THE CONCLUSION. 253 



ries ; and that the "practical politician " decides against 

 visionaries, while majorities support the "practical poli- 

 tician." This reasoning, though conspicuously false in 

 fact, has many supporters. It is false in the assumption 

 that others go farther than we in America in false eco- 

 nomic systems. We represent the civilized portion of one 

 of the five continents. Surely this makes us responsible 

 for much. Second, to assume that the people of America 

 are incapable of appreciating the advantages of a course 

 which, if adopted, would undoubtedly lead to " immense 

 blessings," is far from flattering to their intellectual 

 capacities. Third, it puts a terribly low estimate on the 

 power of moral purpose ; this is where the great mistake 

 is made, when the would-be reformer allows it to deter 

 him from action in behalf of the right. And yet it does 

 deter. 



Men of character, of the noblest purpose, see that dan- 

 gerous conditions are settling in upon us, and that every 

 good citizen is required to stand for that which is true 

 and right, and that only. Bishop Cleveland Coxe tells 

 us in America, that " we are confronted by the terrible 

 fact that we are undergoing changes similar to those 

 which have been the ruin of ancient peoples in many 

 examples." 



Bishop Benjamin Whipple says : "Awful problems 

 stare us in the face — the centralization of swarms of 

 souls in the cities, the wealth of the nation in fewer 

 hands, competition making a life-and-death struggle." 

 Bishop Spalding points to dangers which already hover 

 over and around the great American Republic : " If we 

 have been able to found a durable state with what else- 

 where and hitherto has been the least stable kind of 

 government, our success is to be ascribed to causes, 



