Compensations 1 1 1 



next generation will endure the bad consequences. If for 

 selfish motives they evade the labors and sacrifices of bearing 

 children, then even more will their posterity suffer. For 

 worse than inheriting a deteriorated life it will be cut off 

 from life entirely. 



But in the normal life, growing in strength and health, 

 they become rich and yet remain natural, and then these ad- 

 vantages and possibilities pass on to the younger ones, who 

 receive increased power together with the wisdom needed for 

 its use. 



If with wealth they cultivate conscience and wisdom, then 

 that wealth is worth much to their young, while if riches are 

 transmitted without moral strength they are a curse and a 

 burden. In any case it becomes clear that there is in this 

 visible process of compensation, an indication of a syste- 

 matic law which study of the individual life does not reveal. 

 In this system the life of today stands responsible in a joint 

 accountability of many persons, but it is still liable, and is 

 inevitably continuing an old account of responsibility. In 

 short the present generation impresses the lineage, the con- 

 duct unit, by its conduct, just as previous generations formed 

 it for transmission to them. And in the wider relations of 

 humanity, conduct shows similar causes and effects; it is 

 clear that innumerable generations and unnumbered rela- 

 tions are involved in the compensations just as are the four 

 or five here in view. And it may also be considered as an 

 evident truth that the further this law is traced the more 

 these effects will be found to be established in a compensatory 

 justice. 



