THE PRICE OF DEVELOPMENT 



with other families. In the dealing of tribes with 

 tribes in prehistoric times, the question of right and 

 wrong played probably little or no part; might alone 

 settled matters. In what we call the pagan world, 

 among the early Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, and 

 Romans, the law of might in the dealings of one na- 

 tion with another prevailed, and up to our own 

 time the standard of international morality has 

 been, and still is, far below the standard among in- 

 dividuals and neighborhood communities. Even in 

 the United States there is a crying want of public 

 conscience. The people are preyed upon by men 

 they elect to serve them. The men or corporations 

 that take pleasure and satisfaction in serving the 

 public well and reasonably, or in giving a quid pro 

 quo, are rare. Men who are blameless in their per- 

 sonal dealings with one another will, when formed 

 into a board of directors or trustees, rob railroads, 

 and squander money not their own. Capitalists will 

 band together to rob the state through the con- 

 struction of sham highways or flimsy public build- 

 ings. A public conscience is among all peoples of 

 slow growth, and an international conscience is still 

 slower. What part has it played in the history of 

 Europe? Surely a very minor part. The Golden Rule 

 has been turned into an iron rule of might over 

 right times without number, by all the nations re- 

 cently engaged in war. 



As man's moral consciousness has developed, the 



153 



