Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/865

Rh particularly in relation to the treatment of the wage-earning class, which is abhorrent to humane employers; but these very men see no escape for themselves from practices and policies which in their hearts they utterly condemn, save in a complete abandonment of the field of business competition. If some of our leading men of business would speak out frankly all they know, they could a tale unfold which, if not as grewsome as that of the ghost in Hamlet, would be full of baleful significance. The late Mr. Glad.stone, toward the end of a long life of most varied experiences, said in reply to the question of a friend that the most serious evil he saw in the world to-day was the prevailing lust of wealth. This was not said lightly, but, as we are told, with an accent of great concern. Socialism and militarism, the aged statesman thought, were both less threatening evils than the accursed thirst for gold. To-day we are breeding up a race of men hardened in advance for the conflict before them. What the practice of the market requires them to do, that they are prepared to do; and whoever else burdens himself with scruples when business is to be done, they will give way to no such weakness. That is not only their secret thought, but almost their open profession. We find in this readiness of the young to accept eagerly the worst that the world of business can teach them a very discouraging sign of the times.

And whence this fierce and deadly determination to amass wealth at all costs? Why, wealth to-day means so much: there are so many more ways than there used to be of displaying and enjoying it, and so much of social distinction attends the possession of it. A man who has no wealth cuts so small a figure in the world. He may be this or that, but who cares much for him if he has no money to spend? So the mammon-worshipers reason, according to the light, or the darkness, that is in them.

This is undoubtedly a weak spot in our civilization. In reply to the question, How is this generation standing up against the seductions of wealth? the answer must be plain and to the point—it is not standing up well at all. The sacrifice of truth and honor to the making of money is widespread, and men justify themselves by the law of self-protection.

It is not only in the sphere of commerce that the spirit which we have described is paramount. It is seen in the professions, even the highest; and money everywhere is becoming the norm and standard by which everything is judged. Its corrupting power in the region of art is one of the main motives of Count Tolstoi's recent book.

Among the striking results of modern scientific development none is more conspicuous than the enormous increase which has taken place in the facilities for travel and communication. The telegraph has established a universal exchange of news, and the columns of our daily papers are overloaded in the attempt to place it all under our eye. We are supposed to be all very "busy men" nowadays, though we do not work so long hours as our fathers and grandfathers; and consequently everything which is brought to our attention is comminuted, peptonized, and otherwise prepared with a view to the utmost economy of effort in consumption. No newspaper would be so barbarous as to give us a narration of any matter, however interesting, without cutting it up into nice little morsels, each with its own catching title. Literature is more and more taking* on the forms suited not so much to busy as to idle people;