74 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tears, enough to give a dull background to any picture ; but that is not 

 to say that when one compares this day with that of our fathers he 

 must find reason for renewed sorrow. 



Man can not pass at once from savagery to civilization ; that change 

 has been in process for millenniums and still it is far from complete. 

 Equally slow is the passage from primeval grossness to ideal purity. 

 The golden rule is a fundamental principle of the ethnic religions as 

 much as of Judaism and Christianity. During more than three thou- 

 sand years it has been urged as the rule of life, but war and rapine 

 still fill the pages of man's history; yet it has not been ignored and, 

 with the passing centuries, its hold on mankind becomes stronger. In 

 the business world, each period of advance ends abruptly in a storm 

 of stress and panic, by which all seem to be prostrated; but the reces- 

 sion never returns to the previous stage. So in the moral world, the 

 tide flows and ebbs, but each rise advances farther up the slope than 

 did the last — as much in this land as elsewhere. 



Three years ago the community was startled by revelations of mis- 

 management in the great insurance companies and the matter was 

 more than a nine days' wonder. Pulpit and press vied in condemna- 

 tion of the wicked men. Yet the culprits had not looted their com- 

 panies ; they had not decreased the security of the policy-holders ; they 

 had merely utilized their positions for personal gain, making them- 

 selves partners with their companies in profitable ventures; they had 

 been guilty of imperfect consecration to the interest of their trust and 

 had shown what wholly unscrupulous men could do. One can well 

 imagine the perplexity of a resurrected magnate of sixty years ago, 

 when told of this crime. Surely he would think that times had 

 changed. In his day such conduct would have passed unrebuked, nay, 

 it might have been commended, as the companies had profited by the 

 transactions. It is rebuked now because there is at last a public con- 

 science which compels respect. 



Even politicians recognize this and are not slow to turn it to their 

 own advantage. Only a little while ago, the operations of a syndicate 

 in connection with a western railroad were the subject of governmental 

 investigation; the so-called exposure filled columns of the papers, was 

 made almost a national issue, being utilized in political strife. Yet 

 the whole transaction had occurred in full view of the public without 

 attempt at concealment or deception. The syndicate which owned the 

 property almost outright was charged with increasing the capitaliza- 

 tion without equivalent expenditure, but there was no evidence that 

 any one had suffered by the operation, though clearly some one had 

 profited. Whether or not there was any wrong in this transaction is 

 difficult for a layman to discover; but as presented in ex parte form, 

 the matter sufficed to justify the astute politician's appeal to the pub- 



