66 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



upon justice. " Wider knowledge/' says Lloyd George, " is a creating in 

 the mind of the workman growing dissatisfaction with the conditions 

 under which he is forced to live." 27 Besides, the improvement in econ- 

 omic conditions that has occurred within a life time whets the appetite 

 for something more, and the shortening of the working day gives men 

 time to realize how inferior their state is in comparison with their 

 fondest hopes. The hope of better things in our present social system 

 has to some extent taken the place of religious belief. The failure of 

 incomes among a large portion of the population to keep step with 

 rising prices always makes men chafe. But when the expectations of 

 men for something better are once aroused, such a rise of prices as the 

 last fifteen years have witnessed is doubly trying. When a nation like 

 China, in which ancestor worship and reverence for the past have been 

 time-honored points of view, is shaken to its very foundation by a 

 political and social revolution, we in America who profess democracy 

 as our ideal can hardly hope to escape the sweep of a movement that 

 aims at uplifting the common lot and according the masses a larger 

 voice in the management of affairs. The movement for the betterment 

 of mankind seems destined to go on whatever befalls the fortunes of 

 particular individuals. The forces of democracy are so strong that it 

 matters little whether a Eoosevelt, a Taft or a Wilson is president. 



Six facts justify a hopeful view of the future. The first is " tolera- 

 tion in religion, the best fruit of the last four centuries." This is 

 fundamental to liberty and promises to save us from frittering away 

 our energies in needless bickerings. The second is our system of public 

 schools, which provides us with a certain minimum of enlightenment. 

 The third is the keen ethical sense of the people. The questions of 

 the day that arouse most interest involve matters of right and wrong. 

 Our most successful politicians are great preachers. The fourth is the 

 spirit of unity that pervades the land. Sectional feeling is at a low ebb. 

 The east and the west, the north and the south, are more nearly one 

 than ever before. The entire country acquiesces in the influence which 

 the states that tried to secede in 1861 now exercise at Washington. 

 Exhibitions of class feeling are, after all, exceptional. Commercial inter- 

 course between different portions of the country makes strongly for 

 community of interest. When one considers how frequently the bonds 

 of affection within the family are strained to the point of breaking, 

 the spirit of concord in the business world is little less than marvelous. 

 The fifth is the success with which large corporations sift out compe- 

 tent leaders. Big business occasionally acquires an element of monop- 

 oly and menaces the state itself, but the management of its own affairs 

 is commonly marked by a high degree of efficiency. Rivalry for promo- 

 tion among capable men is especially keen in the large concern. 



27 Eobert Donald, "The Square Deal in England," an authorized interview 

 with David Lloyd George, The Outlook, Vol. 101, June 22, 1912, p. 398. 



