The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-08-31

ciety and numerous others. And then
we have the Young women's Christian
Association and the Young Mems
Christian Association. the latter with
"A million members, half of them in the
United States. You may be inter
ested to know that the amount ex-
pended through the Y. M. c. A. In
this country each year Ia more than
twice as large as the total amount ex-
pended by the committees Of the lead
Ing parties in the last presidential
campaign; as a presidential campaign
comes once in four years. this means
that the total expenditures of the
Y. NJ G. A. during O period OF four
years are eight times as great as the
amount expended In national poll
tics.
But let us go outside our own coun-
try. In every nation with any degree
I of civilization an awakened conscience
is addressing Itself to some ethical
question. In China the opium traffic
has been the absorbing issue, but now
at an enormous sacrifice in national
revenue the fisht Is about won and
war has bean declared against gamb-
ling. China's second vice.
In most of the countries of Europe
the liquor question is the paramount
moral isue. In ireland two years ago
| met the founder of the Catch My Pal
Society. It began with a meeting be-
tween a minister and five drunken
men on the street during which one
Of the mon asked the minister to get
the other -four to sign the pledge. He
invited them TO come TO his house
when they were sober and sign the
pledge; they accepted the invitationand
after signing went out and brought
hack five more, each one his pal.
When the second five had signed the
ten brought In ten more and the
twenty organized a society. 1t has
since reached n membership Of one
hundred and twenty thousand and
has changed the habits OF entire COM
munities.
France. one of the great wine-pro-
ducing countries of the world, has,
through her government, decided 10
teach in the schools the effect OF alco-
hoi upon the system, a work com
menCed in this country many years ago
under the leadership Of the Womans
Christian Temperance Union.
But the most important item of
news on the subject of temperance
comes from Germany. Something
over two years ago Emperor Wilhelm,
speaking to the naval cadets at Mir
wig told them that In crisis that
might arise the country must depend
upon them, but that 1t could not do
so unless their brains were clear and
their nerves steady. And then he
warned them that alcohol would rob
their brains Of Clearness and their
nerves of steadiness and. in the name
# the F'atheriand appealed to them to
) join total abstinence societies and
held up for their inspiration the total
abstinence societies Of tho british
navy.
But there Is another phase of this
: moral awakening to which ! must call
your attention, namely, the change In
the point of view from which man are
{ considering public questions. Seven
4 teen years ago those most active in be-
r half of reforms were, for the most
e. part, men who felt an Immediate pc
] cuniary need OF remedial legislation
? This deep personal interest was mani
I Tested everywhere and II is not
s strange: we were then at the end OF
, an era of, falling prices, For nearly
| quarter of a century the dollar has
$ been rising In Its purchasing power
and the price level falling; for nearly
G twenty-five years the money owner
p and the money changer had beer
Aawing in nm unearned increment ant
- the world was being forced into bank
/ ruptCy. 1t was not national peri
e only but n menace TO the world.
Three times the leading nations had
- ioLhed in great conferences, everybody
everywhere admitting the seriousness
of the situation. the only question be
ing How shall we escape? That was
the situation then; now 1t Is al
changed. An unprecedented increase
In the production of a precious meta
has made ouch an enormous addition
to the worlds volume Of standard
money that conditions are now re
verscd
The purchasing power of the dollar
instead of rising s falling; the price
level instead OF falling is rising. the
world instead of going into bank
ruptcy is coming out. II You are pay
ing debt contracted sixteen years
ago you are paying 1t IN dollars that
will not on the average, purchase
more than two-thrds as much as the
dollars that you borrowed With THU
relief from the grinding process there
- has come an Independence that was
not then known-that was scarcely
then possible.
The political Independence which
we see in this country today is largely
/ the outgrowth of this moral awaken
= ing Men do not believe less In par
ties than they used to but they are
4 more strongly impellcd than formerly
L to regard the party as II means toar
end rather than an end in itself
They are coming to believe that the
best service that one can render to his
party is not to allow the party 10 sac
ririce the permanent welfare OF the
country to the temporary Interests
Of a party organization.
To this growing group of disinter'
ssted patriots / look for large labor
in the work that lies before us Nor II
, il entirely matter for the future
we are already enjoying the fruits OF
their toll If you ask me to name thf
one factor which more than any Other
accounts for the world wide, revolu
ton Of which we are now part,
reply that il ia this moral awakening
. this stirring of the conscience OF the
world. The. conscience 10 the mos