, 1922-02-02
By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN

RE we, in this Year 1922, A. d,
EA entering into Ii "Lawless Age?"
E@yHA A good many men and women
"a of position and experience seem
TX to think We have already en-
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lAG5&Ss~ - tered In and are well on our
I3FSA way.
l1&%{S james NJ. Beck, solicitor gen.
F eral of the United States, may
HHVS be taken as fairly representing
@Cp the views of those who are
uy5N alarmed over conditions. In an
address before the American
Bar association he said that
contempt for raw and the present revolt against
the spirit of authority make this age eminentIy
"onc of sham and counterfeit" He rejected the
easy theory that these symptoms of n grave mall
ady are merely a reaction Of the World war. Ear
from causing the moral sickness Of the age. saws
the solicitor general, the World war was in itself.
perhaps but one of its many symptoms. Some of
the contrib itory causes Of the worlds disorder are
reluctance to obey laws regarded as unreasonable
or Nexaticls, the laws delays and laxity I'm nd-
ministration which have bred a spirit of contempt.
and the rampant individualism which began in the
Eighteenth century, with its excessive emphasis
on the rights of man and small stress on mans
duties. In proof of his contention. Mr.. Beck in
stances the records of the criminal courts and
police d0ckets; violations of the sumptuary laws
winch IN the case of the prohibition statute have
resulted in fines aggregating an estimate of more
than $8OO,OO0,O0O; and "an increase in nine years
of nearly 400 per cent In the comparatively mar
row sphere of the federal criminal jurisdiction"
"In the greater sphere of social life we find
the snme revolt against the institutions which
have The sanction of the past" says Mr.. Beck.
Laws which mark the decent restraints of nrint
speech and dress have in recent decades been in
creasingly disregarded. The very foundations of
the great and primitive institutions of mankind
Ike the family, the church and the state-haye
been shaken. Nature itself is dened. Thus. the
fundamental difference of sex is dlsrecarded by
social and political movements which ignore the
permanent differentiation of social function or
dained by God himself"
Five plaques are affecting humanity. said the
pope last year in a public utterance before the
College of Cardinals. The first, Mr.. Beck recalls.
is the unprecedented challenge to authority; sec
ond. hatred between man and man; third. alb
normal aversion to work fourth, the excessive
thirst for pleasure fifth, a gross materIallsm which
denies the reality Of the spiritual In human life.
All these charges, says the lawyer, are proved In
recent experience.
1t is. however. to a widespread change in social
conditions rather than to any change Of mans es-
Bentiai nature that the solicitor general attributes
the malady of our time. 1t seems to him thar
"the morale of our Industrial civilization has been
shattered. Work for works sake, as the most
glorious privilege OF human faculties. has gone.
both as an ideal and as a potent spirit. The con-
ception OF work as n degrading servitude to be
done with reluctance and grudging inefciency.
seems to be the ideal of millions OF men OF ali
classes and I'm all Countries"
The great enigma. then, which this situation
l'bbh ~ hoF ahh WHICH, IA u unl or
the Sphinx, we Will solve or be DESTROYED" Is this.
HAS the Increase in the potential of human now
or. through thermodynamics, been accomplished by
II corresponding Increase In the potential OF human
oharacter?" Then Mr.. Beck goes on to say;
IA mass morality has been substituted for in
dlvidunl morality. and group morality generally In
tensines the vices more than the virtues of man.
What was true OF Germany was true--nlthough
In lesser degree-of all civilized nations. In nil
of them. the individual had been submerged I'm
group formations. and the effect upon the charac.
Ger Of man has not been beneficial.
There are many pallintives for the evils which
I have discussed. To reklndle In men the love OF
work for works sake and the spirit Of discipline.
which The lost sense Of human solidarity once in
spircd. would do much to solve the problem. for
work is the greatest moral force In the world.
IL we of this generation can only recognize that
the evil exists. then the situation Is not past rem.
edy.
~ have faith In the incxtlngulshable spark ot
the Divine which Is In the human soul and which
our complex mechanical civilization has not ex-
tlnEuished. OF this. the World war was In itself
q proof. All the horrible resources OF mechnn-
les ana chemistry were utilized TO coerce the
human soul. and all proved Intellectual"
As everyone knows. law-abidlng citizens In n
number NJ big American cities have been driven
by conditions to organize law-enforcement com
MIR. Heck. Denver Is the latest city TO feel the ne
ccsslty OF such nm organization. The Indictment
against the city administration Is mildly expressed
by Mrs. Mabel Stearns Noble, executive secretary
OF the Womnn's Cooperative league, who puts II
thus,
drunkenness. immortality and gambling are our