Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/392

 376 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

have been no conscience about refusing to pay what was felt to be theft or robbery, as in many instances was the actual case. Now, on the other hand, with the growth of democracy, the people have a voice in saying how they shall be taxed. But we are still heirs of the former social sentiment, where conscience authorized a defiance of the tax collector, if it could be done. It will take some time for the development of a new sentiment in regard to this matter in the application of a moral sense to the problem of paying taxes. Yet I am inclined to think that at the end of another century people will begin to have sharp twinges of conscience at smuggling in goods at the custom house, or in paying a smaller share of the taxes than is due from them.

The sudden rapid change in political institutions and in the social structure from this standpoint within the last century has really caused a temporary weakening of the authority of con- science along such special lines. The sad part of it is that such a weakening may go farther, and shake the foundations of the moral sense at their very source. It is just this fact, more than any other, which should encourage us to do all we can to build up a higher public sentiment with regard to conduct between the individual and impersonal corporations, or between the individual and his city, state, or nation. Otherwise, the whole standard of moral character may collapse.

I have dwelt on the fact that conscience, in its higher forms, is a comparatively new phase in evolution. The evidence for this assertion is on the surface, in the quick relapse to primitive states of feeling when certain changes occur. In war, taking the life of a fellow human creature for the time being becomes a duty. But under the influences of such rapid shifting in the applications of the moral sense, soldiers from civilized races relapse oftentimes into a state of positive savagery.

We shall by and by come to see that, if the evolution of con- science goes on, and with it the advancement of civilization, it will come only by a positive effort in fostering the moral sense, and being on the guard lest society take courses that may cause such a temporary step backward. When the relapse has occurred