l immorality, or unmorality, and practical cynicism, which
are so much in evidence, even among the best educated and most
enlightened--especially among the best educated and most enlightened--in
public and in private, in their own homes and in their neighbors' homes,
as well as in the divorce courts; the conduct of the up-to-date young
men, turned out by our most progressive schools--those of the leading
families, no less than those in humbler walks of life--their increasing
readiness to treat every pretty girl they meet as a proper field of
endeavor and a possible instrument of pleasure; and the corresponding
attitude among thoroughly educated and up-to-date girls, in accepting
and welcoming such treatment; all these characteristic symptoms of the
modern spirit, of the so-called "unrest," need not be referred, in any
but a secondary and accessory way, to the after effects of a war, which
did not begin until their line of progress was already plainly
indicated.

Instead of that, with all these symptoms in mind, let us sum up the
logical effect upon the average individual of our progressive methods
and training.

Does he not say to himself, and should he not be expected to say to
himself:

"This is a wonderful age we live in, with the automobile, telephone,
moving picture, victrola, and all the other inventions. Modern science
is the greatest thing ever. And one of the biggest things it has done
was to puncture a lot of old-fashioned superstitions and conventions, so
that nowadays no sensible person need believe in them. Each person can
run his own life in his own way, in accordance with the dictates of his
own reason. Of course, there are the laws--but barring prohibition,
which everybody breaks,--there's nothing in the others that a reasonable
person need have trouble with."

The obvious tendency of this is toward unmorality, rather than
immorality--what is good for self, in the eyes of self, without
reference to religion, tradition or convention. The fundamental feelings
of faith and aspiration which found protection and expression in those
forms have been obscured and disregarded in the confusion of the
break-down. Also the practical wisdom and accumulated experience of
ages, which were crystallized in them, has gone by the board in the same
way. Modern science has scuttled the ships which carried them. The
material desires of each individual, left to the judgment of the
individual intellect, are apt to be treat