INDUSTRIALISM 359 



still be well when the soil is in the ocean, and iron is rust and the last 

 lump of coal is on the hearth. It is science that has created the new 

 faith that makes of conservation a real and a difficult problem. But if 

 science has created the problem of conservation and has spread a faith 

 as an obstacle to its solution, it is still true that science alone can fur- 

 nish the remedy. It is but poetic justice that science and the leaders in 

 science must now point the way and carry much of the burden. Science 

 must now give, and it is giving, the solution of the problem it itself has 

 created. 



What is true of the problem of conservatism is true of all of the 

 difficulties and evils brought to us by science, whether directly or 

 through industrialism. Science brings its own remedies and removes 

 the evils it itself creates. If it were otherwise, science would not be 

 science. 



A second influence of industrialism that is rarely credited to it is 

 the changed view held by the prosperous classes as to their obligation to 

 society in general. Public opinion no longer supports the man whose 

 life brings no form of high service to his fellow men. The very fact 

 that business and industry are organized on so large a scale soon con- 

 vinces us that the personal independence of the proprietor no longer 

 exists. Scores of new dependencies and checks hem him about. He 

 sees that his life must be one of social purpose and not pleasure. As 

 obscurely as this truth is often seen, and as glaringly as it is contra- 

 dicted by the sporty spirit and the society itchings of the new-rich, we 

 must hold it as one of the characteristics of our era that social purpose 

 and not play is dignified by industrialism. Eiding to hounds as a voca- 

 tion no longer gives the complete social satisfaction that it once did. 



Let us now turn from these, which are, after all, minor influences of 

 industrialism, to a consideration of some of the major tendencies. Per- 

 haps the greatest mission of science and industrialism to our era is the 

 removal of controversy from human progress. This is indeed a great 

 service to mankind — to narrow the field of strife, to remove obstacles, to 

 settle great public matters by bringing to bear accurate data, adequate 

 analysis of cause and effect, and expert judgment — so that contention, 

 or partisanship or politics, is eliminated, and things are settled on their 

 merits. This phase of the industrial age is fast developing. The nu- 

 merous expert commissions appointed by the states and government to 

 investigate and determine important questions upon the basis of exact 

 knowledge is a pertinent illustration. The Wisconsin Commission is 

 settling all matters concerning the public utilities solely after adequate 

 investigation and skilled tests. These same matters can never again 

 become the football of partisanship or political manipulation. Likewise 

 the commission form of municipal government is removing from the 

 field of politics, and local contention, questions which are really largely 



