412 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



leading strings and all the paraphernalia 

 of creeping childhood or timorous im- 

 becility. We see before us, as we be- 

 lieve, a prospect of manhood for the 

 American people — such a manhood as 

 they have never before attained to — one 

 of the chief signs of which will be a 

 proud confidence in themselves, and, in 

 connection and through harmony there- 

 with, a noble and generous bearing to- 

 ward all other nations. Heretofore men 

 politically prominent among ourselves 

 have not been ashamed to suggest that 

 the best policy for us was the one that 

 wrought most evil to other countries, 

 and have thus fed and stimulated all 

 that was meanest and most malignant 

 in the minds of those whom they ad- 

 dressed. There has thus been cultivated 

 among a people which ought, from its 

 advantages of position, to be the most 

 cosmopolitan and broadly philanthropic 

 of all nations a tone of feeling more pet- 

 ty and parochial than could perhaps be 

 found in any other community of the 

 modern world. The mark has, how- 

 ever, been overshot, and the better feel- 

 ing and better sense of the American 

 people are now, we may trust, about to 

 assert themselves. To be too sanguine 

 in regard to the coming change would 

 only lead to disappointment ; but that 

 in the main a better spirit will preside 

 over our national life in the future we 

 confidently believe. Once let the Ameri- 

 can people make fair trial of themselves 

 under a regime of liberty, and nothing 

 will lure them back to the lame and sin- 

 ister devices which have been so delu- 

 sively put forward in the past as the 

 props and safeguards of national pros- 

 perity. 



But not in the political sphere alone, 

 as we have already hinted, is progress 

 to be anticipated. The moment is pro- 

 pitious for an advance all along the line. 

 It is science that has won the battle of 

 liberty, and science should reap its re- 

 ward in a fuller recognition of its claims. 

 When we say that science has won the 

 battle of liberty, what we mean is that 



the full, ample, and exhaustive discus- 

 sion of economical questions that has 

 taken place before the American people 

 has brought certain conclusions into a 

 clear light; the truth has forced its way 

 through the mists of sophistry and all 

 the obstructions that selfishness and 

 prejudice could place in its path. The 

 result, the great result, is that many 

 minds have been opened to the recog- 

 nition that in the recent election it was 

 not a party that triumphed, but a prin- 

 ciple, a truth, that vindicated itself. 

 Hence the conclusion will inevitably be 

 drawn that in the region of human ac- 

 tion there are principles capable of 

 demonstration ; in other words, that sci- 

 ence, which points the way to demon- 

 strations and is itself built on demon- 

 strations, is the proper guide of life. The 

 applications of this conclusion are too 

 numerous to point out on the present 

 occasion ; but we may hope that many 

 such applications will spontaneously sug- 

 gest themselves to our readers, and that, 

 in such efforts as we ourselves may make 

 hereafter to bring home the lesson, we 

 may have many zealous helpers. The less 

 we can all think of party and the more 

 we can think of principles at the pres- 

 ent crisis the better it will be ; for it is 

 upon the thorough comprehension and 

 acceptance of a principle, and not on 

 the triumph of a party, that the future 

 welfare of the American people de- 

 pends. 



GOOD ROADS AND COUNTRY LIFE. 



An unmistakable demand for good 

 common roads is being heard in all 

 parts of the United States. This de- 

 mand is rapidly growing in volume and 

 is taking on the systematic organization 

 which is essential to the success of such 

 a movement. That bad roads in this 

 country cause an enormous loss of 

 money each year to those who use them 

 may be clearly proved, but this fact is 

 veiled from many persons because they 

 have never known anything better. 



