Christian Citizenship 265 



Besides developing this sense of brotherhood, the 

 feeling which breeds respect both for one's self and 

 for others, your Associations have a peculiar value in 

 showing what can be done by acting in combination 

 without aid from the State. While on the one hand 

 it has become evident that under the conditions of 

 modern life we can not allow an unlimited individ 

 ualism which may work harm to the community, it 

 is no less evident that the sphere of the State's action 

 should be extended very cautiously, and so far as 

 possible only where it will not crush out healthy in 

 dividual initiative. Voluntary action by individuals 

 in the form of associations of any kind for mutual 

 betterment or mutual advantage often offers a way 

 to avoid alike the dangers of State control and the 

 dangers of excessive individualism. This is particu 

 larly true of efforts for that most important of all 

 forms of betterment, moral betterment the moral 

 betterment which usually brings material betterment 

 in its train. 



It is only in this way, by all of us working to 

 gether in a spirit of brotherhood, by each doing his 

 part for the betterment of himself and of others, that 

 it is possible for us to solve the tremendous problems 

 with which as a nation we are now confronted. Our 

 industrial life has become so complex, its rate of 

 movement so very rapid, and the specialization and 

 differentiation so intense that we find ourselves face 



VOL. XII. L 



