THE EVOLUTION OF THE MORAL SENSE 103 



charity for justice. We sympathize with the ' ' other 

 half" and try to alleviate their discomforts without 

 striking at the root of the evil and removing the 

 social conditions that make that ''half" a possi- 

 bility. Our social conditions too frequently deny to 

 our brother what he has really earned, and we have 

 been content to try to make this up to him by giving 

 to him some of the things which we happen to have 

 in our possession, though we ourselves may never 

 have earned them. Our courts are frequently 

 travesties of justice; and recognizing this, we try 

 sometimes to compensate by giving to the unfortu- 

 nate what he has not earned and perhaps does not 

 desire. But all this is simply an indication that we 

 are far from having reached perfection even in the 

 matter of sympathy, and one cannot be really ac- 

 quainted with history without realizing that each 

 century has seen an advance in these respects. But 

 while the grade of morality of the higher races 

 surely stands on a higher plane to-day than in any 

 earlier century, it is also a fact that our ideals ad- 

 vance faster than the race can apply them. As a 

 result, in practical morals the race seems farther 

 from its ideals to-day than ever, since those ideals 

 keep so much ahead of practice. Consequently, 

 we not infrequently find those who tell us that 

 the world is growing worse instead of better. If 

 such persons would compare the actual conditions 

 of to-day with the actual conditions of earlier cen- 

 turies, instead of comparing them with the will-o'- 

 the-wisp ideals, no conclusion would be possible 

 except that there has been and still is a constant 

 advance. 



The Sense of Duty. — Neither fear, love, pride, nor 



