IS THIS A DEGENERATE AGE? 493 



ago any hovel answered for the poor man, while the rich neglected what, 

 in our day, are called ordinary sanitary precautions. Now a board 

 of health is an essential part of city government and it has powers 

 which, in other departments, would be regarded as despotic. Problems 

 of ventilation, space of living apartments, sewage disposal and street 

 cleaning are those for the sanitary engineer, whose profession is digni- 

 fied and requires years of preparation. The hydraulic engineer no 

 longer expends his chief efforts upon quays, harbor walls or dams; 

 those are still important, but far more important are problems relating 

 to water-supply for cities, towns and even small villages. Nothing 

 bearing upon public health is too insignificant for notice; neglect by 

 a traction company to provide closed cars on a cool day awakes editors 

 to write indignantly. Sanitary regulations have led to sanitary living, 

 so that, in spite of the fact that men work more intensely than ever 

 before, they break down less rapidly and fourscore is more nearly 

 man's expectation of life now than was threescore and ten fifty years 

 ago. 



The rights of man as man before the law are acknowledged by the 

 two great commercial nations as never before and as by no other 

 nations. A defendant no longer rests under the assumption of guilt; 

 he is innocent until the charge has been proved; a married woman is 

 no longer merged in her husband; in the eye of the law, she is at 

 least her husband's equal. The poor man and his wealthy neighbor 

 stand on a common level in the court room and at the polls. Taxes 

 are distributed justly and the rich, as well as the less favored, bear an 

 equitable share of the governmental burdens. 



Having granted universal suffrage, the two great commercial 

 nations have been compelled to recognize man's intellectual needs. They 

 offer opportunity for education to all, even straining the prerogative 

 of government to do so. Education, free from ecclesiastical control, 

 is no longer a privilege obtainable only by purchase, it is the right of 

 every man. More, it is maintained that government is bound not 

 only to offer the opportunity, but also to compel its acceptance. The 

 poorest man has the way open in our land from the primary school to 

 the close of professional preparation, practically without cost. Ma- 

 chiavelli has grouped the people of any nation into three classes — 

 those who think for themselves, always few in number ; those who think 

 as others think, the intelligent middle class; those who do not think, 

 the great mass of the population. His grouping is still applicable to 

 Great Britain and the United States, but our schools, our sharp political 

 contests and the wide circulation of journals have led to great changes 

 in the relative proportions of the classes. The growth of liberal parties 

 and the increasing independent vote, with which politicians have to 

 reckon, are manifestations of the change. 



