Have Faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed. | Page 4

not moral and the whole system is to be
condemned; and the other, that employment, that work, is a curse to
man, and that working hours ought to be as short as possible or in some
way abolished. After criticism, our religious faith emerged clearer and
stronger and freed from doubt. So will our business relations emerge,
purified but justified.
The evidence of evolution and the facts of history tell us of the progress
and development of man through various steps and ages, known by
various names. We learn of the stone age, the bronze, and the iron age.
We can see the different steps in the growth of the forms of government;
how anarchy was put down by the strong arm of the despot, of the
growth of aristocracy, of limited monarchies and of parliaments, and
finally democracy.
But in all these changes man took but one step at a time. Where we can
trace history, no race ever stepped directly from the stone age to the
iron age and no nation ever passed directly from depotism to
democracy. Each advance has been made only when a previous stage
was approaching perfection, even to conditions which are now
sometimes lost arts.
We have reached the age of invention, of commerce, of great industrial
enterprise. It is often referred to as selfish and materialistic.
Our economic system has been attacked from above and from below.
But the short answer lies in the teachings of history. The hope of a Watt
or an Edison lay in the men who chipped flint to perfection. The seed
of democracy lay in a perfected despotism. The hope of to-morrow lies
in the development of the instruments of to-day. The prospect of
advance lies in maintaining those conditions which have stimulated
invention and industry and commerce. The only road to a more
progressive age lies in perfecting the instrumentalities of this age. The
only hope for peace lies in the perfection of the arts of war.
"We build the ladder by which we rise ... * * * * * And we mount to
the summit round by round."
All growth depends upon activity. Life is manifest only by action.
There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and
effort means work. Work is not a curse, it is the prerogative of
intelligence, the only means to manhood, and the measure of

civilization. Savages do not work. The growth of a sentiment that
despises work is an appeal from civilization to barbarism.
I would not be understood as making a sweeping criticism of current
legislation along these lines. I, too, rejoice that an awakened conscience
has outlawed commercial standards that were false or low and that an
awakened humanity has decreed that the working and living condition
of our citizens must be worthy of true manhood and true womanhood.
I agree that the measure of success is not merchandise but character.
But I do criticise those sentiments, held in all too respectable quarters,
that our economic system is fundamentally wrong, that commerce is
only selfishness, and that our citizens, holding the hope of all that
America means, are living in industrial slavery. I appeal to Amherst
men to reiterate and sustain the Amherst doctrine, that the man who
builds a factory builds a temple, that the man who works there
worships there, and to each is due, not scorn and blame, but reverence
and praise.

III
BROCKTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
APRIL 11, 1916
Man's nature drives him ever onward. He is forever seeking
development. At one time it may be by the chase, at another by warfare,
and again by the quiet arts of peace and commerce, but something
within is ever calling him on to "replenish the earth and subdue it."
It may be of little importance to determine at any time just where we
are, but it is of the utmost importance to determine whither we are
going. Set the course aright and time must bring mankind to the
ultimate goal.
We are living in a commercial age. It is often designated as selfish and
materialistic. We are told that everything has been commercialized.
They say it has not been enough that this spirit should dominate the
marts of trade, it has spread to every avenue of human endeavor, to our
arts, our sciences and professions, our politics, our educational
institutions and even into the pulpit; and because of this there are those
who have gone so far in their criticism of commercialism as to
advocate the destruction of all enterprise and the abolition of all
property.

Destructive criticism is always easy because, despite some campaign
oratory, some of us are not yet perfect. But constructive criticism is not
so easy. The faults of commercialism, like many other faults, lie in the
use