ALTRUISM 269 



effeminacy, despotism, and the like, and these are 

 all phases of egoism. Practically every decline of 

 nations may be traced to a decadence of the prin- 

 ciple of altruism and an increase in egoism. Some- 

 times it has been the egoism of the people, who be- 

 come more and more centered in self-interests and 

 less and less willing to yield anything to the good of 

 the country or society. More commonly it has been 

 the egoism of the ruling classes, who cease to re- 

 member that the lower classes exist. The former 

 results in decay, the latter in revolution. In all later 

 centuries, at all events, a ruler or a ruling class has 

 commonly obtained his or its power by promising an 

 increased benefit to the people, and their strength 

 has been simply that which has been given them 

 from below. But if, after the power is obtained, the 

 promises are forgotten, and the ruler tries to rule 

 for self-aggrandizement, the inevitable result is 

 revolution. Only as the government rules for the 

 masses can its foundation stand. 



Ethics Demands Sacrij&ces. — Ethics places the race 

 before the individual. In the relations of modern 

 society it frequently hapjjens that the good of some 

 individual is in opposition to the good of society. 

 Viewing the subject from the standpoint of the ad- 

 vantage to the individual and leaving out of con- 

 sideration all reference to life after death, it is per- 

 fectly clear that the interests of the individual are 

 frequently opposed to the interests of society. Many 

 a time in life it would be of worldly advantage to the 

 individual to commit a theft or to obtain by the 

 power of his superior strength or intelligence cer- 

 tain advantages which others possess and which he 

 lacks. But ethics forbids such actions, even though 



