s gained to
the present condition of society, I will briefly refer to some advanced
by various writers.

The first and most favorite is that of _moral perfection_. It has been
formulated in the expression: "In the progress of ethical conceptions
lies the progress of history itself." (Schaefer.) To such writers the
ideal of duty performed transcends all others, and is complete in
itself. The chief end of man, they say, is to lead the moral life,
diligently to cultivate the ethical perception, the notion of "the
ought," and to seek in this the finality of his existence.[21-1]

Keener thinkers have, however, recognized that virtue, morality, the
ethical evolution, cannot be an end in itself, but must be a means to
some other end. Effort directed toward other, altruism in any form, must
have its final measurement of value in terms of self; otherwise the
immutable principles of justice are attacked. I cannot enlarge upon this
point, and will content myself with a reference to Prof. Steinthal's
admirable essay on "The Idea of ethical Perfection," published some
years ago.[21-2] He shows that in its last analysis the Good has its
value solely in the freedom which it confers. Were all men truly
ethical, all would be perfectly free. Therefore Freedom, in its highest
sense, according to him and several other accomplished reasoners, is the
aim of morality, and is that which gives it worth.

This argument seems to me a step ahead, but yet to remain incomplete.
For after all, what is freedom? It means only opportunity, not action;
and opportunity alone is a negative quantity, a zero. Opportunity for
what, I ask?

For an answer, I turn with satisfaction to an older writer on the
philosophy of history, one whose genial sympathy with the human heart
glows on every page of his volumes, to Johann Gottfried von
Herder.[21-3] The one final aim, he tells us, of all institutions, laws,
governments and religions, of all efforts and events, is that each
person, undisturbed by others, may employ his own powers to their
fullest extent, and thus gain for himself a completer existence, a more
beautiful enjoyment of his faculties.

Thus, to the enriching of the individual life, its worth, its happiness
and its fullness, does all endeavor of humanity tend; in it, lies the
end of all exertion, the reward of all toil; to define it, should be the
object of ethnology; and to teach it, the purpose of history.

Let me recapitulate.

The ethnologi