542 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



have opposed the spirit of progress for the same reason that the silver- 

 smiths dependent upon the votaries of Diana for their living and pros- 

 perity arrayed themselves against the preaching of Paul. Nor is this 

 surprising. Those whose pockets are threatened by any proposed reform 

 naturally try to get off with as little loss as possible. In addition to the 

 opposition offered by vested interests, that due to the inertia of society 

 and to impracticable reformers has had to be met and overcome. The 

 indifference of many of the intelligent and respectable is one of the 

 greatest barriers to progress. The obstacles that have been successfully 

 encountered and overcome inspire the hope that the spirit of the age is 

 moving in the right direction. 



The world-wide character of the present era of discontent strength- 

 ens and confirms this hope. In England, Germany, France and other 

 nations there is a forward movement that has much in common. In 

 many of the more backward countries, the suffrage is being broadened 

 and the people are playing a more influential part in governmental 

 affairs. The fact that personal liberty calls for more interference on 

 the part of the state is quite generally recognized. It is not the old- 

 time marauder who waylays his victim with a club against whom pro- 

 tection is needed so much as the superior cunning and unscrupulousness 

 of a certain type of the modern man of affairs. In every progressive 

 country, the community is now doing things which the common man 

 once attended to himself. The individual is becoming more dependent 

 upon the state to safeguard him against monopoly, foul air, impure 

 milk, adulterated food and unsanitary plumbing, and to insure him 

 against the contingencies of sickness, unemployment, accident and 

 old age. The duty of protecting the individual against unduly long 

 hours of labor and unwholesome conditions while at work, of preserving 

 him from improper amusements in his leisure moments, and of sup- 

 plying him with the educational facilities necessary to start him prop- 

 erly in life and to meet his mental and esthetic needs in his mature 

 years is devolving more and more upon the state. There is a concerted 

 movement to give the man who has been worsted in life a chance to get 

 upon his feet and regain his self-respect. The growing density of popu- 

 lation and its concentration in cities are socializing the production of 

 certain things with which the individual has commonly supplied him- 

 self. Many European cities have municipalized the supply of water, 

 light and local transportation. The Cincinnati board of health took over 

 the ice plants of the city during the strike last summer. The federal 

 government has established postal savings banks and a parcels-post, and 

 government ownership and operation of the telephone, telegraph and 

 railway are spreading throughout the world. 



Another evidence that the present trend of affairs is not far amiss 

 is that men seldom break things as they are without just cause. The 



