, 1870-06-12
EOCIAL EIENCE.

bearing upon the well-being Of society, the
average citizen has little time to bestow up
on such neetnga The am0Rht Of thinking
done anywhere, upon any subject that hss
not an immediate relation to the getting of
our daily bread, is always small, and, what
they do not think about, men do not care
for. Reforms, whether social, moral, re- ]
Ggious, or political, are carried by the few. |
In that sense the world is governed BY the |
minority, by the people who think, and who,
in The progress Of time, draw the unthink- |
ing multitude after them. It is not, there
fore, thing to complain Of, or be surprised
at, that, when few men come together to
discuss the evils under which society labors,
md to devise a remedy for them, they
should find q want of popular recognition
Of the work they propose to do, and want
of popular enthusiasm in the doing Of it.
We're it otherwise, there would be little
need Of their meeting at al; for it is be-
cause they see what the people do not see.
and because they apprehend necessity,
which the people do not apprehend, that
there is any work for them to do. When
once the evils are universally recognized, it
is but short step to their correction. It
took the early Abolitionists more than
quarter Of q century to convince any large
portion Of the Northern people that slavery
WIS wrong and q Ein that ought to be i'm
indefinitely abolished. Nor was it till
slavery made open war upon the
rights Of Northern freemen that
,f 5.d
how desperate an evil it was, to abolish
which they were ready to lay down their
lives. Those who first proclaimed the
truth preached for years almost unheeded,
by the wayside and in by-places, and only
attracted attention when their numbers had
become sufficient to excite fear Of their
success in disturbing the existing relations
of society. And it must always be SO.
Society is ever supine under wrongs which
it does not recognize rs wrongs, and arouses
itself to the earnest call Of the reformer
only when he has been SO far needed that
its tranquility Is threatened.
The importance Of the questions, there
fore, which the Social Science Conventions
are called together to discuss, is not to be
"e0 s1A0 ' ~
10y
pao'4e' to 4o -.
-
men, and q scientific analysis OF their char-
as.e, aAu - w." % -
enAaA"t.' f0N''s e4&4' =, SA>4' 3AA
ssnee % Popu'Al eA,e"'n1' 1u 'o0
nopeiuA lung aooa' 1nie se'e.a4 se.ence
movement - Liz. II .s4@s "''t1e'eo auu n3'
aanen .n'o .ne n1n'ls ~ 1'en - "ao 0!e eApa-
ois VI aeas'ns .ne Piooiem7 ~ eone4ue!s -
sc1enInc p.oo'ems' anu ~ o''ns ~ oesi
upon tnt1i' lne iules WHICH, oe,ons - 0n e1-
nct SCIENCE III removing enem oeSona
ne unusnce u Popaiat paSs'ou auu
PfeJoo1ce 1oey secure 1o1 .ne11 HI 1mpasl'al
ana paaent near1ng' a'o IL appea1'as 10
1eason alone afe tne a1o.e 4'Ae'S - seeoie
an carrier ano a Wiser 1nosnene' ihete
afe very lew persons IN any community "ho
afe not feaoy 10 ackno~leoee that
there is much IN onf socla1 condition
that might be oettered. but the dilhcuify
has usually been with 1eformers. tnat, IN
demanding change, they ignore the rela-
uons OF parts 10 1ne Wnole, ana, by Pafaal
efforts IN single direction, only SO outrage
the sense OF right, OF OF necessity, or or
convenience, IN mems mnds SO frampie
upon tneaf soc1ai' OF 1ene1onss OF ponncal'
or moral relations that they arouse opposi-
aon instead OF eo-opezanon' ana make 1t
almost impossible to do that which, IN an
thef way maen1 nave peen easily accom-
plsheo. II as .ne VeI5 purpose OF soca" SCI
ence 10 aVola th1s error; 10 eons1aer society
rs whole anu not merely IN 1ts parts; TO
compass UNIFORM and complete improve
ment, and not spasmodlc and partial reform
only; to Keep out OF the domain
OF passion and mere self-lnterest,
and BY scientific treatment and analysis,
reduce eoeiety to the condition which en-
dGhtened men have always believed 1t
capable OF reaching, and which religious
men mean, II they mean anything, when
ahey pray that H1s kingdom come
and = His viii be done on earth as 1t IS
IN Heaven" It ls thas' as We understand
1t, which Is the great central idea OF the
socaal science movement, and 30 far from
there being any encouragement in the fact
that these meetings are not immensely at
frHcfjyA and r1nr]ar it ia rather thin1 IN