ALTRUISM 255 



selfishness, and masterful authority of its leaders 

 rather than by the spirit of humility and love 

 taught by Christ. Egoism rather than altruism lay 

 behind this mighty force. Even the crusades, that 

 series of events which awakened Europe, although 

 actuated in large degree by religious devotion, was, 

 after all, controlled by the same law of ambition. 

 Had it not been for the ambitions of the leaders, for 

 the love of military glory, for the desire of power, 

 the crusades would hardly have been episodes in the 

 world's history. Again, we find it in the increasing 

 concentration which developed at the close of the 

 crusades. The modern nations were built out of the 

 chaotic fragments of the Middle Ages by the grow- 

 ing central power of the king; and this king, while 

 pretending to act for the good of his people, was 

 actuated fundamentally by the desire for personal 

 aggrandizement. In more recent times we see it in 

 the growth of the money power which has in our day 

 acquired the rule over the world, replacing that of 

 the kings of earlier days. No one questions for a 

 moment that it is selfishness which has been at the 

 foundation of the accumulation of this money power 

 in the hands of the few. In the events of to-day, in 

 the organization of capital into ''trusts" and labor 

 into ' ' unions, ' ' the same principles of selfishness and 

 greed must be recognized as the active motives. 

 Even our philanthropic movements are in no small 

 degree controlled by the ambitions of their leaders. 

 Probably there has not been a truly ''holy war" in 

 history, for all have been dominated from the begin- 

 ning by the ambitions of the leaders, who appeal to 

 religious fervor or sympathy with down-trodden 

 people, as a motive to incite the enthusiasm suffi- 



