The indignant Greek, the oppressed Pole, the jealous American, assert it. The skeptic no less than the believer, the heretic no less than the faithful child of the church, have begun to enjoy it.
Man thinks faster and freer than ever before.
He moreover moves faster and freer. He is more restless, for the reason that he is more independent, than ever. Indeed, could one examine this beehive of ours from an observatory among the stars, he would perceive an unwonted degree of bustle in these later ages. He could not but notice that restless animal for whose sake it was contrived, but where he found one to admire with him his fair dwelling place, the ninety and nine would be scraping together a little of the gilded dust upon its surface. In considering the influence of the commercial spirit on the moral character of a nation, we have only to look at its ruling principle.