With regard to drunkenness, for instance, let
us ask ourselves: "Is drunkenness less prevalent now than in olden
times?" Yes. "Is the condition of the woman better, in addition to the
improved habits of the man?" Yes. Therefore, it is evident Society,
THE GRAND MACHINE
(let us never say "Society" when we mean spike-tailed coats), has an
eye on the scourge of Rum, and will eventually stamp it out. "But why,"
asks the Impracticable, "does not Society stamp it out at once?" "Why
does not the sun shine twenty-four hours in America on the Fourth of
July?" Simply because America is not the whole world. Neither is the
subject of the murder of wives and the degradation of offspring the
whole affair with which Society deals.
THE FIRST GREAT DUTY OF SOCIETY
is to feed and clothe her individuals. This burden is just beginning to
sit on her shoulders without galling weight. The next effort is to
protect the more industrious against the forays of the wicked and the
mistakes of the unwise. This is the problem with which the past century
has had most to deal. It is an immeasurably greater question than is
that of drunkenness, and it is immeasurably far from solution.
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