EDITOR'S TABLE. 



843 



lives by uncontrollable physical forces, 

 but the prolonged misery of human be- 

 ings through lack of adaptation to their 

 circumstances or through the existence 

 of artificial conditions of purely human 

 production. To our mind the question 

 of the hour presents itself in this shape: 

 "Why is there so terrible an amount of 

 maladjustment in social relations to- 

 day? Why are such multitudes sofa- 

 tally out of harmony with the conditions 

 of life ? The symptoms, as we interpret 

 them, all point to man's tinkering with 

 natural laws in a futile effort to amend 

 them, or with the shameful object of 

 benefiting the few at the cost of the 

 many. We wish briefly to indicate one 

 or two of the ways in which, as it seems 

 to us, social misery is caused. 



It is recognized the world over that 

 republican institutions are the definitive 

 form of government for civilized coun- 

 tries ; but when our forefathers strug- 

 gled for liberty they probably bad little 

 idea of the form which popular govern- 

 ment would in these latter days assume. 

 They did not foresee the unrest that 

 would be introduced into every section 

 of the country through the desire to share 

 in the emoluments which government 

 has the power to bestow. They did not 

 foresee the creation of a class of pro- 

 fessional politicians who, reaping pecu- 

 niary rewards themselves for their po- 

 litical services (so called), would be em- 

 powered to dangle minor rewards before 

 the eyes of scores of others by way of 

 securing support for themselves. They 

 did not foresee the greedy passions and 

 the aversion to steady employment 

 which all this would arouse, or the 

 numbers of half-employed and unem- 

 ployed men whom it would throw upon 

 the community to live more or less the 

 life of adventurers. They did not fore- 

 see the paralysis that would overtake 

 both law and legislation through the 

 balancing of selfish interests, or the 

 deadness to large views of policy which 

 the constant study of all political ques- 

 tions from a local standpoint would en- 



tail. While curbing the power and cur- 

 tailing the privileges of a territorial 

 aristocracy, they had no prevision of a 

 moneyed class which, allying itself with 

 the dominant party in the state, would 

 wield a power more dangerous to na- 

 tional welfare than any aristocracy had 

 ever done. We, however, see that all 

 these things have come to pass, for we 

 live in the midst of them and feel the 

 burden of them every day. The remedy 

 lies not in any reversion to outworn 

 institutions though diseased common- 

 wealths have many times taken refuge 

 in tyranny but in the sedulous cultiva- 

 tion of a higher sense of citizenship. 

 How is that going to be done? some 

 one will ask. Do you believe in it 

 yourself? we rejoin. Do you believe 

 that the average sense of citizenship, 

 or, to express it otherwise, the average 

 sense of duty to the state, is low ; and, 

 if so, are you personally willing to set a 

 higher example and courageously and 

 strenuously uphold a higher doctrine? 

 If so, you need not ask how the thing is 

 going to be done, for you see the way 

 yourself. If not, we do not wonder 

 at your skepticism as to that being pos- 

 sible which you are personally unwill- 

 ing to undertake. There are a hundred 

 ways in which higher views of citizen- 

 ship might be inculcated. The country 

 is fairly riddled and honeycombed and 

 worm-eaten with secret societies, the 

 object of each being to confer special 

 advantages on its members, the object 

 of none being to raise the political and 

 moral tone of the whole country. Could 

 not some of the leaders of these move 

 in the matter? Then there are schools, 

 public and private, where ample oppor- 

 tunity exists for forming the minds of 

 the young aright on this most important 

 subject. Then there is the pulpit, which 

 might be an enormous engine for good 

 if rightly used. 



The question just now, however, is 

 how the dislocations which are caus- 

 ing so much misery have been brought 

 about, rather than what specific meas- 



