The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1921-10-14

of work as a degrading servitude to
be done with reluctance and grudg-
ing inefficency, seems to be the ideal
Of millions of men OF all classes and
IL all countries" The great enigma,
then, which this situation propounds
TO us, and which, like the riddle Of
the Sphinx, we will solve or be de-
stroyed," is this: Has the increase
in the potential of human power,
through thermodynamics, been ac-
complshed by a corresponding in
crease in the potential of human
charscter?" Unfortunately,
"A mass morality has ben substi-
tutd for individual morality, and
group morality generally intensifies
the vices more than the virtues Of
man. What was true of Germany
was true-although in lesser de-
gree-of all civilized nations. In all
of them, the individual had been sub
merged in group formations, and the
effect upon the character of man has
not been beneficial.
There are many palliatives for the
evils which | have )discussd. To re-
kindle in men the love of work for
works sake and the spirit of disci-
! pline, which the lost sense of human
solidarity once inspired, would do
much to solve the problem, for work
| is the greatest moral force in the
world If we of this generation can
only recognize that the evil exists,
then the situation is not past rene
dy
4 have faith in the inextinguisha-
BILE spark of the Divine which is in
the human soul and which our COM
plex mechanical civilization has not
extinguished. OF this, the World
War was in itself a proof. All the
horrible resources of mechanics and
chemistry were utilized to coerce the
human soul, and all proved ineffectu-
al"
This Thoughtful and philosophical
address can not fail to exert consid-
cradle influence" believes The Re
formed Church Messenger, and it
asks:
us the Church doing all that is
within her power to bring her chill
dren back to the law and the testi-
mony,' and to inspire them with the
vision which alone can bring guidance
and restraint and make life decent,
tolerant and brotherly? OF all men
in the world, Christian pastors have
the largest responsibility to-day in
emphasizing the truth that the duty
of everyone consists in respecting the
rights of others The peril of the
hour is that classes and individuals
are trying to diminish other peoples
rights and then enlarge their own.
And the wages of lawlessness is chaos
and death.
1t is a gloomy picture Mr.. Block
has drawn, says The Catholic Vigil
(Grand Rapids)-"a picture that is
all shadow" He sees tradition
swept aside by a generation which
'in its wild debauch of freedom has
thrown it's heritage to the winds and
turned it's drunken steps into the
darkness" Then,
What is to be the outcome of it
all? The supreme test Of mans
building came in the World War
which focused the manifold weak
nesses of that building; the strain
was too great. 1t is no longer a
crisis that confronts the world. but
failure, the same failure that con-
fronted the race at the dawn of
things, the failure of humanity to
get along without God. Were every
invention of the mechanical era WHIP
ed out to-day at single stroke, hui
mainly would be the richer; there
would be less poverty, less discomfort,
less maddening money fever than
there is to-day. We have simply
taken the wrong road and we have
about reached the journeys end"
However, The Churchman (Episco-
pail thinks that If Mr.. Beck were to
look beneath the surface, "he would
find many hopeful signs in our day
and generation" To be sure. there
is much evil, but there is something
good too, and, says this journal;
I'VE venture to think that Mr..
Beck does not know his generation at
all We doubt whether he knows
what most of the young minds and
souls are thinking about or dreaming.
A good many of our young men and
women could paint about as pessimis-
tic a picture of the generation which
Mr.. Beck probably holds in venera-
tion as the one which he painted in
Cincinnati of our present day. 1t
would be we'll for men like Mr.. Beck