been imposed on the miserable natives
in order to make the building of these railroads possible. Human
life has not been spared, for human life in the Congo is as dust in
the balance when weighed against the profits from rubber. Punitive
expeditions have been organized (in other words, wholesale
slaughter has been resorted to), in order to coerce the reluctant
natives to bring in their supplies more punctually. The wives and
daughters of the natives have been seized, brutally chained, and
detained as hostages in order to influence their husbands and
fathers to a more ready obedience. The story of the Congo reads
like an incredible nightmare; the civilized world is aghast at the
partial revelations of it which have been published. From Armenia
we hear similar stories of ruthless contempt for human life and
merciless outrage. With Kishineff and Siberia in mind, we need not
comment on the conditions that exist in Russia. In the United
States, the heartrending circumstances that accompany negro
lynchings, the conditions in the sweated industries, and the
widespread evil of child labor show us clearly enough how little
the doctrine of the intrinsic and indefeasible worth of man has
as yet become the property of even the most advanced nations. In
the face of all these odds on the other side, in the face of these
confederate forces working the world over for the abasement of
man, how urgent is the appeal to rescue and fortify the doctrine, to
make it effectual, first in our own conduct and then in that of
others! And on what tenable foundations can we rest it, that it may
become operative?

First, as to its meaning. It does not mean equality of gifts, or
equality of mental energy, or equality in any of the traits that lead
to successful careers. It means equality in the sense that each is the
vehicle of some talent, however small, the bearer of some gift,
however seemingly inconsiderable, which in the sum total of
humanity's development is needed; that each one in his place and
with his gift, however insignificant in appearance, is in fact
indispensable.

And what is the reason for ascribing such worth to human beings?
The sole reason is, that the moral law enjoins us to do so. Before
ever we have discovered whether a man has worth in him or not,
the moral law enjoins us to ascribe it to him, to treat him as if he
had it, to see in him the light of the possibilities which he has never
made good and which he never wholly w