OCTOBKK 16, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



549 



These words are responsibility and oppor- 

 tunity. The former I have tried to discharge 

 in an earnest effort to secure papers, and 

 arrange an equally interesting and profit- 

 able program for this sectional meeting, and 

 the latter I try to meet in the address which 

 follows. 



This year the title of Section I is changed, 

 and its scope enlarged. It is no longer the 

 Section of Economic Science and Statistics, 

 but the Section of Social and Economic 

 Science. 



This change was precipitated by a series 

 of resolutions presented before the Brook- 

 lyn meeting of 1894. The purport of the 

 resolutions was, that inasmuch as the stated 

 object, no less than the true function of the 

 American Associa^tion, is to promote the ad- 

 vancement of all science, including the 

 science of society, it was in duty bound to 

 .aid and assist all desirable reforms, to the 

 end that the progress of modern society, by 

 the application of scientific principles and 

 methods, might be advanced and its per- 

 petuity assured. 



At the same meeting an amendment to 

 the constitution was proposed, which 

 changed the name, as already stated, and 

 -so enlarged the field as to include all those 

 branches of knowledge which deal with the 

 political, commercial, economic and social 

 life of mankind. This amendment was 

 adopted at the Springfield meeting of last 

 year, and we now meet for the first time as 

 a section of social and economic science. 

 Permit me to add that, in my judgment, 

 the all-inclusive term ' social science ' 

 would have been sufficient, for the word 

 ' economic ' only defines a branch of the 

 larger science already named. 



We live in an era of reforms. At first 

 man was a reformer by primal necessity. 

 He transformed or reformed nature to meet 

 his bodily wants. His life was a mere 

 struggle for existence. 



In time he turned his eyes inward and 



studied himself. He first dimly saw that 

 there were higher ends and nobler purposes 

 than mere sensual enjoyment. He slowly 

 learned that his passions and appetites 

 were created to serve and sustain, not to 

 master and destroy. 



Then, turning his eyes outward, and 

 scanning his relation to others, he found, 

 not justice, much less love and good will, 

 but necessity on the one hand and advan- 

 tage on the other, controlling the dealings of 

 man with man. He met no recognition of 

 the brotherhood of the human race. But 

 progress is a law of our being, and we have 

 now reached a point where ethical laws are 

 being applied to practical life. 



To this end are the various special re- 

 forms of this day and generation mainly 

 directed. There are reforms in church and 

 state polity, reforms in municipal govern- 

 ment, educational reforms, prison reforms, 

 dress reforms, reforms in eating and drink- 

 ing, and numerous other special reform 

 movements, which challenge our attention. 



"What the true, genuine reform spirit of 

 our age is seeking to establish is the 

 equality of human rights; an equality that 

 disregards all disparities of race, sex or 

 color, of strength, knowledge or creed ; an 

 equality that is plainly and tersely ex- 

 pressed in the Declaration of Independence: 



' ' "We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all 

 men are created equal; that they are endowed by 

 their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that 

 among those are life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 

 piness. ' ' 



As a people we may be selfish, short- 

 sighted and sinful, yet there is a strong un- 

 dercurrent of moral obligation to live for 

 the highest good of humanity, to cooperate 

 with that 'power which makes for right- 

 eousness.' 



Through all the folly and evils of our 

 time there comes to every discerning ear a 

 voice which speaks to us in no uncertain 

 tone. Its message is this : Teach the child 



