Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-16
Social Responsibility.
Enthusiasm in Its Behalf Needs Expert and Edit
Gated Direction, Says President Peabody of
Religious Education Association.

! view VI pIOSIcsS Tic VI pIiiiOS-
ophy. All social change is at bottom
economic change. The institutions, mo-
ralty and religion of any age are products
OF its economic conditions. Tell me how
you get what you eat and / Will tell you
/ what you are The consistent socialist
therefore declines all entangling alliances
with other forms of social amelioration
and devoIes himself wholly to economic
revolution. with the assurance that the
new industrial order will bring with it a
new human nature to enjoy it. This eco
nomic Interpretation Of history is. no
doubt. encouraged by many facts, and 1t
would be sheer sentimentalism to ignore
the restorative effects OF improved in
dustrial conditions. But to see in the
social question nothing more than an
economic program is to miss the very
note which gives pathos and poignancy
| to the present agitation. The social ques-
ton is not most active where economic
conditions are at their worst. or most
ira nquil where wages are highest, but on
the contrary becomes most critical IN
those countries where production is most
abundant and the condition of the wage
earners most hOpeful-in Germany, Great
Britain and the United States. The social!
question, in other words, Is not a sign OF
economic decadence. but or economic
progress. 1t meets people, not on tnelr
way down. but on their way up. 1t comes
not of having less, but of wanting more.
1t accompanies not decrease or posses
siOns. but increase of desires. In other
words, tNOORnNlC ltSeil III Tic id1i-
guage of economic life, it proceeds from
motives which lie much deeper in human
life than the demand for a redistrlpu-
ton of wealth. What Is this new note
which is heard in the social movement,
and which draws to its service the mind
Of the present age? 1t is the note OF duty.
the demand for justice, opportunity. the
illumination of life. In short. the social
question is at bottom an ethical question,
whose interior nature must be interpreted
in terms Of morals, and whose appeal Is
finally made to the social conscience. IL
is not only true that the need OF the time
is for more competent leadership, but 1t Is
also true that this leadership must oe
equipped with an ethical idealism and
trained in the faith that such ethical
idealism is the key alike OF souno
philosophy and of a stable social Worlo-
The next step In social progress must tEe
scientific habit of mind with the idealist' 8
direction of the will. The fountains OF
healing for the social evils of the time
spring where the streams Of science and
idealism meet.
II Il
"And where, then, are we to look Tor
this new contribution of social science
and social ethics to give direction to the
social conscience? Many sources of such
social sanity must be recognized ana
utilized but 1t becomes evident that the
new demand provides new opportunity
for the higher education. university.
IL it fulfills in any degree its function, Is
likely to have at least these two kinds or
influences on the plastic life of youth In
the first place, it should train the scientific
spirit into an instinct Of the intellectual
life. Matthew Arnold said of Aeschylus
that he saw things steadily and saw them
whole. That is the best lesson that can
be taught by an academic teacher-the
capacity to look on the facts OF life not
excitedly and passionately. but sanely and
steadily, and to see them, not as rag
ments, but as parts. of comprehensive
| whole.
I'm the second place, the centers of the
| higher learning share with the tnstitu-
| tons of religious worship the supreme
| function of representing In national HE
| faith in ethical idealism. Education. II
must be admitted, has been much modified
| by the practical demands OF the modern
world, but 1t still remains true that our
| colleges and universities provide natural
| atmosphere for the idealst's vision and
hope. On the one hand the great masters
| of thought. the great ideas of the reason.
| the universal laws of science. the peren-
rial persuasion of art. invite the mind be-
| yond tie fragrentary and temporary 10
| see things steadily and see them whole,
| and on the other there looks up to these
heights of the ideal the unspoiled life of
youth. not yet bent down by the tasks of
! life, Blu. ere:L and responsive. with the
! rays of dawn on their white shields OF ex-
| pectancy. These are our natural ideal.
lists A liberal education has failed OF
| it's main intention If it does not prolong
and justify the natural idealism of healthy
minded youth.
AT this point. then. the universities
| and the social conscience meet. BY one OF
the most Interesting transitions in the his
| tory of education the academic life has
| made a new connection with the modern
world Instead of being sidetracked In
scnc' astIcism and dilettantism. the higher
4 to, C<fA md in nh
| has been dtvticred into trunk line.
| which leads from learning to life. new
series of :itades has been Incorporated
| in the curriculum of the universities.
Where generation ago scarcely single
| academic course was offered In any coun-
| try which approached tho social question
| as problem OF phi 'osophy, today. In Ger
| MANY, France, Great Britain and the
United States. no university regards its
system of inst rCtion as complete without
proposing to apply the principles of eco
nomics and of ethics to the questions OF
| the social OF der and contributing trained
recruits to the army of social service. NO
| group of studies proves more inviting to
students thar those which thus analyZe
| and interpret the problems of modern
society. Eduration is touched, in an un-
precede1ted oeGree, by the spirit of So
! cial morality In my own university more
than 800 students voluntarily associate
| themselves each year. under skilled direc-
| ton. in various forms of social servict,
! and thcow thcmst Ives into these undertake
ings OF rhilo! thropy with athletic zest. A
| new protest. on with its own professional
school, Is N prtC CESS Of creation. and 1t
! mas as yet the peculiar advantage OF be-
/ ing one OF few vocations now inviting edu-
/ Gated men and women where the demand
still outruns the supply. This response of
| the universities to the call of the social
! conscience has already had perceptible
! effects in the Sc ca; struggle itself. The
| finest expression. for example. OF modern
! phila a-hropy-that self-effacing neighbour
| liness which we call the settlement sys-
! tem-was devised by a university tutor.
! established by university students, and for
| years bore the title of the university set
| tlement plan. Industrial reform feels the
| same erect cf academic idealsm.. The
| employing class has been, for the most
| part, reluctantly driven to social ameliora-
| ton. and the more important steps have
| been taker by an unexpected combination
/ Of numbers and ideas. The wage-earners
/ have provided the first. and the philoso-
| pliers hav, Lrovi6ed the second. How to
| know enough &c be OF real use; how to
see enough to ne a real leader: how to be
| good enough to be good or something
| that Is the new problem of social service
which gives to academic training its new
| Importance In the moral education Of the
! human race.
Nor can one srop even here in this esti-
mate of education In its relation to the
| social conscience. II Ia not only true that
the appeal o. the social conscience is ex-
pandi1g and MOI sl!zing the sphere Of the
| academic life, but 1t is still further true
that there may ts discerned in the uni