The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-01-23
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

The tendency of the present age is
very markedly in the direction of CO.
operation Of agencies and huge COM
binations of capital. 1t is an age of
conglomerates. In its own lingo its
cry is: "Get togetherl" Whether it
be the legal corporation or the tenn
porary committee, the aim is to com
bine and conquer. The commercial
and soc al effects of such combina-
ton are far-reaching, and impossible
of complete calculation. The moral
aspects of this condition" however,
afford quite as interesting a topic for
study, though not so often discussed.
What has been the effect of combina-
ton on conscience and character?
How far have 'trusts," pools, ""cor-
ners," unions" and the like, affected
the notion of individual responsible
ity? How far has the third personal
"they" of a plural and promiscuous
aggregation distracted attention from
the insistant thou" of an individual
duty applied directly in the second
person singular? These are impor-
tant questions.
This notion of the corporate con-
science" is to blame for most of the
dishonesty and INN orality that IS
perpetrated by Wholesale. So far as
/ the phrase conveys any meaning at
all to the vendors of 1t, it seems to
imply kind of moral composite
photograph representing the average
ethics of all the parties to the com
| bine. Thus in many a corporation
| the acute conscience of the highest
minded member of the concern is not
allowed to decide policy, nor per-
baps is the sordid preference of the
meanest man in the organization de-
cisive, but what is generally inf1uen-
tial is middle view lying somewhere
between these extremes.
In our ethics we must get down to
the individual man. Whenever evil
has been done there is always some
body who did it. When Epitimius,
one of the ancients, had killed horse
by throwing a javelin during the pro-
gress of the public games, his father
spent a whole day disputing with
another man as to what might have
been the cause of the horses death,
the javelin, the thrower, or the presi-
dent of the gamesl But it is puerile
to obscure issues in this way. Such
juggling with responsibility will not
do, Epitimius killed the horse.
This illusion of responsibility
which comes of action at long range
is illustrated not alone in mercantile
spheres, but as we'll in many lines of
social, educational and even religious
life. When men combine for any
purpose the tendency is at once to
refer conscience to committees. For
what is committee good for, if it is
not to relieve one of ones own duty?
God deals with Individuals. Con-
scienceless corporations he keenly
analyses into their constituent moral
elements. The Recording Angel
never debts sin to a system or a
crime to company. What he tabu-
lates is personality. Men will not be
crowned or mathematical en- masse,
but individually. Humanity is born,
lives, dies and is judged one by one.
1t is this sense of responsibility
which is the steadying force in his
tory, and that cannot be lost out of
life, national or individual, with any
degree of safety. The notion of &C
countability to mere human author
ity is often efficient, since it keeps the
sentry on his beat, the cashier at his
desk, and the captain on the bridge.
But humanity is also taken account
of by heavenly tribunal, and there
fore, the most solemn reflection that
can ever cross the mind of human
being is, as Webster realized the per-
sistent thought: II must answer
Godp-Ne1O York Observer.