal' Reaction, 
 where the natural principle of Action and Reaction as equal 
 
 -is subverted and where we are clearly within the area of 
 Abnormal Psychology; 
 
 • Here the Reactions are sudden and, at times, Violent, dis- 
 ruptive and disorganizing, so unexpected as to find no pro- 
 vision at hand for their correction and control. They are, 
 moreover. Excessive in their measure, passing all ordinary 
 and reasonable bounds over into the most extreme forms 
 possible. They are, distinctly. Harmful, serving no desirable 
 end, running athwart well-established principles and policies 
 and demanding immediate suppression. 
 
 In the Natural World, this type of Reaction is seen in 
 earthquake and tempest, drought and flood, famine and pes- 
 tilence, as in China, whereby whole peoples are sacrificed 
 and creation tends to revert to chaos. 
 ' In Personal Experience, ecstacy gives place to despair, 
 optimism to pessunism, and the tragi-comic is the dominant 
 
 type. 
 
 In Government, the most pronounced absolutism passes 
 
 over without notification into the most decided democracy, 
 
 one form of civic rule gives way to another only by the 
 
 -^ radical process of civil revolution and a Reign of Terror 
 
200 Timely Topics 
 
 is the inevitable result. In Cuba and the Latin-American 
 States, as among the Central Powers, this abnormal civic 
 regime is in its worst expression. "Cubans are not gaining 
 faith" writes a recent author "in the possibility of changing 
 from one administration to another by the constitutional 
 method of election and are feeling more confirmed in the ne- 
 cessity of resorting to Revolution." 
 
 Professor Hayes in his instructive volumes "The Political 
 and Social History of Modem Europe," gives a significant 
 chapter entitled "The Era of Metternich," "Revolution or 
 Reaction," in the development of which he submits an in- 
 teresting and startling survey of the periodical occurrence of 
 Reaction or Revolution in the attempted reconstruction of 
 Europe, after the devastating wars of the Napoleonic Era, 
 emphasizing the Bourbon Revolution in France, the Tory 
 Reaction in Great Britain, the Trial and Abandonment of 
 Liberalism in Russia, the Maintenance of Autocracy in Cen- 
 tral Europe, and the ultimate reversal of the despotic poli- 
 cies of Metternich in favor of a modified civic freedom. So 
 on through the subsequent history in the discusion of such 
 vital questions aS Democrat^: Reform and Revolution, the 
 Growth of Nationalism, the New Imperialism, down to the 
 very beginning of the Battle of the Nations in 1914, there 
 is evident this swinging of the world's pendulum back and 
 forth between the two extremes of Reaction and Radicalism, 
 and a desperate attempt to reach in some way a position of - 
 stable equilibrium. 
 
 In the Commercial World, an era of general prosperity ' 
 is followed without due notification by one of distress. 
 Stable conditions in the markets and the industries give 
 
Eras of Reaction 201 
 
 place to panic and the wisest heads are at their wits' ends 
 to comprehend and compass the movement. 
 
 In the Literary World, — a Golden Age is followed by 
 one of mediocrity and barrermess. 
 
 In the Religious World — Orthodoxy gives place to Her- 
 esy, JEnthusiasm to Apathy, and, for the time being, all 
 creeds and confessions seem to have passed into abeyance, 
 and, as in France in the days of Voltaire, there is a wide- 
 spread renunciation of all religious beliefs. 
 
 These are the Abnormal, if not Subnormal Reactions of 
 history — concretely illustrated in every age and people and 
 demanding the careful study of every lover of mankind. 
 As Abnormal they mark what Gibbon would call, the Decline 
 and Fall of Civilization, illustrate the dominance, for the 
 time being, of all the extreme elements of human nature, 
 and^ unless controlled, will check the moral movement of 
 civilization and set it back to primitive conditions. 
 
 Action and Reaction must be equalized. Reactionary and 
 Radical alike must make a mutual surrender and meet on 
 the middle and safer ground of reason and law. These 
 Reactions, as might naturally be supposed, are especially 
 prominent in the great crises of history, when the very 
 foundations of the civic and social order are disturbed and 
 new conditions must be met by new methods. In fact, 
 no great historic movement has taken place that has not 
 begotten some such reversion, often so intent and acute as 
 to be of the nature of a catastrophe and threatening the very 
 existence of the state. It is because they are Abnormal 
 that they are dangerous and difficult to control. 'Twas 
 so in the dissolution of the Roman Empire, in the capture 
 
202 Timely Topics 
 
 of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, in the establish- 
 ment of Modern Europe, in the sixteenth century, in the 
 successive revolutions that have arisen down to the open- 
 ing of the recent war, the occasion of which is largely found 
 in the vain attempt to impose upon the modern world the 
 political principles and methods of the Dark Ages, substitut- 
 ing might for right, and aiming to turn back once and for 
 all the democratic trend of the time. 
 
 Some of the special manifestations of this modem Era of 
 Reaction may be noticed. 
 
 1. The emphatic Increase of Crime in all the Allied States 
 and Central Powers, the extreme expression of it in Amer- 
 ica, forming the subject matter of a treatise by Commis- 
 sioner Fosdick. There is the surging of what the statis- 
 ticians call the Crime Wave, breaking on every shore and 
 threatening to submerge all modern institutions. Students 
 of government and social order and economics, students 
 of military science and experts in psychology are being 
 engaged in examining the possible causes of this criminal 
 trend, induced in part by physical causes — ^the stress of camp 
 life and the shock of battle and, in part, by a distinct mental 
 and moral deterioration — a reaction of the whole man against 
 the established order and an irresistible inclination to oppose 
 and undermine it. So dominant has this destructive ten- 
 dency become, that the cautious methods of the criminal 
 class hitherto obtaining have given place to daring ad- 
 venture in the very face of law, and society finds itself 
 obliged to organize, as never before, as a great protective 
 association for self-defense. 
 
 2. A further manifestation takes the form of Labor Un- 
 
Eras of Reaction 203 
 
 rest — ^an ever-increasing degree of friction between capital 
 and labor, — and an imperative demand on the part of the 
 employee for a fuller recognition of his claims. Instead of 
 an army of soldiers in their country's service and willingly 
 obedient to the behests of their leader, there is seen an almost 
 equally large army of the unemployed, — ^partly by reason 
 of a failure to find employment, but mainly by reason of a 
 determined unwillingness to labor at all or only in lieu of 
 a compensation altogether exorbitant. How to grapple with 
 this menacing problem is one of the serious questions of the 
 hour, and measures are in evidence in every nation to mini- 
 mize this consuming friction and coordinate, if possible, all 
 classes and conditions. A question partly civic and partly 
 economic and involving so many complex and conflicting 
 issues, it may well tax the wisdom of the wisest. 
 
 3. A spirit of Agitation is one of the issues of this Re- 
 action — ^the sheer love of disturbance — finding its chosen 
 vocation in disarranging all that is settled and clamoring 
 with persistent boldness for a new and radically different 
 order. 
 
 Disturbers of the public peace are in evidence as never 
 before — self-constituted revolutionists, avowedly without 
 any constructive programme and bent on agitation for the 
 sake of agitation, already dinning in our ears the dire 
 prophecy of the "Next War" in comparison with which, it 
 is said, all past horrors will be insignificant — criminals at 
 large taking advantage of present conditions to reinaugurate 
 a Reign of Terror. 
 
 In fine, we are living in an era when it would seem the 
 Loyalty of War has largely given place to the Disloyalty 
 
204 Timely Topics 
 
 of Peace, and thousands of men who were willing to face 
 suflFering and death for the nation's honor, now that they 
 are mustered out of military service, affect a complete re- 
 version of function and must be counted as practically dis- 
 loyal, — the reaction from the spectacular and exciting life 
 of the soldier to the commonplace and comparative mo- 
 notony of the private citizen expressing itself in chronic 
 dissatisfaction and not infrequently in criminal protest and 
 revolt. 
 
 Such, as we conceive it, is an Era of Reaction, in its 
 Normal and Abnormal expression, as seen in the Natural 
 World, in Personal Experience, in Government and the 
 Commercial World, in the Literary and Religious World 
 and its characteristics in its Abnormal Form and Special 
 Manifestations. 
 
 Hence, the duty of the hour is manifest — the restoration 
 of normal conditions — of the civic, commercial and re- 
 ligious and social equilibrium, by which the ebb and flow 
 of the modem world may proceed by natural law and 
 Action and Reaction once again be equalized. Men and 
 nations must come to themselves, return to sanity, their 
 mental and moral balance secured. There is a sense, in, 
 which the world may be said to be in a state of delirium, 
 as the word etymologically signifies — "out of the furrow" 
 — and must by some process or another be brought back 
 into the furrow and thus able to maintain a straight line 
 of advance as the years go on. Putting hands to the plough, 
 there is to be no looking back, lest the plough shall deviate 
 from its course and the furrow be missed. 
 
 So vital is this issue, that the destiny of nations is depend- 
 
A Needed Revival of Conscience 205 
 
 ent thereon. So imminent is the existing status that modern 
 civilization itself is at stake and all personal and private 
 interests must be sacrificed to the common weal and na- 
 tionalism in all states recognize the claims of internation- 
 alism. Instead of a Covenant of Europe, there must be a 
 Covenant of all Peoples, instead of the Balance of Power, 
 the Balance of Obligation and Privilege, and "The Allies" 
 be accepted as the fitting title of the "Parliament of Man, 
 the Federation of the World"-^a Holy Alliance in truth. 
 
 A NEEDED REVIVAL OF CONSCIENCE 
 
 Conscience is a natural and universal sense — a moral and 
 religious instinct, what Matthew Arnold fittingly calls "A, 
 Sense in us for (Conduct," — what Wordsworth calls "A 
 Spark of Celestial Fire," "Stern Daughter of the Voice 
 of God." Hence, it deals with character, with motives, 
 purposes, obligations, in a word, with good and evil, detect- 
 ing and asserting the fundamental difference between them. 
 Functioning as a monitor before action, it assumes the of- 
 fice of a judge after action, accusing or excusing, a mental 
 faculty, on the one hand, dealing with the knowledge of right 
 and wrong and an emotive exercise, on .the other, experienc- 
 ing satisfaction or dissatisfaction. . 
 
 If we inquire as to the types or forms of its expression, 
 we find them to be as varied as the functions of human 
 activity,' entering as a vital principle into every possible 
 phase of human experience. 
 
 There is the Professional Conscience, as seen, for exam- 
 ple, in what are known as Medical Ethics and Legal Ethics. 
 
2o6 Timely Topics 
 
 The Journalistic Conscience, as exhibited in the modern 
 newspaper press. 
 
 The Athletic Conscience, as expressed in the field of 
 sport. 
 
 The Academic Conscience, as manifested in the colleges 
 of the country. 
 
 The Commercial and Industrial Conscience, as seen in 
 the marts of trade and expressed in the world of labor in 
 the relation of "Ethics and Economics." 
 
 The Civic Conscience, — the application of moral law to 
 government, — ^municipal, state, national and international, 
 discussed by Aristotle in his "Ethics and Politik."^ 
 
 The Social Conscience, operating in the domain of popu- 
 lar habit and custom. 
 
 In fine, no province in human thought and life is with- 
 out the presence, in some degree, of this interior principle.- 
 
 The need of its revival is one of the dominant disclosures- 
 of the time — ^a need all too apparent in each of its possible 
 spheres of expression. Sc«ne of these types mayl)e exam- 
 ined. 
 
 I. As to what may be called Professional Ethics, a signal 
 illustration may be cited as applicable to the hour. At a, 
 recent meeting of the American Bar Association, a Report 
 was presented by a Committee entitled, significantly — "The 
 Committee on Professional Ethics and Grieva;hces," as to 
 the "Standards of The American Bar." The Report was 
 based on a Questionnaire sent to the judges of the various 
 states. Some of the judges, it is said, were not aware that 
 any such Canons of Ethics applicable to the Law had been 
 adopted in their states, while in several states no canons 
 
A Needed Revival of Cohseience 207 
 
 were issued. As a special example, it is stated that the 
 Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the New York 
 Supreine Court, reported thirty-eight complaints, "the con- 
 version of a client's money seeming to be the besetting sin." 
 Other complaints included such ethical "Grievances" as 
 false affidavits, deceiving clients, forcing a settlement, con- 
 cealment of disbarment on the part of applicants for ad- 
 mission to the bar, inducing clients to invest in a hazardous 
 enterprise, personal solicitation of legal business, and so on. 
 That these misdemeanors, and such as these are far too com- 
 mon in the Legal Profession, cannot be questioned. The 
 province of Medical Ethics is by no means free from cor- 
 responding violators of anything like an ethical code re- 
 quiring strict conformity. 
 
 , It is in treating of Professional Codes that Jeffs writes 
 "Concerning Conscience," while Professor Drake in his in- 
 structive book "Problems of Conduct" writes to the same 
 effect. "There is need of acknowledged Professional Codes, 
 drawn up by representative members and enforced by public 
 opinioh within the professions." Hendrick in his "New 
 Medical Ethics" contends for a similar standard. In medi- 
 cine even more than in the law this supremacy of conscience 
 is needed to safeguard the best interests of the patient and 
 also to preserve the int^rity of the profession itself. 
 
 2. In the field of Modem Newspaper Journalism, and 
 particularly in America, flagrant violations of anything like 
 an ethical standard are manifest, so that there are times 
 not infrequent when the reader is at a loss what to accept 
 as valid and reliable and what to reject. The actual manu- 
 facture of news and their bald manipulation are in evidence. 
 
2o8 Timely Topics 
 
 the old policy being illustrated, where the writers were ac- 
 cused of going to history for their imagery and to their 
 ima^natibn for their facts. Unqualified assertions are 
 , made quite apart from any real historic basis, and the allega- 
 tion is squarely made that the "interests" so-called, are 
 often the proprietors of the Press, whose bidding must be 
 obeyed, the representatives of the Press spending much of 
 their time in the lobby of our national and state capitols 
 awaiting a "consideration." One of the most reprehensible 
 forms of this journalistic method is seen in the reckless 
 manner in which it often deals with personal honor and 
 repute, exposing with "pitiless publicity" the innermost life 
 of the home, making a specialty of scandal and dealing 
 fast and loose with private character. What is needed is 
 accredited facts and the seamy side of life given a less con- 
 spicuous place in the coIun?ns. 
 
 Head-line Journalism is one of the signal developments 
 of the time. As a protest against this type of journalism, 
 attempts have been made to issue a daily or weekly periodical 
 based on fact and the purpose to emphasize the better and 
 not the baser phases of daily life. The most recent attempt 
 in this direction appeared in the American Daily Standard 
 of Chicago, "issued for the purpose of presenting the point 
 of view of a Christian daily newspaper, keeping of? the 
 front page any news of crime." It was established, as it \ 
 says, "to signalize the end of the exploitation, the sensation- 
 alizing, the stringing out of murder, divorce and scandal." 
 The "Standard" was founded, "because there was a real 
 sentiment against the excessive display of crime news and 
 because growing numbers of the people want constrictive 
 
A Needed Revival of Conscience 209 
 
 and accurate journalism." That the experiment survived 
 but a few months, was due not so much to the lack of finan- 
 cial support as to the fact that "growing numbers of the 
 people" want the facts somewhat embellished and magnified. 
 Journalism, after all, will be what the people wish it to be, a 
 true transcript of life or an exaggerated one. 
 
 In the sphere of Literary Criticism as given in the Daily 
 Press, we note a flagrant violation of conscience, candid and 
 unprejudiced examination often giving place to partial 
 review. Books and authors are summarily dismissed after 
 the most cur^sory reading, a hasty glance at the Table of 
 Contents being quite sufficient to justify a final opinion as 
 to merit and dettierit, though the author has a right to ex- 
 pect the emphasis of excellence and the sympathetic treat- 
 ment of defect. The critics instead of being competent and 
 candid judges are often simply "literary freaks," in no sense 
 entitled to the name of critics in the~sense in which Matthew > 
 Arnold and Lowell understood and illustrated that appel- 
 lation. In this respect a manifest gain would be secured 
 both for literature and daily journalism if the estimate of 
 books and authors were left to those Weekly and Monthly 
 Issues, in which criticism is given a place of prominence. 
 
 4. In the sphere of Athletics, this moral faculty has its 
 place and claims, though often disregarded in favor of 
 questionable methods. "We are out to win" has been too- 
 often the slogan of the field, — to win by fair means or foul. 
 It is a significant fact that in pagan times we find the high 
 ideal in this particular province. "Preceding the Olympic 
 Games the contestants were assembled before the statue of 
 Zeus, swearing that they were worthy to compete and 
 
210 Timely Topics : 
 
 would act faithfully and loyally." Thirty days before the 
 contest select judges examined the character and antecedents 
 of the contestants, if so be no unworthy aspirant might 
 gain admittance to the field, an order of procedure, that 
 would have prevented such athletic scandals as have at 
 times disgraced and jeopardized some of our most attractive, 
 American sports. There is a sense in which the principle;; 
 of. honor— "a fair field and no favor" may be said to be^ 
 fundamental in the province of sport, where the contestants 
 are supposed to meet on a "gentlemen's agreement" and 
 conduct the contest in strictest conformity to the code.- 
 
 5. There is another t3?pe of conscience which may be 
 called the Academic, unique in its province and method of 
 expression. It is the type prevailing in all institutions of 
 learning — liberal or technical, under state or private con- 
 trol. It is specifically the code of the campus, and quite un- 
 recognized as applicable outside the coUegfate area. It has 
 its own standards, rewards and penalties and inside its par- 
 ticular field is as exacting as any non-collegiate code of con- 
 duct, as exacting indeed as a military code. It expresses it- 
 self in all the varied phases of university life — in the class- 
 room and on the campus, in all social functions, in the rela- 
 tion of class to class and of these to the teaching body, 
 manifested even in the sphere of religious observance and, 
 pervading as an atmosphere the entire undergraduate life.- 
 Partly the product of youth as such in its desire for freedom 
 and partly the expression of academic tradition,^ it stands 
 out as a characteristic feature of modem university life, 
 to be accepted as such and modified as collegiate conditions 
 themselves are changed^ 
 
A Needed Revival af Conscience 21 1 
 
 6. The Commercial Conscience is one of the most dis- 
 tinctive types — more pronounced and activie in this twentieth 
 century than in any antecedent era. "Possibly there never 
 was a time" writes an acute observer "when dishonest " 
 speculators were so busy and adroit in finding ways to 
 cheapen everything by deceit. 
 
 ^'Business exploitation," writes Croly, "is now allied with 
 political corruption." It is here that we have the Ethics 
 of the Exchange and the Marts of Trade — ^by the influence 
 of which we have Profiteering in the place of honest Profit- 
 ing, Out-doing, Un-doing, Over-doing, a victimized people. 
 It would seem to be the Golden Age of Adulteration of 
 Goods and Drugs and even Foods, a controlling or corner- 
 ing of the market by which the consumer is forced to pur- 
 chase at exorbitant rates and swell the sum-total of excess 
 profits to the commercial manipulator. Corporations, it is 
 said, have no soul, and we may add no consciences; while 
 responsibility is so diffused as to make detection and pun- 
 ishment well nigh impossible. The atrocious crime of child- 
 labor is justified on the ground of its profitableness. 
 
 Businesses said to be buginess, with its own code and con- 
 ditions-T-its own means and ends, its own estimate of profit 
 and loss. What is called commercial cleverness or sagacity, 
 takes the form of shrewdness and double-dea;lihg, of studied 
 adroitness by which the buyer is for the time at the mercy 
 of the seller. Most of the high cost of living has been 
 due to this throttling of the Moral Sense in the every-day ' 
 transactions of trade — this unholy alliance of "Mechanism 
 and Morals." 
 
 In the Industrial World there may be seen one of the 
 
212 Timely Topics 
 
 prominent forms of this Commercial Creed— ^the sphere 
 of "Ethics and Economics." Hence the Dual Entente- of 
 Capital and Labor, while presumably acting in unison for 
 common benefit, is found, too often, to be at cross purposes, 
 aiming at totally diverse and independent ends. "Nearly. ? 
 all the wars fought in Europe from the fifteenth century, 
 have been wars for the Open Market," writes Devoe,-^ 
 specific economic wars. The demand for mutual concession 
 which is made by a patient public is ignored. What Presi- , 
 dent Harding has called "The Gospel of Understanding'''Vf 
 of fair and square dealing is unheeded and "The Impassable ' 
 Gulf" between classes is widened.- What is needed is what 
 Shakespeare calls "even-handed justice" — a conscientious 
 application of the Golden Rule. 
 
 7. There is a Civic Conscience, illustrated by Aristotle 
 in his "Ethic and Politik," the Canons of the Moral Law, 
 applied to municipal, state, national and international inter- 
 ests, and in the sphere of the industries. Even in pagan 
 . days contracts were made under the patronage of The God '^ 
 of Good Faith. 
 
 It is against this stultification of conscience in Politics, 
 that Professor Croly protests in his "Progressive Democ- 
 racy," and it is with this in mind that Vice-President CoqI- 
 idge wrote: "We must smite the rock of the Public Con- 
 science if the waters of Patriotism are to pour forth." A 
 comparison of the apparently disinterested and almost de- 
 votional pledges of a Party Platform with a Post-Election 
 fulfillment of them will afford one of the best illustrations 
 in American Civic Life of this "remanding of conscience to 
 the rear when the conditions demand it. In the manipula-- 
 
A Needed Revived of Conscience 213 
 
 tion of the ballot, in the transactions of the lobby chamber, 
 legislation may often be seen offered for sale to the highest 
 bidder. Private and Corporate "Interests" must be con- 
 sulted and satisfied ere the common good is regarded, the 
 sphere of Municipal Government in this country being 
 rightly regarded by Bryce as a signal disgrace to our insti- 
 tiitions, — the public school system itself being a victim of the 
 ^yard Politician. In most of our municipal administrations 
 it may be said that conscience and common councilmen are 
 not on speaking terms. 
 
 "Let us hope," writes Secretary Hay in his relation to in- 
 ternational diplomacy, "we may never be big enough to 
 outgrow our conscience," and he adds, with a touch of sar- 
 casm, "there might be a worse reputation for a country to 
 acquire than that of always speaking the truth and always 
 expecting it from others." This was his high policy as to 
 the "Open Door," not only economically, but ethically, and 
 he sounds a no^e of warning "that American Diplomacy, 
 national and international, is perpetually in danger of laps- 
 ing from this moral level." Such lapsing has been far too 
 frequent, a real Lapsus Conscientiae. "There are no ethical 
 friendships" we are told, "between states in our day." 
 Writers are calling our attention to the Social Conscience — 
 communal as distinct from personal, our very word^ — 
 Morals — as derived from the Latin, being synonymous with 
 Customs or Community Habit. This is what is called Gen- 
 eral Morale, the public code of ethics; the average type of 
 conduct, as variable as public opinion, suiting itself to the- 
 rapidly shifting conditions of modern life. This is Com- 
 munity Ethics, notable for its elasticity and rather boastful 
 
214 Timely Topics 
 
 of the fact that it is an order of popular habit always down 
 to date. It is morality a la mode. 
 
 It is this Social Laxity and, indeed, Social Tyranny, that 
 Tennyson had in mind as he wrote in "Locksley Hall": 
 
 "Cursed be the social wants that sin against the strength of youth. 
 Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the living truth." 
 
 It is the modem type of life that Mr. Henderson, M.P., 
 Secretary of the Labor Party in England, has in mind, as 
 he says: "This, is the day of the social conscience. There 
 is a corporate sense of sin. There is need of corporate re-- 
 pentance. There is a probability of corporate salvation." 
 The modern novel and play based so largely on the pro- 
 nounced prevalence and the attractiveness of domestic dis-^ ^? 
 cord and scandal are a manifest reflection and indicator of 
 social standards. 
 
 Hence the open parade of wealth in the face of the 
 struggling masses, the abrogation of all restraint in -dre&s 
 and demeanor, the insistence on absolute* freedom in the 
 domain of conduct, in a word, the recognition of prevail^^wj 
 ining social standards as the only warrantable code of ethics. - 
 Such bpoks as "Christianity and the Social Conscience," 
 and "The Social Basis of Religion" aim to span the im- 
 passable gulf that lies between such a conception of conduct- ; 
 and that which so largely obtains in the modern social world, 
 the negation of conscience in the social order being a didactic 
 mark of the Ultra-Socialistic Theory of the day., "Social - 
 Justice" it is well said "depends on the Social Conscience." 
 
 From such a survey, what is first of all dear, is — ^A 
 "Common Characteristic of Ethical Laxity — a spirit of moral 
 
A Needed Revival of Conscience 215 
 
 compromise and accommodation to suit the demands of the 
 hour, in a word, Unconscientiousness. 
 
 As the satirist Butler writes in "Hudibras" : 
 
 "Why should not conscience have vacation 
 As well as other courts of the nation!" 
 
 What are theologically called Consciehtious Scruples, it is 
 urged, must be confined t6 convents and churches and not 
 be observed in the everyday life of the outside world, wherfe 
 men are supposed to act freely and only in obedience to their 
 
 ; interests and instincts. Hence the need of a moral awaken- 
 ing — the assertion of the authority and supremacy of Con- 
 science, demanding the recognition of its claims and brook- 
 ing no evasion — the unqualified subjection to its dictates 
 as ultimate and beyond repeal, a divine oracle, a supreme 
 court of final jurisdiction. The voice of God in man — 
 soul — to be heeded in all professional and 'private life, in all 
 the forms of human activity, its enlightenment consti- 
 tuting a valid obligation, if so be, it may be a safe guide to 
 
 " conduct in every phase of life. 
 
 That there are some signs of such an awakening, how- 
 ever dim and infrequent, is one of the auspicious features 
 of the day. /Emphatic protests against unethical procedure 
 are more often heard than hitherto. Public opinion is show- 
 ing some indication of betterment and insisting on the recog- 
 nition of its demands in all private and public functions,, 
 a real revival of the moral sense, especially needed in free 
 
 "governments, where the people rule and where as such the 
 voice of the people is proved to be the voice of God. 
 
 It was Ben Jonson, with his. mind on the church 
 in its need of an awakening of conscience who wrote ; "That 
 
2i6 Timely Topics 
 
 the pulpit shoiild ring and the aisles, of the churches should 
 ring with that round word." Not only the aisles of the 
 churches, we may add, but also the halls of legislation 'and. 
 our market-places, our literature and journalism, our aca- 
 demic centres and our society at large should ring with that 
 round word, and ring so loud and clear that every ear 
 should hear and heed it-, and the moral order of the world 
 be maintained. 
 
 THE MAINTENANCE OF STANDARDS 
 
 This is one of the urgent demands of the hour, a direct 
 result of the late war, a demand that must at all hazards 
 be met, if so be civilization itself is to be- maintained. A 
 World-War, despite its- indirect advantages, is a world- 
 qatastrophe, the most manifest and radical effect of which^^ 
 is unsettlement — the disintegration of all existing institu-;. 
 tions and functions ^nd the unchecked reign of riot. The 
 old days of "The Lord of Misrule" are revived, and any- 
 thing like settled order is uprooted. It is the Grolden Age of 
 Dis-Establishmeht. Hence the call for Standardization^ 
 the revival and reenforcement of First Principles — ^those 
 grailitic and tested foundations on which the structure of 
 the world rests. There are some things which in bliblical 
 language "cannot 'be shaken" though all else disappear. 
 There is a "Kingdom that cannot be moved" — the kingdowi; 
 of truth and justice and righteousijiess, and it is the duty of 
 the hour to recognize and defend that kingdom against all 
 disturbing agencies and thuS ensure universal progress and 
 peace. 
 
The Maintenance of Standards 217 
 
 1. In Government, there are some generally accepted Fun- 
 damental Truths — those Civic or Politicial Postulates which 
 are presupposed in all well-organized states, as essential to 
 their very existence, so essential as by their abolition or 
 impairment to jeopardize all national and international life. 
 There are "inalienable rights" that must be preserved, in- 
 alienable principles that must be maintained, the basis of law 
 and order, — ^the prerequisites to anything like the general 
 good of the race. What our American historian Fiske calls 
 "Political Ideals," what such British writers as Stubbs and 
 Freeman, in their Constitutional Histories, define and de- 
 scril^e as the bases of Civil Governinent the world over, 
 and of the system of Jurisprudence and International Law — 
 These are the factors that constitute the very foundation 
 of government and must be beld inviolate at all hazards. 
 - Civil Polity thus conceived at once takes its place among 
 the -high vocations of life, immeasurably removed from 
 that rflerely official and self-seeking type of public service 
 that so often characterizes the modem state. 
 
 2. In the Commercial and Industrial world there are ac- 
 ; cepted laws on which the future of trade may be said to rest 
 
 — Honor, Honesty, Probity and Candor, Fair Dealing and 
 'Mutual Confidence, whereby all parties involved shall con- 
 sult each other's interests and secure a common share in all 
 accruing benefits. Business thus conceived is raised at once 
 from the plane of merely personal or corporate advantage 
 to that of a commercial commonwealth, a real Mutual 
 Benefit Society in which the buyer and seller, employer and 
 .employee, are in the real sense, partners, sharers of one 
 another's labors, promoters of one another's interests. 
 
2i8 - Timely Topics 
 
 3. So, ia the Educational World, a province in which - 
 disturbing factors are especially manifesf and by reason of 
 which tiie whole subject of educational method and aims is 
 once again reopened for debate and decision: What is, after 
 all, the primary purpose of education, secondary and col- 
 legiate; what* are the most desirable and efficient ways and ' 
 means of realizing it; to what degree does the past afford 
 an answer and in what -respects must it be ignored and 
 radical changes instituted — ^these are insistent and persisteciirij^ 
 problems and will not down until settled and settled rightly. 
 
 Just here it is essential to preserve those primary prin- 
 ciples of all educational processes which have been thor- _ 
 oughly tested and have proved trustworthy and desirable; ■ 
 There are certain indispensable factors without which edu- 
 cation in a valid sense cannot be secured, standards of ^- 
 scholarship and culture, which constitute what Hamerton 
 calls "The Intellectual Life" and the maintenance of which 
 is not a matter of opinion, but' of vital necessity.^ 
 
 4. So, in the Literary World — the domain of taste and - 
 aesthetic art, that province in which what Arnold calls "a 
 sense of beauty" is a prime requisite-^a real artistit instinct 
 This is that type of mental activity which finds its expression 
 in written form, in prose and verse, in the wide area of 
 authorship. It is for this that Matthew Artlold contends in 
 his "Essays on Criticism," Bagehot in "Literary Studies^" . 
 Beggs in the "Development of Taste," Corson in his "Aims - 
 of Literary Study," Dowden in his "Studies in Literature," 
 and all those numerous writers who have insisted on the pre- 
 
 , servation of those cardinal canons of criticism which from 
 the days of Aristotle have been regarded as essential factors. 
 
.- , V The Maintenance of Standards 219 
 
 Peoples and individuals must conform to them to be called 
 literate. 
 
 5. So, in the Religious World, the province of Doc- 
 trine and life. Here, as nowhere else, the foundations - 
 of faith must be in evidence, on which all truth is supposed- 
 finally to rest. What the Scriptures call "Sound Doctrine," 
 "Soundness in the Faith" is thus conceived as fundamental. 
 - There is in every man what Arnold calls "A Sense of Con- 
 duct," an ineradicable instinct, an order of life based on cer- 
 tain a priori principles, from which there can be no safe 
 divergence. 
 
 The great historic Creeds and Confessions of Christen- 
 dom are supposed to embody such canons of religious 
 thought. Whatever difference of opinion may be held as 
 to seeotidary truths, there are some cardinal truths on 
 which Christianity is founded and in the acceptance of which 
 all confessors must unite. This is the Consensus Gentium. 
 in the realm of religion. 
 
 In the light of these suggestions as to the primacy of 
 i4 Stahdards in all departments of thought and life, it is per- 
 tinent to sound a note of warning as we discern what may be 
 calleci, The Modern Trend, so potent and persuasive and 
 far-reaching that all opposing forces must be summoned 
 successfully to thwart it. 
 
 I. In Government, there is the tendency to break iway 
 from all precedent and long established political principles 
 into the open area of unregulated liberty, by which ex- 
 pediency takes the place of justice, partisanship the place 
 of unselfish loyalty, and under the name of democracy and 
 the rights of the people, the wildest excesses are sanctioned. 
 
220 Timely Topics 
 
 On such a theory of government civic order and ciyic prOt 
 gress are impossible and the most Sacred interests of states' 
 are at the mercy of the lawless. The fundamental policy 
 of the proletariat is the subversion of standards — ^the com- 
 plete reorganization of national life on the basis of com- 
 munism, whereby, as a final issue, tyranny and anarchy pre- 
 vail. No result of the recent war is more ominous than 
 this, and it appeals to every right-minded citizen to control 
 it and insist on the retraition of political standards, 
 
 2. In the Co'mmercial and Industrial Sphere this dan- 
 gerous Trend expresses itself in the abolidon of anything 
 like a Commercial Code and the substitution of personal 
 interest ^for the common good. Instead of the interactioii' 
 of capital and labor, of producer and consumer, for mutual 
 benefit, what is now broadly known as Exploitation is the - 
 accepted creed and each one for himself takes the place , 
 of the Golden Rule of Altruism. Business, it is held, has 
 a well defiried province and policy of its own, quite outside 
 of ordinary procedure, in which it is understood that all 
 existing standards are annulled and a new regime instituted 
 more in keeping with the exigencies of the hour. Com- ^ 
 merce and the Industries, it is argued, may have been profitr 
 ably pursued under the restricted requisites of the pasit, 
 when the world was less inter-dependent and competition 
 less aci^te, but not so now, when trade has become world- 
 wide and commercial rivalry cannot be met by ordinary 
 methods. Profiteering in the place of honorable profiting;, 
 has become a practical science, in the hands of industrial ex- 
 perts, who insist that old business standards are eflfete. 
 
 3. So, in the sphere of Education. The very theory of 
 
The Maintenance of Standards 221 
 
 edacation as held hitherto is re-opened and questioned, — 
 what it really signifies, what its ultimate purpose is and 
 what the best methods are by which its ends may be attained. 
 The fundamental principle on which Higher or Liberal 
 Education is based is challenged and we are asked to sub- 
 ordinate what has been known as Intellectual Culture to the 
 material demands of the time. This is far more than a 
 question as to the comparative merits of a classical and 
 scientific training, as discussed by Matthew Arnold and Mr. 
 Huxley, respectively, far more than a question even as to the 
 relative value of a general and a vocational training. It is 
 a question as to what makes education what it purports to 
 be, when a man may be said to be educated, what the inspir- 
 ing spirit of mental training is and how it may best be 
 cultivated and expressed. This is the crucial problem and 
 all those who are interested in the things of the mind must 
 recognize this modern uneducational trend and make haste 
 to meet and resist it. 
 
 4. So, in the Domain of Letters, in which the departure 
 from accepted standards of literary art are so manifest, 
 Literature is fundamentally a fine art — an expression of 
 aesthetic sentiment and taste, in prose and verse, and can- 
 not safely be reduced to the level of the material and mer- 
 cenary. One of the most pronounced tendencies of the 
 time is the commercializing of literature — ^the substitution 
 of literary notoriety for literary repute, of mere entertain- 
 ment for inspiration and instruction. It is the era of the 
 best sellers as indicating literary genius, and authorship is 
 in the open market for the highest bidder. In the sphere 
 of Fiction and the Drama, this unliterary trend is most 
 
222 Tintely Topics 
 
 conspicuous, and the Novel and the Play must be so con- 
 structed as to satisfy the popular demand for the sensa- 
 tional, superficial and financially profitable. These, it would 
 seem, are the only standards worth observing. 
 
 5. So, in Religious Thought and Life. What are called 
 the Standards of the church and the Christian world at large 
 are accepted, if at all, with emphatic reservations. Free- 
 dom of Thought on which insistence is made, is especially 
 applied to the province of religious doctrine, and the trend 
 is straight toward the negation of all creeds and confessions 
 — the abolition of standards. It is the Era of the Latitudi^ 
 narian, who prides himself on his freedom from all accepted 
 doctrinal restrictions and is a tourist at large in the realm 
 of thought, having the right of way over all local boun- 
 daries. He has the self-assumed privilege of Extra-Terri- 
 toriality in the sphere of truth. If the church is to exist 
 as an institution and there is to be any such thing as a dis- 
 tinct basis of action, and a real religious order and civiliza- 
 tion, this ir-religious, un-religious, non-religious trend must 
 be checked. 
 
 Thus it is that in Government, the Industries, Education, 
 Literature and the Religious Realm, the Demolition of 
 Standards is the ominous trend, partly, the expression of 
 that tendency to unrestricted action germane to human na- 
 ture from the beginning, and intensified, as it has been, by 
 the destructive influence of the recent war. 
 
 Hence, the duty of the hour is manifest on the part of 
 those who may be called — The Standard-Bearers of Modem 
 Civilization, in which duty the Christian Church and Chris- 
 tian Institutions of Learning have a special mission to ful- 
 
The Maintenance of Standards 223 
 
 fill, not simply in conserving the essential values in religion, 
 education and literature, but in government and the indus- 
 tries and society at large. The biblical injunction to "hold 
 the traditions" which we have inherited "earnestly to con- 
 tend for the faith once delivered" to us, is an injunction ap- 
 plicable to every sphere of human thought and activity. Be 
 ing assured as to what the standards are, then we are to 
 hold them inflexibly against all counter influences. 
 
 It is, moreover, pertinent to note that this maintenance 
 of standards, of fundamental truth, is in no sense incon- 
 sistent with a Valid Progressivism, but is rather its neces- 
 sary guarantee and support. Any such thing as a genuine 
 and wholesome liberalism must be guarded and governed by 
 certain unalterable principles, by a fixed foundation of truth 
 and right, lest it degenerate into lawless and violent ex- 
 tremes. One of the dominant and most difficult duties of 
 the hour in church and state, in social, civic and commercial 
 life is to mediate between an ultra conservatism and an 
 ultra liberalism, whereby there may be secured what with- 
 out contradiction may be called, a liberal conservatism and 
 a conservative liberalism, — the only sure gfuarantees of 
 progress. The Reactionary and the Radical must alike 
 be discarded, and a safe middle ground be found on which 
 all alike may stand, and work for the fulfillment of com- 
 mon ends. As Archbishop Whaley states it: "It is not 
 enough to believe what we maintain, but we must maintain 
 what we believe and because we believe it." Some fixed 
 point of departure must be held, some final court of appeal 
 there must be to which all doubtful issues may be referred. 
 In human history, as in the sphere of physical science, there 
 
224 Timely Topics 
 
 must be with the dynamic factor the static factor, by virtue 
 of which the dynamic is able to function. It is this static 
 factor which must be established and maintained, to secure 
 what the Scriptures call "the stability of the times."