Article November 26, 1910 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from William Jennings Bryan, Harold Begbie, William Henry Meredith, C. Silverster Horne

[William Jennings Bryan in Commoner.]

In our haste to make money we have cultivated the impression that life is to be measured by its income and that men are worthy of respect in proportion as they have accumulated. If I were delivering a religious address, I should insist that life should be measured by its overflow rather than by its income. I should insist that it is what we put into the world and not what we take out of it that determines the success of a life. But for the present I shall content myself with presenting an economic standard rather than a religious one, and say that the only economic rule for accumulation is that one shall draw from society in proportion as he contributes to the welfare of society. Forms of government, methods of administration and legislation, all should have for their object the securing to each citizen of the rightful and legitimate rewards for his toil. ... The commandment "Thou shalt not steal" will not have the weight that it ought to have among men until it is so construed as to bring the feeling of guilt and shame to those who draw from the common store more than they add in service. If we can but create a sentiment that will make men ashamed not only of wrong-doing but of idleness as well, and fill them with an earnest desire to make generous return to society for all the blessings that society confers, it will be easier to prevent the varieties of larceny which are so difficult to define and which the officers of the law find it hard to detect and punish.

[Harold Begbie in Christian World.]

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