EDITOR'S TABLE. 



841 



particularly in relation to the treat- 

 ment of the wage- earning class, 

 which is abhorrent to humane em- 

 ployers; but these very men see no 

 escape for themselves from practices 

 and policies which in their hearts 

 they utterly condemn, save in a com- 

 plete abandonment of the field of 

 business competition. If some of 

 our leading men of business would 

 speak out frankly all they know, 

 they could a tale unfold which, if 

 not as grewsome as that of the ghost 

 in Hamlet, would be full of baleful 

 significance. The late Mr. Glad- 

 .stone, toward the end of a long life 

 of most varied experiences, said in 

 reply to the question of a friend that 

 the most serious evil he saw in the 

 world to-day was the prevailing lust 

 of wealth. This was not said lightly, 

 but, as we are told, with an accent of 

 great concern. Socialism and mili- 

 tarism, the aged statesman thought, 

 were both less threatening evils than 

 the accursed thirst for gold. To-day 

 we are breeding up a race of men 

 hardened in advance for the conflict 

 before them. What the practice of 

 the market requires them to do, that 

 they are pre]^ared to do; and who- 

 ever else burdens himself with scru- 

 ples when business is to be done, they 

 will give way to no such weakness. 

 That is not only their secret thought, 

 but almost their open profession. 

 We find in this readiness of the 

 young to accept eagerly the worst 

 that the world of bvisiness can teach 

 them a very discouraging sign of the 

 times. 



And whence this fierce and deadly 

 determination to amass wealth at all 

 costs ? Why, wealth to-day means 

 so much: there are so raany more 

 ways than there used to be of dis- 

 playing and enjoying it, and so mvich 

 of social distinction attends the pos- 

 session of it. A man who has no 

 wealth cuts so small a figure in the 

 world. He may be this or that, but 



who cares much for him if he has 

 no money to spend ? So the mam- 

 mon-worshipei's reason, according to 

 the light, or the darkness, that is in 

 them. 



This is undoubtedly a weak spot 

 in our civilization. In reply to the 

 question, How is this generation 

 standing up against the seductions 

 of wealth ? the answer must be plain 

 and to the point — it is not standing 

 uj) well at all. The sacrifice of truth 

 and honor to the making of money 

 is widespread, and men justify them- 

 selves by the law of self-protection. 



It is not only in the sphere of 

 commerce that the spirit which we 

 have described is paramount. It is 

 seen in the professions, even the 

 highest; and money everywhere is 

 becoming the norm and standard by 

 which everything is judged. Its cor- 

 rupting power in the region of art is 

 one of the main motives of Count 

 Tolstoi's recent book. 



Among the strildng results of 

 modern scientific development none 

 is more conspicuous than the enor- 

 mous increase which has taken place 

 in the facilities for travel and com- 

 munication. The telegraph has es- 

 tablished a universal exchange of 

 news, and the columns of our daily 

 paijers ai-e overloaded in the attempt 

 to place it all under our eye. We are 

 supposed to be all very " busy men '' 

 nowadays, though we do not work so 

 long hours as our fathers and grand- 

 fathers ; and consequently every- 

 thing which is brought to our atten- 

 tion is comminuted, peptonized, and 

 otherwise prepared with a view to 

 the utmost economy of effort in con- 

 sumption. No newspaper would be 

 so barbarous as to give us a narra- 

 tion of any matter, however inter- 

 esting, without cutting it up into 

 nice little morsels, each with its own 

 catching title. Literature is more 

 and more taking* on the forms suited 

 not so much to busy as to idle people ; 



