The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-05
Institutional Morality.

| A recent defence of Marat put forth by
/ Edward Bax in carefully written vol
/ ume of considerable size contains several
! interesting and rather startling things.
! though it is not likely to have much effect
! on public opinion of that character. But
/ one remark which Mr.. Bax makes in the
! course of his biography is worth the at
/ tention az students of political economy at
the present day. He says that the distin-
gushing popularity of Marat was distrust
| of bureaucracy; that he absolutely dis
credited the evidence of any man who
was connected. as an official. with cor
rupt official system, considering such evil
dence less trustworthy than that of
| criminal.
There is considerable sense in this, and
| it is an idea which is new to the general
prblic. If we ever come to a repetition of
the French Revolution in this country
there may perhaps arise another Marat,
and unquestionably he will hold the same
doctrine that first one did. that bureau
crat cannot be trusted. 1t has been proved
again and again that where there is an
investigation of a corrupt system men
connected with that system. corrupt in
their public acts, but pure and true in
their private life, will lie unhestatingly
in matters which affect the system. 1t is
true of religious, political, even educa-
tlonal systems. 1t is part of what may
be called institutional morality. which,
while it is a slight improvement on abso-
Lutte immortality. is far below the level of
real virtue. 1t amounts to organized mob
law.
Men of intelligence have testified that
when caught and swept into the mass
of a mob thirsty for blood, they lost
control of themselves, and did and said
things which they would not have
thought of when in their sober senses
in the same way, men with the
support of a strong system behind them
will do, or consent to. things abhorrent
to what might have been their priv ate
conscience. Does anyone suppose-to
take a small eSample-Jhat any one of the
boys who hazed helpless freshmen at
West Point would have taken younger
brother. or "A schoolmate ut home and
subjected him to like treatment? Prob
ably any one of them would have consid-
cred himself bully and a b!ackguard if
he had contemplated such thing. But
with the hazing system behind him he
could not only do it, but defend it on high
moral grounds. Again, man who is
scrupulously honest and truthful in his
some high dignitary of his church-lie
about it, if necessary-for fear that ex-
posture will hurt the Influence of the
church.
Such twisted morality is dangerous. 1t
is liable to be misconstrued by weak
minds, and give too great an opportunity
to strong ones. 1t makes embeZzlers and
hypocrites on one sue. and INSCRIPTIONS
cliques on the other. It is bad all the
way through. We need new standard OF
morality, and the world is waking up 10
Il IT fact. The standard which has been
held good for the individual must hold
good for the church, the college, the
State. Otherwise, as the public life of
the country becomes more and more
honeycombed with corruption, through
the perverted morality which teaches
that 1t is better to lie than to he found
out, we shall have another Reign of Ter
ror, and it will not pass so easily with
the Anglo-Saxon as with the Gaui and
the Latin.