128 THE MORAL ASPECT OF 



to a rude people, and what would be left of our prosperity 

 at the end of six months? 



The wealth of a nation is the product of two factors^ 

 neither of which can be left out of account. One of them 

 is the material means, the other is the intelligence and 

 rectitude, the industry and the skill that employ them. 

 And if I were forced to distinguish between these, I should 

 say that the latter is by far the larger factor of the two. I 

 should much prefer to share the destiny of a people which 

 is great in the qualities of its men, even although their 

 hands were empty, than that of a wealthy nation whose 

 citizens had lost their manhood. 



If it is urged, in reply, that these are familiar truths, 

 I answer, "Undoubtedly. But their familiarity seems to 

 have obscured their significance. They are, so far as our 

 practical diagnosis and our legislative remedy are con- 

 cerned, outside our thoughts ; our assent to them has 

 been merely theoretic and academic." We have stated the 

 problem of our national prosperity with one of the 

 supreme conditions left out, and in politics, as in mathe- 

 matics or science, the solution must be either impossible or 

 wrong. The problem has to be stated over again. It is 

 a primary requirement of the present situation, now that 

 the question of our national ways of doing business has 

 been raised, to state the problem with a greater breadth of 

 outlook, and with strict fidelity to all the fundamental 

 facts of the case. 



This has not been done. We may admire the boldness, 

 whatever we may think of the wisdom, of the statesman 

 who is primarily responsible for shattering our national 

 complacency, challenging our familiar ways, and pointing 

 us back to discarded methods of trading. So far as he has 



